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In the question, Can I empty a soul gem?, the OP has mentioned that he is using Xbox 360. I take this to also mean that he's not looking for PC-only console commands or mod solutions, so I edited in the tag, and answered a solution that does not mention mods or console commands.

However, user kotekzot mentioned that it is not an Xbox 360 specific issue, and "There is no reason to exclude PC or PS3 solutions just because the askers happens to be using a 360 - if he was the only one to ever need help with the problem the question would be closed as too localized" and "Unless this problem can only occur on 360, it shouldn't be tagged [xbox-360]", so he removed the tag.

I then amended my answer to the question to also include PC mod solutions, as I understand the question to now apply to versions of Skyrim in all platforms.

Question 1: If the OP has mentioned that he is using Xbox 360 and/or PS3, and is not looking for PC console commands or mods, is it still acceptable to answer it with console commands and mod solutions for the PC?

I see an issue regarding the questions: Cannot Get a new Radiant Quest from Companions in Skyrim (where OP has mentioned he is using Xbox 360 and does not want console command answers), and Companions will no longer give me radiant quests (where OP has mentioned that she is using the PC, where I reckon console command and/or mod answers are welcome).

If the guideline in the Can I empty a soul gem? question is followed ("unless the issue can only occur on <platform>, it shouldn't be tagged <specific platform tag>"), the second question above should be closed as an exact duplicate of the first question (without the platforms, they're talking about the same thing). But since the first question's OP mentioned he does not want a console command answer, it is possible that this might not help the OP of the second question, who is playing on the PC.

The two questions about the Companions radiant quest above interest me as I also have the same question and would like to give a bounty to the PC-related question, if it isn't closed as an exact duplicate.

Question 2: What should be done in this situation?

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    Relevant. I'd vote to close this as a dupe, but you raise reference to a number of questions with issues that should be resolved/merged/whatever, so I'm not going to vote to do so until a mod comes along and does some cleanup.
    – LessPop_MoreFizz
    Nov 7, 2012 at 8:23
  • I'm sad that this ended up in my question getting closed because the issue never got resolved and there are no console command answers for the older question ;/ but oh well. I see what the aim is here.
    – shanodin
    Nov 18, 2012 at 8:48
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    @AliceRees I'll edit the older question to make it more generalized (not exclude console commands) as per the current most up-voted answer to this question. I would give it a bounty to get more people to notice it, but I am currently unable to play Skyrim, so I won't be able to verify the answers.
    – galacticninja
    Nov 18, 2012 at 11:55

2 Answers 2

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We are not only trying to help the asker of a given question, but all people who might have the same problem in the future. For this reason we dislike link-only answers (link rot can prevent future visitors from benefiting from an answer - this wouldn't be an issue if we were only concerned with the asker). Therefore:

  1. It is perfectly acceptable and preferable to give an answer that provides solutions for all platforms.
  2. If a new question is a duplicate of an old one for a different platform and the problem is the same across platforms (regardless of whether the potential solutions are the same), then the new question should be closed and the old one generalized to include all applicable platforms.
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  • Giving an answer that provides solutions for additional platforms beyond the one asked about certainly doesn't hurt, although it can clutter the answer. The problem is when you specify your platform, and you get an answer that only applies to the other platform. This happens all the time with Bethesda games. "Q: I have this problem... I'm on Xbox" "A: Enter these console commands." This is the type of situation where it seems like the tag would help make things clearer.
    – DCShannon
    Jun 28, 2016 at 21:18
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Arqade is a Q&A site for all PC and console related questions. I would suggest if a question's answer depends explicitly on a mod, then we do say so right off the bat.

If a question affects a broad platform audience (consoles and PC), then we should cover all the platforms equally.

For example the answer you gave for the question Can I empty a soul gem?, does hold here. But you did not mention whether the bug has been fixed as of the latest patch or not. Because this answer could be outdated with a patch.

I hold all high rep people here to this standard, because they have the potential to be community leaders. As community leaders, why not cover all platforms?

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