Are questions asking for updated info duplicates?

Question

In reference to this question... The OP of that question more or less admits that they know that their question is a duplicate. However, they also claim that all the answers in the question are out of date due to Minecraft's new launcher. Therefore, they created this new question asking for updated info.

Now, I was under the impression that there are better ways of asking for updated info in a question that has been asked in the past. Bounties are the primary method of reviving an old question, but edits could also potentially help out with that niche. However, I checked Meta for some confirmation and was not able to find a satisfactory (for me) resolution.

In the meta discussion, Handling dupes asking for updated info, the comments seem to indicate that a bounty/edit should have been made. But then the only actual answer that says this is downvoted, and the two related questions are both still open.

There are even more meta discussions where it's suggested to update answers on the existing question if the answers go out of date, but none of these handle duplicates. So, what do we do with duplicates that are asking for updated info? Close them as duplicates? Close the old question as a duplicate of the new? Leave them both alone? I think an official stance would be helpful for clarifying the rules.

Answer 1

We should clearly not just update old answers with new info: someone might still be interested in the old version of Minecraft, and the one adding new info doesn't get much reputation for that. Stuff gets too messy this way.

I think, it is good if not best to add another answer to the old question, saying that "The answer by user B is no longer up to date since version x.y.z., you should now use these steps: (Steps)". The answer by user B could then be edited with a line added in the top, saying something like "This answer is no longer up to date since version x.y.z., for an up to date info look at the answer by user A".

Even if the old answer is accepted and/or has the highest score, the "no longer up to date" disclaimer, written in bold, would redirect any newcomers to the new info and preserve the old stuff.

If this new answer also goes outdated, we change all of the existing ones to note which of them goes for which version and add a link to an up to date one. Same goes for questions that have 9001 no longer related answers; they get edited with a note.

If no new answer is available yet, one can just add a note "this answer is no longer up to date since version x.y.z.", possibly explaining it in the edit text, possibly in the edit description. This will also poke the answer to the front page, potentially attracting new answers. +2 rep per edit would be a small bonus for those who edit and attract attention to answers that a are no longer up to date and can potentially mislead, and those who write new answers get rep from upvotes, bounties might be used if someone wants more attention to those questions.

It should only be done if the old question can still host the new answer, if we can safely add a new one so it still answers the question and the latter doesn't need significant edits.

It should also only be done if the old info could potentially have a value besides historical significancy. For example, one may still launch an old version of Minecraft, even if it is unsupported, and benefit from an answer about an old version. But if an answer has an old price of TF2 items at public marketplace, it might be interesting to see it in the edit history, but no longer could you actually buy items for those prices, so we can just edit the old answer and update the prices.

The only potential problem I see: some questions could theoretically get a huge number of no longer related answers, the related onces being stuck in the bottom.

Answer 2

This is a good question. How to handle outdated information in general.

The site is here to answer questions. The site is filled with a lot of outdated answers. Minecraft has lots of users who like to play old versions so I think outdated answers should be left, but edited with a note of last functioning version.

The problem I see with the current system:

From the person who needs a current answer. Lets say I find my exact question only it was asked by someone 3 years ago. All the answers no longer function. What do I do? Do I set a bounty and hope someone with an answer realizes that is why there is a bounty? Maybe include a comment that asks for updated information? Is asking for updated information to someone else's question in a comment encouraged? What if I am new here and have no reputation to give? Why do I have to offer up reputation to get an updated answer because someone asked my question a long time ago?

From the side of people answering questions. I don't see a whole lot of people digging through very old questions and answering with updated answers. They don't get up votes if they do. I am here to help people find their answers. I don't care about reputation so I do update old questions for no reason. Here is an example answer with no up votes (currently). A lot of people do care about reputation and that is their incentive to do anything here.

This is a system where someone seeking an answer is going to find a lot of outdated answers and people answering have no incentive to update those old questions. If someone then asks a same question, seeking new information, we are marking it as duplicate of a question with answers that don't work. I would imagine there are several users who see [duplicate] and don't even look at the question.

I think there should be a system that points new questions to old questions and incentivizes updating old information while leaving and noting outdated information rather then allowing the same question to be asked multiple times.

Currently, in the instances I have seen like this, I give an updated answer to the original question and comment on the duplicate question so the OP of the duplicate can get an answer.