-11

After asking this question https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/74609/mark-answer-as-not-answering-the-question and seeing its duplicate I realized that its high unlikely it gets implemented.

So I was thinking that if you don't get any useful answers you should delete your question and re-post it with more details. You should also add what you don't want to do(from the answers that did not answer your questions) and you get a better chance to get a real answer.

P.S. I know some mods are crazy and will try to close the second question even after you delete the first one saying stuff like "you already asked that question".

P.S. There are some duplicates, but really old ones and maybe some of you have grown up.

Improve this question
5
  • 3
    So, you're asking if reposting is appreciated, but before we can even respond you already know that some moderators are crazy and some of us needed to grow up...?
    – Arjan
    Commented Jan 11, 2011 at 9:46
  • I said SOME, not ALL. Grown up part is for closers, I meant to say "please don't close it, since opinions might have change. the last duplicate is from 1,5 year ago."
    – IAdapter
    Commented Jan 11, 2011 at 10:04
  • 3
    see everything2.com/title/…
    – Jeff Atwood
    Commented Jan 11, 2011 at 10:06
  • 1
    @Kobi: He should have at least worked "The mods must be crazy" in somewhere.
    – mmyers
    Commented Jan 12, 2011 at 17:09
  • @Michael, ha! +1. The joke didn't hit me until the third or fourth time I saw your comment....
    – Pops
    Commented Jan 12, 2011 at 18:36

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
8

So I was thinking that if you don't get any useful answers you should delete your question and re-post it with more details. You should also add what you don't want to do(from the answers that did not answer your questions) and you get a better chance to get a real answer.

If the question has no answers or one weak answer:

You should edit the question instead to improve it. That will also bump it just like a new question; there's almost no difference since the LastActivityDate is what we look at in both cases.

If the question has multiple answers, but because your question was unclear or of poor quality you feel all the answers are inadequate:

It can be OK to ask a new question. But it absolutely must be significantly better, clearer, and more thoroughly researched than your previous question was. Garbage in, garbage out. Asking a good, clear question is an art.

And just to be clear: if you delete and repost questions with little or no changes, you risk being banned, potentially for life.

Improve this answer
2
  • if I ask new question it will get closed as duplicate and it will make me feel bad(so this is not an option). I was talking about changing the question a lot and saying what you don't want.
    – IAdapter
    Commented Jan 11, 2011 at 9:58
  • 2
    so long as the new question is a lot better, as I said, this is probably OK.
    – Jeff Atwood
    Commented Jan 11, 2011 at 9:59
3

...you should delete your question and re-post it with more details.

Don't do this.

You've already identified that the moderators (and most of us users!) frown upon this behaviour. This is with good reason - deleting and reasking removes any history, potentially deletes the work (answers) of other users and could be seen as gaming the system.

Instead, you should edit the question with more details, clarification of your requirements, why the answers you already have been offered don't help, etc - essentially add anything that will make it easier for others to answer your question.

If necessary add comments to the answers you have indicating why they didn't help, so that everyone can see the question really is unresolved.

As a side effect, this will also bump the question up the list so more users will see it.

Improve this answer
2
  • for example I know a lot(i hope) about eclipse. If I see a question that I know the answer to I will answer it. However if that question has a lot of answers I won't even open it(why waste time reading it if I already know the answer?).
    – IAdapter
    Commented Jan 11, 2011 at 10:01
  • @01, I see where your coming from, and as per Jeff's answer it seems you can possibly get away with it in these circumstances. But frankly, if any question gets lots of answers and none of them help, it's indicative that the inital question was too vauge or generally poor. If a user needs to take this action on their questions more than a couple of times, they need to sharply reassess how they ask their questions.
    – DMA57361
    Commented Jan 11, 2011 at 10:14
0

Deleting and reposting is not a good idea. See also this post.

Its better to edit the question if you have more information.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .