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In a post the question describes perfectly my situation but the answers (one of which is accepted) do not work for me. I imagine that the post will not attract any answers any longer.

On the one hand, I can mention in a comment that the solution does not apply. I did it for good measure, though I expect again that this will be easily overseen.

On the other hand, if I post another (same) question, that would effectively be a duplicate. Yet I obviously need an answer that is specific to my case.

Also, I would not want to place a bounty at this time, since its value cannot be but modest and I would hope to gather more credits before I resort to bounties.

How can I elicit a different answer to a question that has already fairly answered?

This issue is different from Should I ask the same question again? in that it is not my own post. So there is no option of un-accepting the answer and bring up the question to the collective attention.

The post in point is Ubuntu 16.04 freezes during use for those who are curious about it.

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  • 1
    that question is a duplicate - that processor is affected by a kernel bug. But freezes could happen for other reasons; it could be a graphics card issue in your case or something else... My system dies at the login screen unless I blacklist a particular module. It's a difficult problem to diagnose :(
    – Zanna Mod
    Commented Nov 2, 2016 at 13:28
  • I would tend to agree that if you make it clear in your question that you tried this and this and provide other pertinent info such as the content of /var/log/syslog, I have no doubt that your question will be taken seriously as a separate case. It would also help if you point out that you have already checked the likely culprits such as askubuntu.com/questions/528072/…
    – Elder Geek
    Commented Nov 8, 2016 at 16:57

2 Answers 2

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If the answers there do not meet your needs, asking a new question is fine but it is on YOU to explain why the existing question does not meet your needs.

Include this information in your new question and it should be fine but make sure to give clear and accurate reasons why the other post was not what you wanted.

Yes, we can be hard on duplicates but they are not set in stone, if current answers don't work, something must be different somewhere.

Saying that, this question, on freezing has 53 answers, read that first

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  • It should be the commentor's responsibility to state why the question is a duplicate. A hefty demerit should be imposed on the commentor when the question is obviouslly not a duplicate, for example askubuntu.com/questions/846784/… Five commentors have marked this question as duplicate, here the "duplicate" question is not at all similar to the "duplicated" question.
    – C.S.Cameron
    Commented Nov 11, 2016 at 5:10
  • The new question refers to Rufus, a Windows based installer. The original question is four years old, the first answer is no longer valid as persistent partitions no longer work on 64bit syslinux type bootabe installs. The second answer refers to mkusb, a great installer, but it only works in Linux.
    – C.S.Cameron
    Commented Nov 11, 2016 at 5:13
  • The best solution in both cases would be to do a Full install to USB, the original, original OP rejected this solution, having been misinformed, the second OP was not presented with this choice as the question was closed.
    – C.S.Cameron
    Commented Nov 11, 2016 at 5:18
  • For the information of those interested in the freezing issue, the suggestions in askubuntu.com/questions/4408/… as suggested by @MarkKirby rely on the fact that you can still use the keyboard and still type in something
    – XavierStuvw
    Commented Dec 9, 2016 at 20:19
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Mark's answer covers it.

To elaborate a bit: what is seemingly the same question can be a totally different one; identical symptoms can be caused by different reasons. Unless one answer covers multiple causes and their solutions, they are separate questions.

If another question has an accepted answer, OP implicitly mentions it worked for him or her. If it doesn't for you, your question is obviously a different one.

Note

reviewing on dupes is the most likely category to make mistakes on; reviewers have to read thoughtfully and concentrated to decide, which is, unavoidably, not always the case. The keyword is therefore: communication. Clearly mention in the question that you tried the seemingly- dupe and why it didn't work for you, then it should be fine.

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