What should be done when a question is similar to an old question, but the answer to the new question depends on technology that did not exist, or was not usably mature, at the time of the old question?

  1. Should a new answer be added to an old question even if the new answer was not available at the time of the old question?
  2. Should the new question be marked as a duplicate, even if it has a new answer?
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    It really depends on the case. But often enough, a "this is now possible using xyz technology" answer to the old question is perfectly suitable. – Pekka Jun 4 '14 at 16:27
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    @Pekka: That's from the perspective of the answerer who already found the question with outdated answers, or does it also apply to the asker who wants the modern, faster and safer alternative now possible? How then will he get others to eyeball the old question and answer the modern way? – Deduplicator Jun 4 '14 at 17:05
  • Maybe edit the new question so it is not a duplicate of the old quesion. – Ian Ringrose Jun 5 '14 at 12:30
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    @Pekka웃 what happens when the accepted answer is on page 1, but is not wrong and outdated and the correct new answer is hidden far down the list after many wrong answers with 0 votes. – Reactgular Jun 5 '14 at 13:14
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    I think this applies directly to my question here: stackoverflow.com/questions/24041721/…. In my opinion a new question is fine, when you are asking about a new technology - you can't expect answer seekers to have awareness of languages/technologies beyond the question. If the "duplicate" is for different technologies, then it is not applicable. – Obsidian Phoenix Jun 5 '14 at 13:25
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    @Deduplicator: That one's easy. You ask a new question, identical to the old except for the technology version, and add a link "similar to this question which addressed this problem for technology v.old" The older question did state the technology it required, right? Failure to do so automatically makes a question "too broad". – Ben Voigt Jun 7 '14 at 1:12
  • @BenVoigt I think every question has an implied restriction, rarely if every stated, to technology versions that exist. A question posted today is unlikely to explicitly exclude HTML 8 or Fortran2050. – Patricia Shanahan Jun 7 '14 at 1:44
  • I added this new answer to a very old question based on very recent updates to .NET. It's buried and will take ages to bubble toward the top organically. stackoverflow.com/a/57194312/141172 – Eric J. Jul 25 '19 at 4:28

I would allow a new question depending on new technology.
Just make sure to stress the different technology available now, and link to that old question with an explicit remark that those were not available then.
Don't leave away that link, or someone will close as a duplicate for sure.

Some time later, it might be possible and opportune to modify the questions and answers so they are duplicates and ask for merging, explicitly listing why the new answers are important.

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    I would usually do this and, if the new QA turns good, I would put a comment below the old question to redirect visitors to the new question, without waiting for a hypothetical merge. – Denys Séguret Jun 5 '14 at 5:46

If I understand the question the right way, it is asking from the answerer's point of view. I wrote my answer to apply to that situation.

If the questions are duplicates:

  1. Add your answer to the old question. The time when the question was asked should not matter. Answerers are even advised to update their answers when they are not up-to-date anymore.

  2. Close the new question as a duplicate of the old one (or flag). Don't add your answer to the new question.

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    I actually hit the issue as a close vote queue item. The new answer had already been added to the new question, rather than the old question. What do you recommend in that situation? – Patricia Shanahan Jun 5 '14 at 1:04
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    Doesn't this leads to very unpleasant situation where we close or mark duplicate i.e. questions about HTML5+ because we have old valid QAs concerning HTML4. We (at least I) need and want current answers without cluttering the old questions answer section with new answers. Maybe the asked/answered timestamp could be more prominent if the question is old (like over two years or something). This doesn't affect so much pure JavaScript etc. questions but with libraries things tend change more rapidly. – ZZ-bb Jun 5 '14 at 7:56
  • BTW: How and why should we update our (very) old answers if they solved the askers problem X days/years ago? And who has the time and interest to update constantly old answers when technologies change? – ZZ-bb Jun 5 '14 at 7:58
  • @PatriciaShanahan Could be a different question. Maybe it was already asked here on Meta, I feel like I've seen it somewhere. – kapa Jun 5 '14 at 9:13
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    @ZZ-bb We are not here to solve the asker's problem, we are building a library. That's the site's goal. If you do not have the interest, do not update your answers, simple. Some people do, some even update other people's answers. Concerning HTML: use common sense. If the question is about HTML4, don't add HTML5 answers. If the question is about general HTML, add HTML5 answers and close others as a dupe (otherwise people not up-to-date about recent standards and changes will find older questions first and get no chance to learn new stuff). If the situation is complicated, ask. – kapa Jun 5 '14 at 9:21
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    SO should better broadcast its desire to be Wikipedia for programming if that is the case. The base assumption of most is that this is a site where one can get help from others. If that help is in the form of past help, so much the better. I see the library as a by product of its goal of providing help not the explicit goal. I see that this is not the stated purpose however. (ABOUT: "..to build a library of detailed answers to every question about programming") Disappointing. – Guido Anselmi Jun 5 '14 at 18:23
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    @GuidoAnselmi I was always under the impression that this was more of a wiki-ish programming reference moderated by the development community in the guise of a Q&A site. Posters are encouraged to either keep their posts up to date or allow others to update the questions and answers to keep the content current. – stephenbayer Jun 5 '14 at 18:36
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    @stephenbayer That sounds great in theory, but it doesn't seem to be the case in practice. It expects a lot of the programmer who is not in fact incentives to maintain his answer by any other reason than the good of his heart. You get no points for edits. Points are the abstraction layer that make the whole SO system work. – Guido Anselmi Jun 5 '14 at 19:01
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    @GuidoAnselmi Disappointing, maybe. Spread the word. The more people learn the truth about SO, the better. We should stop people misusing it. If scaring them away is the only way, I say OK :). About the incentives you mention: if you are doing it for the points, you will quit sooner or later anyways, when you realize they are worthless. Points are only used to grant you privileges. Privileges that you will not find really useful if you do not care about the original goals. – kapa Jun 5 '14 at 21:24
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    No, this won't work. Because my new answer to the old question won't be marked as the "correct" answer, and won't have many votes. Hence, it's likely to get overlooked. – SeeJayBee Jun 5 '14 at 23:57

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