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I've got this question about some glitch in javascript I asked last year, which didn't received any acceptable answer until now. In the meantime, I went a totally different approach, which solved my dilemma, but which wouldn't give an answer to how to solve the problem in this context.

In clear text, I feel like if I post my answer, it would be more of a workaround than a solution, but in a context where I think there is (as of today), no right solution, and I feel it would help push other user into the right track.

The questions are:

  • Should I post my answer anyway?
  • Should I accept my answer, provided I waited about 24 hours (as it seems to have been the consensus after reading a few other thread here in meta), and no better answer came?

EDIT: Thanks for the feedback. I posted now my answer, but as I am don't consider myself a guru, and I can't be sure that my approach is the only one, I didn't accept it. (Moreover my answer didn't seems to attract any positive feedback anyway).

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2 Answers

up vote 9 down vote accepted

Should I post my answer anyway?


Should I accept my answer

If there is the slim chance that somebody might come up with a solution after all one day, maybe not. You never know; an accepted answer is usually interpreted as a signal that the issue has been settled.

If it's 100% clear that there is no solution, you might as well accept it, though.

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And one can always unaccept an answer and accept another, better one later. –  razlebe Sep 8 '11 at 7:56
@razlebe true, but an accepted answer is a signal to others that the issue has been solved. –  Pëkka Sep 8 '11 at 7:57
Great point - hadn't considered that. –  razlebe Sep 8 '11 at 7:59
Well from my point of view, the issue is settled, but I can accept that my solution is not THE solution. I'll wait and see if I get some feedback on my answer. (I finished posting it, I wish I could provide such well structured answer for other question than mine though ;p) –  Eldros Sep 8 '11 at 8:37
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If you're talking about posting a workaround that helps you avoid the problem stated in your question, rather than actually solving it... then sure, it couldn't hurt to post it. People do post workarounds rather than true solutions from time to time.

As for whether you should accept it, I'd suggest thinking about whether you would accept it if someone else were posting it, not you. There's no rule against accepting a workaround answer, or anything like that.

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