# Regarding giving credit to the source of inspiration of your answer.

If I answer a question whose answer was inspired by a similar question answered by someone else then should I credit that user's name or link to the original question in my answer?

• I'd say, do both. – Gerry Myerson Dec 5 '18 at 11:57
• I think there have been many instances of similar appropriate attributions to commenters who preceded an answerer with a key observation in comments below a question they've answered. I commend your for taking such inspiration into account! – amWhy Dec 5 '18 at 19:39
• Just a cautionary note, however. If you find yourself answering a question extremely similar to a question answered by someone else at a different point in time, then I would seriously consider whether the questions is a duplicate of that other answered question, and if so, it should be closed as one, and not answered. – amWhy Dec 13 '18 at 21:04
• And by "duplicate" I don't mean a "word-for-word" copy. Most on this site would consider, e.g., the question "How to solve for $x$ when $2x -4 = 3y$," and the question "Solve for y: $5y+1=7x$" as "duplicates", in that the steps required to solve both of them are identical, just the numbers are changed. – amWhy Dec 13 '18 at 21:09

Unlike with attribution, where you have to supply

the name of the creator and attribution parties, a copyright notice, a license notice, a disclaimer notice, and a link to the material. CC licenses prior to Version 4.0 also require you to provide the title of the material if supplied, and may have other slight differences.