Link partial answers to the question — never replace the question with an answer
When a question receives a partial answer, preserve the original question as a persistent atom and link the answer to it rather than replacing the question, creating a visible record of how understanding evolves from open inquiry to accumulated evidence.
Why This Is a Rule
The natural instinct when a question gets answered is to replace the question with the answer — "now I know." But most important questions don't get answered in one shot. They accumulate partial answers from different sources, different contexts, different time periods. If you replace the question with the first answer, you lose the attentional organizing function of the question, and subsequent partial answers have nowhere to attach.
Preserving the question as a persistent atom creates a convergence point. Partial answer #1 links to the question. Three months later, partial answer #2 from a completely different source also links to the question. Now you have two pieces of evidence that your system relates through their shared question — a connection you would never have made if the question had been deleted after the first answer.
The visible record of question → accumulating answers also tracks your epistemic evolution: how your understanding of a topic deepened over time, which sources contributed what, and where gaps remain.
When This Fires
- Finding a partial answer to an open question in your knowledge system
- Reading something that addresses but doesn't fully resolve a persistent question
- Getting a definitive answer and being tempted to "close" the question by deleting it
- Reviewing your knowledge base and deciding what to do with partially answered questions
Common Failure Mode
Replacing the question with a confident answer after the first piece of evidence. "How does spaced repetition actually work?" gets replaced by the first article's explanation — which may be incomplete, simplified, or wrong. The question, which would have attracted deeper and more nuanced answers over time, is gone. Future evidence has no open question to attach to.
The Protocol
When a question receives a partial answer: (1) Keep the question atom intact. (2) Create a new note for the answer with its source and evidence quality. (3) Link the answer to the question with a "partially_answers" relationship. (4) Update the question's status to "partially-answered" with a note on what remains unresolved. (5) Only mark a question "resolved" when you have sufficient evidence from multiple independent sources. Even then, preserve the question — it's part of your epistemic history.