I'd love to populate the site more. Should I ask a question I'm wondering about, even if (with some research) I could find out the answer myself? And/or should I in that case post a question and an answer at once? Or should I only ask questions I'm genuinely interested in and don't manage to find an answer to after a bit of research?
Similar question: Seeding questions during the beta
We actually explicitly encourage users to ask and answer their own questions if you have a piece of knowledge you want to share that hasn't been asked on the site yet. This includes things you asked yourself and then immediately found the answer to. (You can ask and answer your own question at the same time! There's a check box underneath the question-asking field that says "Answer your own question".)
Just make sure that your questions meet the normal standards for quality and on-topicness, and you'll be great.
As long as the questions are interesting, not too basic, and are likely to help other users in the future, ask away. Just make sure you read Robert Cartaino's answer in the question you linked, and the related blog post he links to, and try to avoid the concerns he has about seeding. Do that and you should be fine.
I don't think seeding is a bad thing, as long as we don't go overboard, and most importantly the seeded questions are still good questions. Neither is answering your own question - I have done on a couple of occasions. The other way to look at it is that while you could find the answer by researching elsewhere, others here may have more (or different) experience and may add further points that you may not have found to any questions you ask.
