Some people are asking retrospective questions (I have) for various reasons, to get questions on the board, or to see if there may have been better solutions for an old problem.
How should we go about asking retrospective questions?
Should we state they are retrospective from the outset?
Frankly, it shouldn't matter if it is retrospective or not.
The only reason this would be a concern that needs noted is if people start trying to connect unrelated questions to each other. For example, I ask a question about a dog (without identifying the breed) and people assume it is a pug because in other questions I have made it clear that we have a 12-year old pug.
In my opinion, questions should be evaluated and judged based solely on the content of the questions and as long as the question is complete, on-topic, and is an (apparent) real world problem, it shouldn't matter whether it is a real actual question that the OP needs an answer too, or if it is a retrospective question, or if it is a completely made up question designed to help provide a solid foundation of questions on the site.
Now if the question is missing something, then ask in the comments if it is related to a dog mentioned in a specific question.
I say it's fine to ask a question about something that happened in the past. If it happened to you, it may happen to someone else - or it may happen to you again.
Answering your own question is perfectly OK on Stack Exchange sites: https://stackoverflow.com/help/self-answer .
Saying ahead of time that it's a retrospective question is good, it helps explain the situation for answerers.
Saying ahead of time that it's a retrospective question is good, it helps explain the situation for answerers. I see this point, but I disagree. Answers should be based on the questions content, not content that is implied from other questions from the same user so it shouldn't be necessary to add a disclaimer that it is retrospective or not.
Commented
Oct 12, 2013 at 9:23