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Is there a proper way to ask a question about your own answer to another question?

Suppose, for example, that you get an unexpected result after working out an answer to a question, and wonder where it might have been published. Is there a proper way to ask that will not be taken as "please, read my nice answer"?

This can actually generalize to any question one might have regarding an answer one has given.

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Treat it as you would any other question based on a document such as a paper, blog post or somebody else's question or answer.

  • Link to the document you're talking about. The natural way to do this will be something like "In my answer to this question, ..."

  • Include enough context in the question to allow somebody to understand the question without having to follow the link. Actually answering the question will probably require looking at the link contents but that's fine.

  • If you're only asking about a small section of the answer, it makes sense to quote it verbatim.

  • Especially if the follow-up question means that the original answer may have been incorrect (e.g., if your question is, "In my answer, I assumed that any widget could be frobnicated but, looking at the details, it seems that might not be true for plangent widgets"), you should link to the question from your answer, perhaps as a comment until the issue has been resolved.

I think that all of that makes the situation clear. You've explicitly said that you're linking to one of your own answers, so nobody will be surprised by what they find after clicking. And, as long as you're asking a genuine question about your answer, I don't think anyone will mind the collateral self-promotion.

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