Whenever I ask a question that is found to be duplicate. If I search the question previously to make sure it was not asked before it does not appear as the language of me and the question is not the same. So how can I stop asking duplicate questions?
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$\begingroup$ I don't see a problem here. If your question is closed as a duplicate, that hopefully means that you get your answer, right? $\endgroup$– Dmitry GrigoryevCommented Feb 12, 2018 at 9:54
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$\begingroup$ Personally, I would google it. Mostly well answered questions on PSE will be listed 1st/2nd on the google list. $\endgroup$– ShingCommented Mar 14, 2018 at 7:00
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$\begingroup$ I've seen questions that turned out to be a duplicate of another one having a completely different wording. Having your question marked as duplicate is not something bad in general. $\endgroup$– RolCommented Feb 26, 2019 at 3:20
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4 Answers
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I took the liberty to look at your questions, and I can see a lot of one-liners there. I suggest you research the question you're about to ask yourself, and show that research in your question. If you do that, you'll more likely find similar questions (with answers) or find the answer yourself.
Other than that, getting some level of understanding in topics you're interested in really pays off. E.g. if you're interested in black holes, read a book about them before asking questions: most of the basic questions you may have will be answered there, and the remaining questions will be a much better fit on Physics SE.
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I suggest paying attention to, and reading some of the suggested questions that pop up when you start to ask yours (I know this feature exists on the desktop site, maybe not mobile).
This is an example from when I type in a new question with the same title as your question from today; which is gaining some votes as a duplicate. I actually flagged this one as a duplicate; so I can walk you through the process for how I found it, along with the process you could use to find it.
You can already see, there are some suggestions here for questions which may contain your answer. The first link is your question, which it should be, because it has the exact same title; so the system is taking a guess that it could answer your question.
I could have used the second link; but I thought I had seen a better answer somewhere else before. As it turns out, the third link was a duplicate of the question that I used to flag as duplicate.
As another sample, the question on DC current through a capacitor, I can demonstrate the same technique:
You can see the link below your question is what your post got marked as a duplicate of.
I will say, you can't apply this to all your questions. These ones are really low-hanging fruit, where the duplicate is quite obvious.
For others, such as your black hole question, you may just need to think of other ways the question could be worded.
It also seems as though you don't show any research of your own when asking these questions. Generally, it's a good idea to try and look up answers on your own first. Not just on this site; but other places as well. Then you can narrow down what confuses you, and possibly find duplicates worded in ways that you wouldn't otherwise expect.
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2$\begingroup$ I believe the list of suggested questions changes based on the tags (and possibly text) you add, so it's worth re-checking the list after filling in other parts of the form besides the title. That might be worth a mention. $\endgroup$– David ZCommented Feb 1, 2018 at 22:02
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$\begingroup$ @DavidZ I tried to fill in the body and the results didn't seem to change; but I never tested tags; and that seems far more likely to have an effect. I may test shortly. $\endgroup$– JMacCommented Feb 1, 2018 at 22:14
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1$\begingroup$ In my experience, once you ask a question the search engine produces a set of links to the right that is more appropriate than what you sometimes get after just creating the title (I suppose it uses the tags and maybe the question body as well?). Anyway - it shows the value of a good title. Good answer. $\endgroup$– FlorisCommented Feb 5, 2018 at 13:44
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Before asking a question:
Use the built-in search engine to search for duplicates.
Alternatively, search the Phys.SE site with an external search engine, e.g. Google.
When asking a question:
Pick a good title which captures your question in one line, preferable in the form of a question. The SE software will then suggest possible duplicates.
Fill in relevant tags to further help the SE software.
answered Feb 1, 2018 at 20:26
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My two cents:
You should search for duplicates before asking your question, but the built-in search engine is really not that good for this task. Doing a google search for your question with "site:physics.stackexchange.com" at the end of your query is a superior way to find duplicates on this site.
Compare, for instance, my search for duplicates to this question:
The query isn't perfect, but the Google search, unlike the site search, immediately brings up relevant results.
