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I posted this question very recently. To sum it up, an upper manager alerted me to a bug I couldn't repeat, so I needed to ask him for help describing its behavior and testing my fixes. I was hoping for advice on getting information from him without bothering him too much with "non-managerial" duties.

Now, fortunately for me, but unfortunately for my question, I took a blind stab at fixing the bug and it looks like it worked. The attempt took place before I asked my question, but the confirmation took place shortly after. Now I'm unsure what to do with the question.

I understand that helping me with this question is a side effect of Stack Exchange's larger goal of helping anyone with this question, but at the same time, I can't actually try out any of these solutions; the problem's gone. If I were to pick a correct answer, it would only be because I liked it the most. That doesn't seem like it's what Stack Exchange is all about.

Is there a protocol for what to do if your question becomes moot?

It's still a pretty young question and (I think) eligible for deletion.

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  • Choosing an accepted answer is generally good for the community, but it's not a requirement. And in this case, it might be better not to.
    – employee-X
    Jul 13 '18 at 16:51
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Is there a protocol for what to do if your question becomes moot?

I think that you should leave it open.

You may receive answers with alternate solutions to the one you came up with, some of them perhaps more efficient.

It will help you in future situation, as you may come back to the post to reconsider all suggestions if you ever face a similar situation again.

It will also help other users, present and future, that face situations similar to yours. Ultimately contributing to the main goal of the SE network to document good Q&A's.

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You should leave it open and post what you did as an answer to your own question, if you like.

The question is still relevant as someone else in the future may still have a similar problem. Even though you have solved your specific problem, this is one that many of us have experienced, so the answers would still apply.

We are a Q&A site so it's the question, not your particular situation which is relevant.

In short, leave it open. It's a good question.

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  • 4
    Good advice in general, but in this case it sounds like the solution was that he found the bug on his own and so doesn't need to ask his manager -- so he doesn't have an answer to the question about interacting with his manager.
    – Monica Cellio
    Jul 5 '18 at 16:26
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DarkCygnus' answer addresses the question well, and Don Thermidor_Lobster Mobster's answer also offers useful general advice. Some additional notes I would like to add:

  • There is no time limit to accept an answer. It is completely acceptable to leave the question without an accepted answer, and come back later to accept an answer. I have myself accepted answers several months later (on other SE sites).

  • The age of the question is not a deletion criteria. Moreover, you cannot automatically delete your own question if it has an answer with positive score. Even if you flag it to moderators for deletion, we are highly unlikely to do it, since mod-deletion is reserved for serious problems only.

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