Comments on Can I ask a question to which I have a possible answer?
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Can I ask a question to which I have a possible answer?
For many years I have been working on unraveling the basic ideas behind famous circuit solutions. Thus I gradually managed to accumulate a collection of circuit principles and clever tricks. I have my intuitive explanations of circuit phenomena that significantly differ from classic formal explanations. I can not be completely sure if my explanations are true since I cannot find similar ones. Nevertheless, I use them when answering questions but I have to passively wait for the appropriate questions to be asked. That is why, I started asking questions.
They are not true questions since I have a possible answer to them. So I have to decide what to do. I have two possibilities:
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I can share my answer at the beginning. The advantages of this are that I clarify the problem at the beginning. The disadvantages, however, are that I hinder more original answers and predetermine the direction of reasoning.
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I can wait first for others to answer and then to share my answer. But now the problem is that they find it difficult to get to the heart of the matter.
I have tried both options but the result is the same - many negative reactions. The last example is quite recent.
What do I do?
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The key to writing good self-answered Q&A is to try to write the question just as if you didn't know the answer. That is, it has to fulfil the usual quality criteria for normal questions. This can be quite hard!
My best advise is probably to give a specific example in the question. For example post a schematic even if it is incomplete or contains obvious errors - those are the parts you supposedly need help with. Answers can then correct the circuit as part of the explanation.
Ideally, such questions should contain common newbie mistakes relevant to the question. That makes the question a strong candidate for a "canonical duplicate" that we can use as a "close as duplicate of" target whenever newbies ask FAQ about that matter.
For example if you are posting a question regarding how to read and de-bounce a mechanical switch by using passives, you might post a schematic containing nothing but +5V, a switch symbol and maybe a MCU input pin.
Answers can then address issues like missing pull resistor, intended polarity, how to add a RC filter, ESD issues etc. And together with the explanation illustrate by posting a corrected schematic. Some explanation about RC low pass filter theory & formula can be accompanied with examples of suitable values, and so on.
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