> Qs on a Q&A site become a sort of permanent record that other people stumble across The fact that it is a permanent record that lives on is another argument

> Qs on a Q&A site become a sort of permanent record that other people stumble across The fact that it is a permanent record that lives on is another argument in favor of the "just answer the damn question". Context changes. Requirements change. Someone in the future might need the exact answer for some reason, but instead they get some useless back-and-forth and low-effort condescending answers that is super-specific to that asker. Asking for more context, adding disclaimers before answering or linking to alternative solutions in the comments is fine, but it's a pain in the ass when the answers doesn't match the questions.