Should personal experiences be included in an answer?

Question

I have seen many answers that are based on a single person's experiences - these are typically down-voted, however I don't see any particular stance on them - should it just be implemented as a rule to answer questions with general answers and avoid anecdotes which may or may not represent the industry at large?

Answer 1

Personal experiences can be included in an answer, but they are neither mandatory nor sufficient by themselves when developing an acceptable answer.

You can look here for more information: https://workplace.meta.stackexchange.com/a/1894/437

Answer 2

I feel that adding personal experience to an answer can make it better, just make sure that your whole answer is not riding on that experience

For example jmac said this about a good answer he saw in the chat one time:

your post was backed up with personal experience, referenced the important rules, and even linked to a relevant post on another SE! That's a great answer.

Adding personal experience can help others relate, but just because you were in such a situation does not make you an expert! Make sure you show that are an expert as well.

Answer 3

Mention your personal experience if it helps understand why your answer is the way it is.

Some readers may decide to adjust your answer to their own case if they decide that your own personal experience does not apply to their case, which exactly what we want them to do - apply their judgment to their own case based on the structure you provided for your answer.

We love comprehensive answers with backup in the form of facts, life experience and sound reasoning included. We are definitely not fond of pre-packaged answers with no information as to how they were arrived at.