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I was recently discussing self-answers in the IoT chat with Ghanima, and I think it's a good idea to bring this to everyone's attention: if you've recently encountered a problem and found your own solution (especially a problem that made you think, "surely someone else had this problem!"), asking and answering your own question here is not just permitted, but encouraged!

By doing this, you can help in multiple ways:

  • people searching for problems that you've already solved can find an answer, which helps them

  • you already know the relevant information to add to your question, so you can write a question with a sharp, clear focus

  • other people will find the site more easily if we have answers to common problems

  • you might even get a better solution to your problem!

So, go forth and share your solutions that you think might be useful, and let's try to put a stop to this, all too common, problem:

XKCD #979

(XKCD #979)

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    Excellent point! What's worse than the cartoon is when the post is marked [Solved] or the OP drops a comment say, "Thanks, I solved the problem."
    – anonymous2 Mod
    Dec 14, 2016 at 17:17

2 Answers 2

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I agree 100%! It's much better for the site to have more information on it than to die in obscurity.

Another pro for posting your own answer on your own question is that it does give others the opportunity to post their answers. Hence, not only do you have the information that you found, the community and anyone who happens across the post is given a broader frame of knowledge.

A further plus from posting the information is personal: you tend to remember information better if you have to type it all out. Hence, if you have the same issue in the future, you will be able to fix the issue faster or potentially have less issues period.

Bottom line:

Yes. I agree 500%.

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I also agree with self-answering. But I would like to ask everyone to take time and write as detailed answers as possible.

I have seen some self-answers over EE.SE which was just a brief summary and the exact solution could not be reproduced based on that. While it is better than not answering at all, it may only give some unclear clues.

For example this one, where some clear facts known by the OP are missing.

So please do not forget to include such important points into your self-answers.

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  • Indeed, I've seen this frequently on SO (most of these just get downvoted though, since they aren't useful to others). I think it's important to write as if you were answering someone else's question when self-answering so other readers can see your point more easily.
    – Aurora0001
    Dec 22, 2016 at 16:46

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