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Is there any proscription that I'm not aware of that says you shouldn't ask questions you know have a good chance of being a community wiki, or that you already know the answer to?

I'm trying to come up with questions that I think would be great general knowledge references, but wasn't sure if that was a "frowned upon" practice.

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  • I also would like to know if this is a good thing or not. I've also been asking questions that I thought would be "canonical".
    – Nate Barbettini
    Commented Apr 3, 2015 at 18:13
  • You can answer your own questions as long the question is clear enough and it's treated as any other question.
    – kenorb
    Commented Apr 3, 2015 at 18:21
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    "… it is not merely OK to ask and answer your own question, it is explicitly encouraged"
    – Patrick Hoefler
    Commented Apr 3, 2015 at 20:32
  • Personally I think you should ask questions that you are interested in. If you later find out the answer, then it is ok to post an answer to your question.
    – Kenshin
    Commented Apr 4, 2015 at 1:07
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    @PatrickHoefler, why don't you turn your comment into an answer?
    – Garrett
    Commented Apr 4, 2015 at 6:33
  • @Mew Why not sharing knowledge?
    – Franck Dernoncourt
    Commented Apr 5, 2015 at 2:36
  • @FranckDernoncourt, if people wanted that knowledge, they would ask for it themselves.
    – Kenshin
    Commented Apr 5, 2015 at 4:59
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    @Mew One doesn't always think if all possible questions. Also, posting a Q&A can allow the poster to write down knowledge fresh in his mind before he forgets the details.
    – Franck Dernoncourt
    Commented Apr 5, 2015 at 5:02
  • @FranckDernoncourt, good points, i'm convinced.
    – Kenshin
    Commented Apr 5, 2015 at 5:04

1 Answer 1

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Let me start with your second question:

Is it OK to ask questions you already know the answer to?

… it is not merely OK to ask and answer your own question, it is explicitly encouraged.

With community wikis, things are less clear-cut.

Most of the time, you should be asking yourself “How can I improve this post so that community wiki isn’t needed?” […] Community wiki is for that rare gem of a post that needs true community collaboration. That’s when community wiki shines.

And as a general rule of thumb (from the same source as above):

A site should never have more than one community wiki question for every hundred questions.

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