When is "forking" a version-specific canonical question for the latest release acceptable?

Question

My question is best explained with an example:

The Skype panel icon has bothered lots of folks, who have been asking about how to remove it since at least 10.04.
The problem with the accepted/most-upvoted current answer is that it works only for 11.04 and while you can follow the steps in there, they do not work for 12.04 (or 11.10). There is a 12.04 answer lower on the page though.
In such a situation, to make life easier for most readers who are presumably on 12.04, would it to be appropriate to "fork" this into a question/answer specifically dealing with 12.04?
- If so, when should such forked Q/As be merged back into the "canonical" question:
  1. x amount of time after the next release, or
  2. Longer if the version being dealt with is an LTS?

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-13 12:25:21Z

4

I suggest you do something like what I've got going here with the ruby on rails question, as well as the PPA list.

CommunityBot

1

answered Jun 15, 2012 at 1:26

jrgMod

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Many thanks, I've thought about the PPA list option as a fallback -- and I suppose a bolded warning/index in the question is sufficient to overcome any perceived advantage an accepted answer may carry in the eyes of a "gun-jumping" reader.
– ish
Commented Jun 15, 2012 at 1:33
3

@izx I think that the PPA list option is really the only way to do it, imo.
– jrg Mod
Commented Jun 15, 2012 at 1:34
1

The (worst) alternative is separate questions for each version, which would be even harder to collate and crosslink, at least if it's in one question we can split it up into versions and add a little TOC.
– Jorge Castro
Commented Jun 15, 2012 at 13:32

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Eliah Kagan · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-15 09:43:20Z

2

I think the opposite is the preferred case (no fork).

Solve the ranking with votes.

Eliah Kagan

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answered Jun 15, 2012 at 1:17

RobotHumans

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Isn't it a chicken-and-egg situation given the inertia of a heavily upvoted existing answer? In any case, the accepted status of the old answer will ensure it remains pinned to the top, and it would be difficult in practice to get the OP to revisit and reaccept.
– ish
Commented Jun 15, 2012 at 1:20
Possibly, but I think you'll notice a change as more people get 12.04 stable and passed driver difficulties. Here's an example where it's got solved by votes: askubuntu.com/questions/62518/how-burn-or-mount-an-iso-file
– RobotHumans
Commented Jun 15, 2012 at 1:23
1

Thanks for the example, but I note that there isn't an accepted answer :) -- I think the inertia of an old accept is still somewhat of an inherent downside
– ish
Commented Jun 15, 2012 at 1:27

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2 Answers 2