Such questions are accepted and encouraged, by design

It's not our idea, or a new idea, either. It's fundamental to the design and concept of Q&A sites, Codidact included.

People who actually need an answer to a question are often in a uniquely bad position to actually ask that question. Out of all the information they've gathered about the problem, they don't know what's actually relevant to explaining the situation of implementing a solution - that only comes with hindsight. They also don't necessarily know the right way to frame the problem, or the right scope for the question. An expert may have seen hundreds of people fail in a similar manner, and thus understand what those cases have in common. Finally - and especially for technical issues - people experiencing a problem might not know how to describe it accurately and unambiguously - because they don't fully understand the terminology of the problem domain.

The Q&A format can be an excellent device for experts to communicate their expertise. It's not always the best choice - which is part of why the Codidact software supports other category types. But when there is a specific problem that can be described - either "why does doing X fail in Y manner?" or "how do I do Z with W tools?" - asking that framing question and answering it is a fantastic presentation method. A well-chosen title can be easily found with a search engine; the body of the question confirms the nature of the problem; and an answer can convey all the necessary information - whether it's a three-step guide, a pages-long conceptual explanation, or anything in between.

Aside from that, asking the question invites others to offer competing explanations of the material, alternate approaches to solving the same problem, etc. Questions stay open indefinitely by default, which is also a key part of the formula.

A self-answered question is still a question; and that question should be judged on its own merits. If someone is self-answering questions simply in order to show off expertise rather than to be helpful, the result will be a question that doesn't make sense to ask - perhaps because it's improperly scoped, lacking detail or clarity, or inappropriately subjective. As a rule, questions should be judged the same way whether or not the OP offered an answer.

posted 9 months ago

CC BY-SA 4.0

Karl Knechtel‭

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