What is the question/answer etiquette?

I definitely think an official ettiquette should be established. Building on Germs and oblix's responses (and collecting them into a list), my suggested rules are as follows:

1) If you know the answer to the question, don't ask. This should be fairly clear already, but answers are for questions you NEED ANSWERING, not ones that you already know and want to quiz others. In fact, believe it or not, we already have a place where you can do that! It's called the "quiz" section.

2) If you're asking an opinion, make a pick instead. I've already seen some opinion related "Answers" questions. I'm not talking about, "What's the best way to make mac and cheese" kind of opinions (those can be "Answers" questions), I'm talking, "Did you know that the actress who plays Sharon appears in two episodes after her character's death?" These are not "Answers" questions because there is no question being asked. All a fan can do is say, "Yeah, I noticed," or "No, I didn't." This is probably better served as a pick question, when there aren't multiple answers or explanations that can be employed.

3) If you don't know the answer, don't answer the question. Responding just to say, "Oooh, I was wondering that, too!" or "Oh, I don't know, but I hope you figure it out" are not helpful to the asker, or anyone else for that matter. Either add your own answer to the question, or add on to what someone has previously said.

4) If it's been said, don't be a broken record. If a question has been sufficiently answered, and you agree with that answer, instead of answering again, VOTE FOR THAT AS THE BEST ANSWER. Makes sense, doesn't it? You agree, and it probably is the best answer. Don't be a glory whore and repeat what someone's already said.

5) If you think someone has it wrong, correct them. Just because a question has been answered several times doesn't mean it's necessarily been CORRECTLY answered. Feel free to add on to other people's answers (like I'm adding on to germs and oblix's right now) or to correct someone whose answered incorrectly. It's OK to politely say, "Actually, the film was released in June, not October." People won't beat you with a stick.

And if anyone wants to add to these rules, by all means do so.

EDIT: At germs' urging, I link.

First of all, there needs to be a term to distinguish the questions you ask as part of the Answers feature from all the other questions we can ask on the site. Talking it over with others, the best I've seen so far is Answer Requests (AR).

As for using the feature, there are a few ground rules, in two parts.

Asking a question:

* Ask questions that have multiple correct answers.
* Ask questions which will have answers that are at least partially based on fact or process, rather than opinion.
* Ask questions for which you don't already know the answer.
* Ask questions that require answers of at least a couple of sentences. Simple questions with "yes/no" answers, or answers of a person's name, are a waste of the feature.
* Ask questions that haven't been asked already.
* The question should be general. Keep the specifics in the "additional info" field. Other people who have similar questions will be looking to read the answers to your requests, and that will be a lot more useful with a question like "Which dentists are good in Birmingham?" rather than "I have a lot of cavities and I'm in a lot of pain. My last dentist was terrible with root canals, and I may have got a crown I didn't actually need. I live in Birmingham. Can you suggest a good dentist?"

Providing an answer:
* Answer the question.
* Do not respond to other answers. If you want to respond to other answers, use the comment feature. By now users should have noticed that answers get shuffled around nearly each time the page is loaded, so there is no "thread" of conversation to follow. If you respond to another's answer in your answer, you will look like an idiot.
* Do not answer a question if you do not have an answer.
* Do not answer a question if your answer is not substantially different from an already-posted answer.
* Try to answer completely and thoroughly.
* Provide an answer in that location; do not only post a link to something you wrote elsewhere (or, worse, something someone else wrote). People looking for answers don't want to and shouldn't have to look in still other places for their information.
* If you don't answer, vote for the "best answer".
* Answer in complete sentences and proper spelling/grammar. Nothing diminishes the perceived quality of an answer like using sentence fragments filled with chat speak.
* Answer in the same language used in the Answer Request.

Edited to accommodate the fact that we now CAN comment on answers.

i think the etiquette still needs to be established. i wrote in the "suggestions" forum already because it seems pointless to me to answer questions a number of times if the answer is something like "it was season 2". the person who posted the question should be able to mark a question as answered and then its like a closed pick, still viewable but you cant vote anymore.
i think "i dont know" responses should be reported and removed.
also i think the "Answers" shouldnt be used for quizzes- just because youre bored and want to ask something :S

No,because people just think the same and people sometimes it's too hard and they can't answer it.

well i dont know..

my answer is, i think that it's dumb for people with the response 'i don't know' because i'm fairly sure answers will help towards medals and best answers will too.

so etiquettes hmm , No un-useful responses?
(which so i think i'm breaking my own etiquettes in this reply rely)