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I just came across this Q&A originating 2015, that asks and answers exactly what I want to know, yet the answers are (maybe?!) fairly outdated, being from 2016 to 2018. In this example, with QGIS being a quickly evolving project, it isn't unlikely that by now there might be: A plugin? Zonal raster statistics batch processing? Maybe a new tool? A branch of qgis-dev?

I am wondering: Is there a more modern solution? I'm not sure what to do with this "question"...

Of course, I can always try to find a newer solution using other means myself. But in case I don't, I'm asking, what is this platform's policy or "solution" to the "problem" of potentially outdated solutions (and hence questions being worthy of being "re-asked"):

  1. I've seen people responsibly adding new answers to old questions, once newer versions of software have implemented new ways. This is the best case and waiting for this to happen might be "the way to go". But it doesn't feel satisfying: Passively relying on people updating "solved" answers can take a looong time ;] I want to actively ASK for a new way or encourage answers! Also, new answers might "disappear" below upvoted ones from the past and are only "accepted" if the person asking revisits the question.
  2. just adding a comment to the question (asking about newer ways) is the least "spam", but will only reach the persons who are either looking for a solution or who posted one originally
  3. asking a new question seems a bit silly and this approach will spam the platform on longterm with questions like "Is there a modern solution to ... (e.g. doing zonal statistics on multiple rasters)" (or will most likely be marked/deleted as duplicate) - yet currently I see no other way to reach the Q&A "community" of a topic/tag to react on a current question.

I'm curious, what you think about this in general - is this considered a problem? Are there known precedents? Is this "solved"? - and also in this specific case.

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3 Answers 3

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I suggest we should change our policy a little:

  • allow to re-ask existing questions if the other ones are, lets say, more than three years old
  • close the old question as duplicate of the new one so they stay linked
  • adding bounties cannot be the only solution because they are only valid for a relatively short time, and especially for new members who simply have no/not enough reputation to draw them
  • editing the old question to bump them on top or updating it to the "new world" cannot be a solution either, because the edit may be irrelevant or invalidate existing answers

Alternatively, you could ask your question about a specific version of the software, so it is no duplicate in the narrower sense.

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    I agree using bounties poses a big challenge for a large number of users. The re-ask timeframe is tricky because a given time period may make answers outdated when the original question was narrowly focused on a technology, but that same time period might not date the the answers at all when the original question was about analytical methods. Technology gets dated much quicker than science, and GIS SE gets a mixture of both.
    – bixb0012
    Commented Apr 1, 2023 at 18:29
  • I support the approach above, but that's probably because my main areas of interest relate to QGIS and Leaflet, both pieces of software that have had significant changes over the 5 years or so that I have been using them. Answers for QGIS from say 2014 are often just wrong, but new answers - if added - generally languish. The challenge is how to handle this. You don't want duplicate questions being posted for questions where there are still valid answers (eg for slower moving software, or analytical methods).
    – Tom Brennan
    Commented Apr 23, 2023 at 12:42
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I have never used the bounty-system, but re-reading the question, it occurred to me, that maybe it was implemented for this very reason: To encourage re-visiting "old"/"solved" questions. Probably "older" members of this community have more to say about that, though.

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If you know (or can find) a newer or better solution then add it as an answer. If you don't then attaching a bounty is a good way to encourage people to look for the answer for you.

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