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On a question I just answered, I noticed that they link to an external site where they've also posted the same question:

Regarding memory usage of Java Application

Initially, I was about to edit the question to remove the link, but saw a high rep user had already edited the question and left the link in - presumably because it's ok?

Is there any guidance for whether it's acceptable on SO/SE to ask the same question you've asked elsewhere and then link to it?

Is it better to keep the link in case the question is answered on either site or do we discourage linking to (competing?) non-SE sites?

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  • This is a similar question meta.stackexchange.com/q/22657/160875 regarding cross-posting on SO/SE and a non-SO/SE Ubuntu forum, but the date was 2009 so I think it might be useful to get confirmation if it is still valid.
    – Ellie Kesselman
    Commented Oct 6, 2012 at 10:42
  • @FeralOink Yes, I'd seen that question (and a few similar) - my question's more about the rules surrounding linking to / promoting external sites.
    – Michael
    Commented Oct 6, 2012 at 10:45
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    Ah, okay. I still up voted your question earlier, even without your clarifying comment, as I think it worthwhile to get some more up to date input. It is particularly so, now that I realize what you are referring to.
    – Ellie Kesselman
    Commented Oct 6, 2012 at 10:49

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Any user is free to ask their question on another non-SO/SE site should they feel the need to. We usually only frown upon duplicate questions asked within the SE-family of sites.

That being said, do we care that the OP asked the same question on another site, or which site this explicitly is? Nope, not really. As such, adding that information to their question is rather pointless.

All we really care about is that they see their question on our site through to its conclusion. We can only hope that, should the OP get the answer elsewhere, they have the decency to inform us by adding an answer of their own, detailing how they solved the problem.

With this in mind, I would personally just remove such links. They don't help the question along in any way and are as such unnecessary. That the site is "competing" does not really matter.

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