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This question was asked by me and an answer was converted to Community wiki. The question asks about a list of items, as comprehensive as possible. I have been adding other people's answers to the wiki post, striving for a complete list with consistent formatting.

I am beginning to question if this is adequate.

Today the question got a pretty great answer (in my opinion), plus nicely formatted for the eye. My worries are:

(1) The poster will not get as many upvotes if his answer is copy-pasted in the wiki

(2) Copy-pasting creates text duplication with all of its inherent drawbacks (e.g. improving the answer does not improve the copy).

Should all answers be copy-pasted to the wiki post?

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Ideally, yes, everything is incorporated into the wiki. It's true that he won't get as many upvotes, but he also won't get as many downvotes (which could happen when recommending olive oil and potato chips as staples on a long hike)

This sort of question is actually problematic. It's a list question which doesn't fit the StackExchange format very well. However, at least for the time being, we have decided that a couple of the key lists are good for the outdoors because they are such a common outdoors question for less experienced outdoorsmen.

So basically, I'm saying the problem isn't his answer, or the CW, it's the question. Questions that do not lend themselves to distinct answers don't fit well, but we have shoehorned this in because we think it's worthwhile.

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Depends on the question... Sometimes ALL the answers are rolled into ONE big answer, and sometimes they remain into separate smaller answers...

Either way, it doesn't necessarily affect the function of CW, the purpose is so that multiple people can contribute their efforts toward a better collective answer or answers.

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