How should we handle questions when the selected correct answer is no longer correct or new information has come to light?

Question

This started on this thread, but it was recommended to start a new one.

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Ethereum is a rapidly growing and improving technology and sometimes an answer from even a month ago may not be 100% correct anymore, or there may be new information.

I believe that a simple edit will suffice for removing or noting outdated information if it no longer applies. My question is what to do with adding new information as it comes to light.

Is it better to just post new answer (at least while the number of answers per questions is relatively small)? Or should the new information be appended onto the selected correct answer?

For example, a simple one that comes to mind is backing up Mist. First there was no backup in the menu so you had to go to the folder. Then there was and it was called Backup, directly in the top bar. Now it's under accounts. The top answer shows only one short-lived version (0.3.9) and no longer applies.

I went ahead and added a new answer that was more comprehensive than the original, so just works for this case. However, if the original answer had been super comprehensive, would an edit to add information pertaining to Mist 0.5.1 and noting the versions used in the original answer be appropriate? Or would still just adding a new answer specific to that version be a better choice?

Obviously this is going to depend highly on the specific case, but I would like to hear your thoughts and how you would handle the situation or what would impact your choice to edit, append, or create a new answer.

Thank you.

Answer 1

Post an updated answer and the community will upvote the best and most correct answer.

There is no way to force users to accept a certain answer, even moderators can't override that. But after posting an updated answer, you could leave a kind comment for the author of the question to revise his decision in accepting a newer, more accurate answer.

Answer 2

I agree with the new answer solution (rather than editing the content of the obsolete answer directly), but I think it would really help to:

(1) Preface the outdated answer with an Out-of-date flag clarifying the issue: "This answer applied to MIST 0.3.9. Please see month/date/day answer for Mist 0.5.1." This would perhaps encourage the down voting of that answer and help ensure that the more accurate answer does eventually rise to the top, which could still take a long time if the out-of-date answer had gotten a lot of votes. At least with a flag, people can save time and pay attention to the timeline to find what would be most helpful.

and

(2) Preface the new updated answer with something like May 2017 Update to make it clear that it is based on new info or developments so people will consider the timeline in assessing value (rather than simply focusing on the number of votes). When I see several answers with a lot of votes and then a couple with 5 or 0, I tend to skip them, assuming they are not as helpful. It would be easy to miss a more accurate / up-to-date answer that has zero votes because it was posted recently. Just saying this because I'm not sure the better answer always necessarily rises to the top (especially if there are already very popular answers on the page).