From a debate on this question there is some need to clarify how we make our way to write the best possible answer for a given question.
By voting we may find out what answers are better, what answers are not so good. But sometimes we do already have more than one good answer for a question each dealing with a single aspect of the question. It may also be that existing good answers would become even better if some missing details were added.
If we only collected answers that may have more or less votes we don't have a chance for a best "super answer" that may evolve over time. Ideally one single best answer existed for any given question.
When there already are good answers I have the choice to:
1. answer myself to give missing information.
2. commenting to add my additional views.
3. edit the existing answer to make it better.
Unfortunately I have rarerly seen any comments to appear in an edit. Writing an additional answer would need quoting of existing answers to make it complete. Editing an answer may make people feel bad or misunderstood.
What do you think should be done to make our answers better? Is it welcome to quote exisiting answers or comments when writing an additional answer? Should we encourage people to add missing information by editing existing answers?