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Recently, we got a sneak peek on how our latest evaluation turned out and our status is looking great!

However, we are not quite there just yet.

This is my second "Call to Arms" post, the first being my post about additional Analysis questions

Essentially, this is a notice to the users stating something plain and simple.

Just because you see an answer to a question already, doesn't mean that your input isn't valuable at all.

Granted, while most additions to an answer can probably be summarized in a comment, if you feel that you have something original, thought-provoking, and all around an alternative to the answers already given to a question, feel free to post your own answer!

Again, make sure your input is reasonable. If it is just one line of content, chances are, it should be a comment either to the question or an existing answer. However, if you feel you are filling up that comment box with your own take on the answer and feel it is worth having, go on, challenge.

More users challenging answers with their own take, the more content we get for the site and the more interesting reads we can have by all!

Heck, this is even ok if the question already has an accepted answer.

Be mindful, however, as we will still be moderating the site like normal and low quality answers get auto-flagged by the system. In addition, like I pointed out if you see something that should be a comment, FLAG IT.

END TRANSMISSION

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  • I've noticed on a few questions that answers which appear to read similar to a comment have been deleted by mods. If I can find some examples, then I'll edit to include them.
    – Reactgular
    Commented Dec 20, 2012 at 1:58
  • Sometimes people will post answers that aren't really answers but rather comments. In these instances we'll convert them to comments on the question.
    – DForck42 Mod
    Commented Dec 20, 2012 at 14:31
  • Yes, unfortunately people with very low rep score cannot make comments, so they are forced to comment by answering. They are fairly easy to spot and converted to comments by a mod.
    – iandotkelly Mod
    Commented Dec 21, 2012 at 0:19
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    +1 In fact it often happened to me that I started a comment which turned out to develop into another answer.
    – Napoleon Wilson
    Commented Jan 7, 2013 at 21:23

2 Answers 2

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I have seen a good number of posts where multiple answers have been answered to a question but their answers were same in the meaning. I dont believe by giving identical answers to a question, we should increase the answers for the question. This might increase the size of the site but adds nothing constructive to the site. Howeve it may so happen that after posting a question multiple answers can appear quickly and they might end up posting their answers at almost in the same time. This is okay. But unnecessary addition of answers should be downvoted.

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There is no any point posting same answer as someone already suggested. When you have two distinct answers. It's better to post two different answers, than to put them into one answer. Some questions can be multiple-answer types directly. This allows the one's the community feel are the best/correct to float to the top.

It's better to have multiple answers if they are unrelated (same answer is not given by anyone or you) and

  • they are too long to be in the same post or
  • they are superficially similar, so having them in the same answer could be confusing or
  • they are so dissimilar that having them in the same answer would be incongruent or
  • one of them is likely to meet objection and the other approval or
  • you really think it would be better to have them in different posts.

See related posts:

  1. What is the official etiquette on answering a question twice?
  2. When should I add another answer?

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