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I posted an answer to a Puzzling question. My answer seemed like a pretty good guess but still a guess. My answer received some votes. Also, the question author commented on my answer that said I was very close and included a hint. Based on that comment, I have another guess I would like to try. In order to follow the rules and etiquette of this site, which of the following approaches should I take?

  1. Edit my original answer?
  2. Post a new answer? (If so, do I leave my original answer intact?)
  3. Do nothing? (I.e. I took my guess and it would be unfair to take another)
  4. Something else?
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    $\begingroup$ When I have a new answer to a question I've already answered, I usually just edit my answer to add the second attempt, leaving the original in tact, as I did here: puzzling.stackexchange.com/a/91636/60730 $\endgroup$
    – Thomas Markov
    Dec 17, 2019 at 16:03
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    $\begingroup$ Welcome to Puzzling! (And thanks for asking this question here on meta! It's always appreciated when new members care enough about the community to ask these types of questions - they can be really helpful for other people later on, too.) $\endgroup$
    – Deusovi Mod
    Dec 17, 2019 at 16:04
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    $\begingroup$ See also: Is it acceptable for one user to have multiple answers to a questions? $\endgroup$
    – Rubio Mod
    Dec 17, 2019 at 16:10

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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If your answer is mostly the same, or very similar (say, maybe you answered a riddle with "pencil" and you now think the answer is "pen"), I'd say that you should edit your new answer. (You can keep your old answer at the bottom of the same post if you feel it has enough value to keep, or just edit over it and leave the old one to the edit history.)

If the answer is significantly different, you can add a new answer. There's nothing wrong with having multiple answers to the same question! As long as all of them can stand on their own, feel free to post multiple answers.

In this case, it seems like you'd be adding to your previous work on the question, not replacing it - editing your answer is definitely the appropriate thing to do here.

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