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I think its still in debate Etiquette for answering your own question

Normally when I have a question and a answer, but have doubt with my own attempt, I tend to put the solution within my question. And I'll only post the question (if without a solution in my mind), and could post my solution afterwards separately as a answer to my own question (if I can found out one).

But today I met this question and been enlightened to always post them separately, is this the case? Maybe its there but I really can't find it in FAQ, and even it is, I still feel a question for suggestions of your own answer should include the solution in the question.

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marked as duplicate by David Robinson, Richard Tingle, Martijn Pieters, gnat, Lance Roberts Oct 7 '13 at 17:38


Also see: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/198727/… –  Josh Crozier Oct 7 '13 at 16:20

2 Answers 2

up vote 5 down vote accepted

If you have a problem that needs solving, you need to indicate that you've attempted in some way to solve it yourself. Such an attempt goes in the question: this is what you've tried. This is standard fare.

If the purpose of a question is to showcase a solution to a problem that actually works1 and answers the question fully, as opposed to an attempt at a solution that does not work, then the solution should be posted as an answer instead of being embedded in the question. This has never been debated.

1 Of course, if the answer doesn't actually solve the problem or is otherwise incorrect, it's liable to downvotes just as with any other incorrect or bad answer.

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Get it, is this all in FAQ? –  Bolu Oct 7 '13 at 16:25
@Bolu: Yes, here: stackoverflow.com/help/self-answer –  BoltClock's a Unicorn Oct 7 '13 at 16:25

If you have an answer to your own question you should post it as an answer, not as a part of the question.

Questions belong in questions; answers belong in answers.

If others feel that your answer isn't a good one, that it doesn't work, or uses bad practices or otherwise should be used, they can use voting to reflect on that, and/or post competing answers to answer the question more effectively. You using your own solution need not inhibit someone else from posting a solution that answers the question that is entirely unrelated to your answer.

If you're just looking to have your solution/answer reviewed, and aren't so much interested in someone else posting an entirely unrelated solution to your problem, you can post on Code Review instead.

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Very clear, PS:thank you for the cute panda :) –  Bolu Oct 7 '13 at 16:24
The link should point to codereview.stackexchange.com, there is a missing "e" in your link. –  Marc-Andre Oct 7 '13 at 20:17
@Marc-Andre Fixed, thanks, although note that you could just suggest an edit to fix an obvious typo like that as well. –  Servy Oct 7 '13 at 20:23
@Servy I would if I had the edit privilege, but right now I won't dummy 6 characters edit when only one is needed. –  Marc-Andre Oct 7 '13 at 21:32
@Marc-Andre Editing that one character is determine by the diff formula as an edit to the whole word, and as such it's technically a 10 character edit. Just look at the highlighting in the revision history. –  Servy Oct 8 '13 at 0:23

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