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Sometimes (and this holds for all SE sites) I find a question that is quite interesting but it's answers aren't much good.

The previous questioner might have accepted an answer because it appealed to him/her, not necessarily because it was logical.

If I go ahead and ask my question it would be closed as a duplicate. Alternatively I can try putting comments in the previous question asking for further clarifications. But it wouldn't get much attention since the question is already closed. Besides that, discussions using comments are generally discouraged.

So what should one do in such cases to get some good answers?

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  • No duplicate questions are allowed and will be closed. (haha I'm kidding!) EDIT: Looks like you did mean that question in that context which takes away the funniness of my comment. You should have written "duplicate", not "duplication" in the title. It's not a wonder the question is already closed. – Jesusaddict Jun 19 '12 at 14:06
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Usually this happens when the original question was fairly low quality for one reason or another and does not frame the question in a way that demands good answers or even gives a way to judge whether it has been adequately answered. If the original does not live up to our guidelines for good focused questions, I would suggest re-asking in a way that does. If anything we would want to close the lower quality one as a duplicate.

If there is a good question which really gets at what you want to ask in a way that should be answered but isn't, the thing to do is to place a bounty on it with a note about what you would like to see in an answer. This will draw attention to the question and encourage people to submit better answers to it.

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  • Is it possible to put bounties on inactive questions? i.e. ones that already have an answer marked as accepted? – Monika Michael Jun 15 '12 at 8:07
  • @MonikaMichael yes definitely – wax eagle Jun 15 '12 at 12:32
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    @Monika: It would also help to edit a question (or suggest one) if you can improve it. Even simple things like re-tagging, adding links, and fixing formatting can spark interest in an old question. Obviously, you'll want to preserve the original meaning. – Jon Ericson Jun 19 '12 at 1:58

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