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I recently asked a rather broad question, with four parts. I quickly received an excellent answer which solved three of them, but the fourth seems to be less related than I thought, and is still unanswered.

I would like to edit the question so it does not include the fourth part, accept the answer I've been given, and ask the fourth part on its own as a separate question.

I know that substantially changing a question after it's received answers is frowned on - but in this case, since I'm not altering it to make an answer less relevant, I wondered if it would be appropriate.

(To be fair, it would make another answer less relevant - however, that other answer - while very helpful and interesting - doesn't actually answer the fourth part, so it seems a minor casualty.)

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    $\begingroup$ My preference would be, accept the answer, edit the question to note that the fourth part has not been answered and to link to the new question where you ask the fourth part (and put a link to the old question at the new one. $\endgroup$
    – Gerry Myerson
    Commented Dec 14, 2016 at 22:15
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    $\begingroup$ I too would suggest not editing out the fourth part of the old question. You can make an edit that mildly reduces the emphasis of the fourth part and then proceed as Gerry Myerson recommends. Gerhard "Prefers Inclusionist History To Revisionist" Paseman, 2016.12.14. $\endgroup$
    – Gerhard Paseman
    Commented Dec 15, 2016 at 1:12
  • $\begingroup$ If my answer is what stops you from doing so, I don't mind deleting it. $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Commented Dec 16, 2016 at 23:00
  • $\begingroup$ @AsafKaragila Please don't delete it - I like your answer very much! And partly for that reason I was reluctant to change the question to make it irrelevant. I'm going to follow Gerry's advice, and if you prefer you can post that answer under my new question and delete the one under my old question, but I hope you won't simply delete it entirely. $\endgroup$
    – Noah Schweber
    Commented Dec 19, 2016 at 19:38

1 Answer 1

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This answer is essentially Gerry Myerson's comment, above; I'm posting and accepting it so that this question doesn't remain open.

I'll ask the fourth part as a separate question, but not remove it entirely from the original question; rather, I'll make a note that it remains unanswered, and link the two questions. And, of course, I'll accept the given answer.

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    $\begingroup$ You don't gain reputation on meta. $\endgroup$
    – Gerry Myerson
    Commented Dec 20, 2016 at 2:59
  • $\begingroup$ @GerryMyerson Oh yeah, good point. $\endgroup$
    – Noah Schweber
    Commented Dec 20, 2016 at 3:00

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