Recently, I've been very careful about following all the rules in Super User.

Yesterday I answered a question, which after a few hours was marked "On Hold", as a duplicate of another one. Before I posted my own answer, I saw that the "Possible Duplicate" question had an accepted answer, but it was marked "Closed", so I went ahead and wrote my own answer to the question that was still open.

My Question:

Should I be careful before answering a question with a "Possible Duplicate" that is marked as "On Hold" or "Closed"? Should I search for related ones to flag it as a duplicate if neccesary?

P.S.: I asked this question because I want to make sure I'm doing things the right way.

Original Question is this:

How many operating systems are allowed to install a single computer?

And Related One was closed:

How many Operating Systems allowed in a single computer

  1. You can't answer a question that is "On Hold" or "Closed". It's not possible. If you try, you will get an error.

  2. The "Possible duplicate" message shows up when someone votes to close the question as a duplicate of another. Just because one person thinks it's a duplicate doesn't mean that it is.

  3. There's never any harm in answering a question that hasn't (yet) been closed. The worst that happens is that you waste your time, assuming your answer is good. Avoiding writing bad answers is another subject entirely.

  4. However, if you read a question and you think it's very likely that it will be closed, answering it anyway is frowned upon. Questions that are not a good fit for the network, or which are already answered in another question, should be allowed to be auto-deleted; but if you put an upvoted answer in it, it may stick around for a (very) long time, or it may never be deleted.

  5. I would recommend that you work on improving your English grammar and vocabulary before you commit more seriously to answering questions. I found it very difficult to read and comprehend your question here. When people have trouble understanding you, they're more likely to downvote your answers, which can eventually lead to you being barred from answering questions on the site.

  • i really wanted to make my question the more clear possible but i thing was not a success :( (i know my english still poor) i mean i did an answer in a question, but before to post my answer i searched for a duplicate to do not give a post in a possible duplicate question, after this it was marked as on hold by duplicate but related question was[CLOSED] do you follow me? – Francisco Tapia Jul 10 '15 at 14:54
  • Yes, I get the meaning of what you are saying. This question was closed because it's "Not Constructive", which means people didn't think the question was a very good one. So by extension, that makes the other question not particularly good, either. But you won't be penalized for answering that question, especially since you got an upvote and an accept! – allquixotic Jul 10 '15 at 15:05
  • ye i was oh!! so sad coz the question where i did my answer was closed as duplicate of a non constructive closed question i said for my self "what i did wrong now" – Francisco Tapia Jul 10 '15 at 15:10

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