Question with an immediate answer

Question

I came across Most API call efficient way to retrieve all attachment bodies and there was a secondary question that came out of answers that I had a possible solution for.

So I asked the question separately - Automate the downloading of Data Export zip files

I have this uneasy feeling that my subsequent question will be viewed poorly as some form of self promotion beyond trying to supply a solution to a common problem.

Is this kind of question and answer bad form?

Maybe I should just wait and see how it is received. I'm sure others can come up with other possible answers.

Answer 1

If it's a problem you have encountered in the real world, and have a solution for, go for it. I opened a similar meta question already - Posting of questions and answers. And the SE UI allows for you to answer your own question while posing the question. I think it is a perfectly valid way to increase the value of the content on the site.

Answer 2

Asking and answering your own question is encouraged! I did it here recently, but I think I would have been better served waiting a day or two to answer it myself (and I really liked one of the replies). If you have a good, valid question I say ask it. Besides, we've already been told we need more content!

Edit: And don't forget this post - How to get more questions, even if you know it all already

Answer 3

We should be answering our own questions when it's a genuine question that we had to research. I had to do lot of Googling to work out how to extract data using regular expressions. Once I'd done the research, I added both the question and the answer here. So hopefully the next person with the same question will find the answer way faster than me. I left it a few days, then I accepted my answer as the correct one.

I don't want people doing this to game the karma system, but I rather we get good questions and answers than worry about karma-gaming. Let's just worry about good quality questions and answers and ignore karma gaming.

That said, I think StackExchange itself should be altered to be like a 'self' post on Reddit: there's no karma for clicking your own 'correct' answer if you answer your own question.

Answer 4

Generally speaking i dont think its a good idea to post a question you have an answer ready. We might end up people loading up good for nothing questions just to increase the reputations. But this can be contained by using negative votes.

We should also encourage people to answer their own questions if they found a solution to it themselves. But putting out a question where you have an answer ready might not be appropriate.

In your case where you found a question in one of the answers to your earlier question. i would think adding a comment on the the answer should be the right way to do.

Just my thoughts, i am sure there might be other views.