Close similar questions or answer with links to existing answers

Question

As spring arrives in the Northern Hemisphere we are starting to see questions from first time users that have, in many respects, been asked and answered before.

The choices are to answer the question by repeating the fundamentals, vote to close the question as a duplicate or....

For first time users we want them to come back so closing the question would not be perceived as very friendly. Yet what I see as a virtue of Stack Overflow: having one really good answer to a question can be overwhelmed by having numerous answers to the same question.

Unlike our technically minded forums the pace of horticulture is much slower. The key to a good lawn today is the same as last year or ten years ago.

What is the best solution to providing a good answer without repeating yourself and respecting a new users question?

Answer 1

If the question is a duplicate, then we can vote to close it. Just casting a single close vote will put it in the close votes queue where it can be addressed by other top rep users or moderators.

If it's not a duplicate then we need to go ahead and try to answer fully as best we can, Maybe just with a quotation from the other answer, a link to it and a paragraph or so that tailors the answer to the specific needs of that particular post.

We want all of your non-duplicate, constructive, real questions to get answers even if they require some duplication. But if they fall into any of those categories we can safely close them.