17

OK, so I added this question last year: Is it unusual for a small company (15 developers) not to use managed source/version control?

The question got a fair bit of interest and a number of people made it a favourite question.

I've just added an update to say that X has happened since the question was asked.

Is this acceptable?

I just suddenly thought perhaps the Q&A format of the site would prohibit this (I'd be happy to remove the update if so..).

1
  • great question, and I updated your comment in the original question to help it stand out.
    – user53019
    Oct 3, 2012 at 17:11

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
14

Another option would be to add your update as an answer, as it's somewhat of a solution to the problem you had a year ago. Right now your update wouldn't really stand as an answer, but if you feel like expanding it a bit with details of the process the company followed, and adding a couple of references (perhaps to the other answers that helped you the most), I think it could work.

I cleaned up some of the obsolete / too chatty comments in the question, so if you decide to post your update as a comment it should be a bit more visible. If you go ahead and post it as a comment let me know, I'd like to upvote it and make it even more visible. Comment upvoted ;)

1
  • 2
    +1: Good point about actually writing an answer. If I felt I could bring something extra to the table from my experience in the last year, I'd definitely do that. However, I think (largely due to the massive response I got), everything has been covered in the original answers, so I've just moved my update into a comment :)
    – m-smith
    Oct 2, 2012 at 14:09
9

I think that it is important to get feedback on how the answers applied and if they helped out. It is good to know if the answers are not just voted up and accepted, but that they made a difference for the questor in the real world. This information may be localized and perhaps useless to most people however.

If you are just chatting then it best belongs in chat or in a comment on the question somwhere. It is a fine line I think.

1
  • Thanks I'll remove the update and add it as a comment to the original question. I think that's the safest approach to take in this case.
    – m-smith
    Oct 2, 2012 at 12:56
4

If the personal anecdote providers meaningful experiences relevant to the question I'm ok with it. If its just you writing a blog post using this site as your platform it needs to go. sharing relevant and useful experiences is a good thing, sharing random tangentially related interesting but useless stories just contributes to the crap and noise we try to remove.

0
3

I'd say that it isn't a good idea, but I don't think it's prohibited anywhere. Your question should be just that - a question. It should contain any relevant information that someone might need to either answer the question or determine if their current situation is similar enough to be able to use the answers to the question. Anything else is noise that makes it harder to read and follow.

Consider other alternatives - writing a blog post (this site even has a blog - you could submit it through their process and link to your question and link from the question to the blog post) and linking to the question in the blog post or answering your own question (but be sure to actually answer the question and not just write an anecdote).

3
  • Thanks, I see your point about the blog post, but as an answerer of questions on SE, I doubt I'd ever see a blog post related to a specific question unless a question I had favourited was updated in some way - I originally intended the update as a thanks and feedback to SE answerers, rather than some kind of egotistical story spinning (although, granted, I got a bit carried away...)
    – m-smith
    Oct 2, 2012 at 12:58
  • 1
    @LordScree An answerer probably wouldn't care about what happened with their answer. I typically don't. You ask a question, I share my knowledge, we're done and move on. If a question is in your favorites, you get notified of updates (edits and new answers) in your profile. But really, thanks and feedback (beyond votes or accepting answers) don't really have a place on Stack Exchange.
    – Thomas Owens Mod
    Oct 2, 2012 at 13:06
  • Forgive me when I say I think it's a bit sad (in the traditional sense of the word, with tears and stuff) that you wouldn't appreciate feedback if someone else had really appreciated some help you'd given in the form of sharing your knowledge or experience. But, having said that, I do understand what you mean about general "thanks" for the sake of politeness and I wouldn't want SE to be cluttered by such comments, so I guess, in the end, you're right and therefore deserve a +1 for correctness...
    – m-smith
    Oct 2, 2012 at 14:05

You must log in to answer this question.

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