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I'm asking about the question How to delete the files of administrator by using guest session. According to my answer there and to the discussion under the other answer, I assume the problem is solved.

The answer to the question "How do I delete files of administrator by using guest session?" is provided in the comments and it is: "No, you can't delete anything belonging to other users from a guest account."

But the OP actually wants to know "How do I access my files while I have trouble logging in with my account via GUI?"

My questions are:

  • Is it okay to rename this question in the described way?
  • And generally is it okay to rename questions in other similar cases?
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2 Answers 2

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Well, as a general principle, if any question has a bad title that won't lead others to find its answers*, then please try to fix it.

When people search in search engines or within the site, we want them to find what they're looking for. Misleading or vague titles make good answers hard to find, and they make people find things that are not helpful to them.

More than anything else about a post, I worry about getting the title right.

*But, I say answers, and I mean, the answers that it has, or if it is open, might invite in the future. So, if the question title does not reflect what the OP really wants to know, but it has been answered as titled, then it may be appropriate to edit the question, downvote/delete the existing answers, write better answers about what the OP really wants to know, etc, but I think, more often, the title should be left (or clarified without changing the meaning), answers improved and/or upvoted, and OP should be advised to ask a new question if this one failed to express what they really wanted...

Questions are not primarily for their askers

If OP has accidentally written a perfectly good question about something they didn't want to know and it has received perfectly good answers, then we shouldn't destroy the perfectly good question. Just create a new one.

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    Hello, Zanna, there is one more case when the question is asked in a wrong way but looks nice as a duplication :) For example: askubuntu.com/q/979179/566421#comment1572873_979179
    – pa4080
    Commented Nov 23, 2017 at 22:25
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    @pa4080 I wouldn't call that way wrong, because it's not misleading or vague, but I absolutely agree that multiple wordings for / ways of conceptualising a problem are great to have as duplicates.
    – Zanna Mod
    Commented Nov 23, 2017 at 22:37
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Yes it is, and you should definitely do that.

I do things like that all the time, it's common that OP doesn't know exactly what he's asking for when he phrases his question, even more when he writes the title line.1 Often the title doesn't reflect the actual problem in the first place plus it turns out it's an XY problem and the actual question is different – like in your case.

An important section of How do I ask a good question? is:

Make it relevant to others

We like to help as many people at a time as we can. Make it clear how your question is relevant to more people than just you, and more of us will be interested in your question and willing to look into it.

I think such edits help a lot in terms of that.

1: This has nothing to do with OP's experience on SE sites by the way, if you ask a question you normally don't know exactly what you're talking about, else you probably wouldn't have to ask. As with the title in a scientific publication, the title exactly matching the question changes constantly.

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