Often times I continue to conduct research on the subject of a question even after submitting an answer. I like to return to posts to add links to any useful resources that I have found with the intent of providing readers as much insight as possible.
However often times when I revisit my answers, I find that other answers provide similarly deeper or more insightful information than I provided in my original answer. I do not wish to hijack other user's answers by including them inline, and so I would seek to state something along the lines of "See userSoAndSo's answer (link) for more good points on this aspect of your question."
My desire is not to steal votes from the alternate answer's author, but rather to provide the original inquisitor and future readers with the most detailed and complete answer possible.
What is the community's perspective on this practice?
Discussion Consensus
(as of Janurary 8, 2014)
Consolidating the answers below, the practice of adding links/references to alternate answers is not only acceptable, but may well be desirable in many cases in order to provide additional insight or to highlight the existence of good information that may otherwise be hidden. However, the following guidelines should be observed:
- Your answer must stand on it's own without being dependent on these links/references and, ideally, any link. If you were to remove all links from the answer, it should still satisfy the question.
- Only add such links to your own answers. Do not edit-in these links to other people's answers - instead if you feel such links are relevant and would prove to be an asset to someone else's answer, add them in a comment to that answer.