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I've just picked a winner for this contest, and I was think of other ones along similar lines, and I thought about a script what would randomly pick someone from the list, but would never pick one certain person.

That contest is obviously nearly identical to my last one. My question is would that be okay to post as a new contest, or would it be better just editing my question to including answers that fit the above criteria?

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    \$\begingroup\$ I personally think it would be too similar. Underhanded popularity-contests are quite open and broad by nature, which means that similar contests will naturally have a very large overlap (and hence I'd probably vote to close as duplicate). As for editing your question, you can do that, but I don't really see the point. Any new answers will not get the exposure of the existing ones and will probably not do particularly well in a popcon any more - and some people just generally dislike challenges being changed after many answers are in, so be prepared for downvotes. It's your call, though. \$\endgroup\$
    – Martin Ender
    Jun 23, 2014 at 13:54
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    \$\begingroup\$ I'd say that editing your question after receiving >1 answer would be very bad form (unless it's to block a loophole you didn't see). Most especially so since you've awarded a winner to that challenge. \$\endgroup\$
    – Kyle Kanos
    Jun 23, 2014 at 15:45
  • \$\begingroup\$ You could continue with the "Office Lunch Disputes" theme, and do one about collating pizza-topping preferences. Generate n 3-topping pizzas given a list of (name, likes, dislikes, pairs-disliked-in-combination). \$\endgroup\$
    – luser droog
    Jun 28, 2014 at 20:54

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The questions to ask here is: is the challenge different enough so answers of the previous one are not competitive in the new one? Does it add anything interesting over them? Are the rules different enough to make sure that a valid answer on the previous challenge is invalid on the new challenge?

If you specify that every name from the list (except one) can potentially be outputted, I'd say that the answer to these questions is "Yes". Most answers cannot be copied because they always output the same item, or output a certain item more times than the other items.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I don't think the question is "can the question be solved in a different way than the previous challenge?" but "Can solutions to the previous challenge be competitive in this one?", and if not, how much would you have to alter a challenge to adapt it to the new problem. If any good solution can remain the same at heart, that would seem to be enough for me to make it an (indirect, but substantial) duplicate. \$\endgroup\$
    – Martin Ender
    Jun 23, 2014 at 13:56
  • \$\begingroup\$ @m.buettner I'm not sure what you mean by "be competitive in this one". Isn't that the same as "be solved in a different way"? \$\endgroup\$
    – ProgramFOX
    Jun 23, 2014 at 14:15
  • \$\begingroup\$ No, it's irrelevant whether the question can be solved in a different way if that solution isn't better (by whatever winning criterion is chosen) than those adapted from the previous question. \$\endgroup\$
    – Martin Ender
    Jun 23, 2014 at 14:46
  • \$\begingroup\$ @m.buettner Ah, I get what you mean. But that's not the case in this specific case, because answers cannot be adapted, because most answers always return the same result, which is not the point of the new challenge. \$\endgroup\$
    – ProgramFOX
    Jun 23, 2014 at 14:52
  • \$\begingroup\$ Yes, I wasn't referring to this question in particular, I was just saying that asking whether there are different solutions to the new challenge is not enough. I haven't looked at the answers to the challenge to see how easily they could be adapted. \$\endgroup\$
    – Martin Ender
    Jun 23, 2014 at 14:54
  • \$\begingroup\$ @m.buettner I see. I updated my answer - thanks! \$\endgroup\$
    – ProgramFOX
    Jun 23, 2014 at 14:57

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