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I noticed that sometimes people are leaving two separate answers for the same question.

Sometimes when I answer and leave up to three different methods as the answer, should I be splitting those up into three different answers?

Is this being done to pad upvotes, or is it frowned upon or should it be avoided?

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  • $\begingroup$ What does "to pad upvotes" mean? $\endgroup$
    – Jonas Meyer
    Jul 8, 2013 at 1:38
  • $\begingroup$ @JonasMeyer: It could be a way to get more upvotes for posting multiple answers is all I meant. A way to try and maximize by multi-posting. If I understand correctly, MSE actually has some automated ways to see if too many points are garnered at one time. Regardless robjohn answered and I am okay with what he said. $\endgroup$
    – Amzoti
    Jul 8, 2013 at 2:08
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    $\begingroup$ If the two (or more) solutions are all $n$-liners, for a sufficiently low value of $n$, then I would include them in the same answer. Longer ones also, if they differ only in a single step. OTOH, if the answers are more complicated, then it is IMHO very much ok to post them separately. We can tell easily, when that is the case, and vote accordingly. In my own approach to voting the bar for giving upvotes to both answers is relatively high. But some posters have cleared the bar with some margin to spare. $\endgroup$
    – Jyrki Lahtonen
    Jul 8, 2013 at 7:23
  • $\begingroup$ Should a participant on the forum be allowed to delete questions and answers in a topic that is not their field? $\endgroup$
    – hm2020
    Dec 23, 2020 at 11:57

1 Answer 1

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It is a matter of understandability. In most cases, I try to combine multiple approaches into one answer. However, if the approaches are long and involved, I will split them into separate answers to reduce confusion and improve readability. I strive to give one answer per question, but on occasion, that is not the best approach.

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