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Got a quick question about flagging questions as duplicates; I've already established that ideally it should be identical or very similar to a question previously asked, but the window where you choose to flag questions as duplicate says "and already has an answer"; does this necessitate that the person who asked chose one of the answers as the "official" answer? Or does it just have to have some posted answers that appear to be correct?

Bonus question: is there a limit to how recently the original has to have been posted to justify it being duplicate?

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  • Hi, John, can you link some example questions?
    – user140086
    Feb 7, 2016 at 7:36
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    A duplicate is a duplicate, irrespective of the fact that an answer in the original question had been accepted or not. If you post a question which is flagged as a duplicate you should explain why the original question and answer/s don't satisfy your request. A question is never too old to be compared to a new one as a possible duplicate, just say why, in your opinion, it is not a duplicate,
    – user66974
    Feb 7, 2016 at 9:34
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    An accepted answer is the answer which the asker felt helped him the most. In a few egregious cases, it's been a completely wrong answer which is accepted. In others, no answers, even when including a well-argued and correct one, have been accepted. The acceptance tick is irrelevant to considering a duplicate.
    – Andrew Leach Mod
    Feb 7, 2016 at 10:37
  • Thanks guys, that clears it up nicely.
    – John Clifford
    Feb 7, 2016 at 10:48

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