What to do with questions that will NOT be answered?

Question

I did a couple searches and couldn't find reference to this. If I have a question that is not going to get answered because there is no way to handle what was being discussed, what do I do? Leave it unanswered forever?

An example is: Custom Button (javascript) - Field Name Changes Are Not Automatically Made

The request "can't be done" apparently because of what was discovered in comments under the one offered answer. I presume that it would not be simply deleted for the sake of others who may have a similar question and would be helped by finding this and knowing there is no solution (or was not at the time).

Answer 1

I'd say leave it open; not every question needs to be, nor can be, answered. As you point out, it may be of use to others in the future or perhaps the functionality will be added in at some point and then a new answer can be provided.

Answer 2

If there is no possible solution to the question (i.e. it cannot be answered), then that information should be posted as an answer. For folks who come searching for that information, that *IS* the solution to the problem (i.e. the problem is unsolvable) and should be posted as such.

But you should not delete valid questions asked in good faith simply because the community as not yet answered the question. It's okay to removed questions if they are extremely low quality or the author failed to provide additional information requested. But even then, the question should be closed as not a real question, and the system has processes in place to remove low-voted questions after a period of time automatically.

Answer 3

As I see it, "It can't be done" (at this time) is a perfectly legitimate answer to a question. Its often a valuable one for others who might be looking for the same or related information. I think its even more useful in the case of those who might read it now, then later while considering following a similar design path, remember the post and recognize that following it could lead to pitfalls. To me, those are the kinds of posts that encourage thinking about workarounds in the design phase along with the trade-offs between following different paths.

When I saw the title of your post here, I initially thought it was about the many posts which receive comments that often contain helpful links to guide users toward finding solutions they're looking for. An actual "answer" to their question never gets posted and the question shows as having gone "unanswered". There's nothing to indicate that by clicking on the subject one might discover there's a wealth of information and knowledge that's not otherwise apparent. I guess that's a subject for another post...