I have a question which is nearly identical to another question with one or two crucial differences. For example in one case the question refers to a different platform / OS. In another case my needs are exactly swapped (the question asked about a write-mostly case, I have a read-mostly case).

Is it okay to copy/paste the question and swap out the irreverent portions? What else could I do?

  • 2
    Something to consider: Whether you copy the question or rewrite it, it is good practice to link to the original question and mention explicitly how your question differs from that one, and why the answers in that quesiton do not address your problem. This will decrease the chances of your question being closed as a duplicate.
    – HugoRune
    May 17 '14 at 8:22

If you look at the footer, you'll notice that

user contributions licensed under cc by-sa 3.0 with attribution required

So yes, you could copy the question and modify it, given that you give attribution to the author of the question you're basing your question off of. That said, I'd recommend writing the question yourself, although it may be wise to see how the other question is structured. Then you don't risk leaving in some irrelevant part that doesn't make sense, and you might end up figuring out the solution yourself while writing the question. ("rubber-duck debugging")

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