The title says it all. On TeX.SE, is it proper for the OP to post his/her first attempt at solving the problem as a self-answer? Or should the first attempt be included in the question instead?
Take Get the head, the tail, and the last element of a comma-separated list as an example. The OP posted a self-answer to his question immediately after posting the question, a self-answer which he self-confessedly found not entirely satisfactory.
I think this practice may confuse subsequent visitors. IMO, a self-answer should be reserved for a definitive answer, i.e. an answer that solves the original problem in a more satisfactory way than any of the other answers proposed so far.
What do you think?
:-)
It was a sensible issue to bring up, as I had wondered myself about the right thing to do. Nice to have some clarification for the future. – John Wickerson May 23 '13 at 16:38:p
It was only the most recent example I could find. – jub0bs May 24 '13 at 12:01