0

Possible Duplicate:
How should we deal with out of date questions/answers?

While this is technically a general question, I was inspired to write this particular question simply because of Minecraft. It seems to me that games like this which change extremely quickly are difficult to answer in some cases. I have seen this answer which seems to attempt to answer the question, but it's just a single opinion and there does not appear to be an established site policy..

  1. How should we deal with questions that no longer apply to the game they're asked about?
  2. How should we deal with old answers that contain answers that drastically differ from the current state of the game?
  3. What should we do with new questions that ask the exact same thing as an earlier question, but the answers to said earlier question no longer apply?

As for my own opinion, I think we should not delete/edit answers if the information is completely different, and instead provide a new answer. However, we then need a system for making the new answer known, since the original asker may not be active at that point. A possibly related question is this one, which deals with answers that extend existing ones.

4
  • Why split this up? If you have a new idea post it to the existing question(s).
    – Matthew Read
    Mar 28, 2012 at 21:37
  • Which actually did do a large nuking of Minecraft booster cart questions back when they changed the functionality. We also cover this somewhat here.
    – FAE
    Mar 28, 2012 at 21:38
  • While I guess I understand the closing of this, that question does not brush upon the topic mentioned in number 3. Should I ask it there?
    – Alexis King
    Mar 28, 2012 at 22:17
  • @JakeKing They should be closed as duplicates, and the old questions updated.
    – LessPop_MoreFizz
    Mar 28, 2012 at 22:51

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

The 'standard' such as it exists across other SE Sites, as I understand it, is as follows:

If the question is no longer relevant or no longer makes sense, (i.e. asking about a game mechanic that has been removed) it should be CLOSED as **Too Localized*.

If the question is still relevant, but in some way no longer accurate, it should be edited to reflect the current reality. Answers can then be edited, or a new answer written as needed.

If the question is abandoned, and the accepted answer is inaccurate and it is unlikely for the accept to be moved, editing it to add a disclaimer notifying readers about that fact and pointing them to a newer answer is considered the Right Thing To Do.

I personally see no problem with this method, and don't see any reason that we need any sort of special mechanics to revoke acceptance or any such beyond the tools we already have.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .