If you already see an answer voted up many votes, does this discourage you from providing an answer, even though you have something to say?

If the question asks for research and facts and there already is a correct and complete answer or two up before I see the question then I will most likely just read throughly all of the answers and comment if it feels right, mark appropriate answers as helpful, and move on. If a question asks for my opinion and I feel I can clearly express mine then I will just go ahead and answer the question regardless how many answers are up already, how many votes they have, and how good or bad they are. However in this case I still might not answer if an opinion like mine has been eloquently articulated by another user I will just mark that answer as helpful, possibly comment on that or another answer and move on.

You are right though an early answer will have a better chance of getting voted best because it will get votes early if is is deserving of them however I have found that a significant % of the questions I answer are asked by users who select the best answer themselves, sometimes they select mine and sometimes they do not, sometimes the selection of best is in line with the voting and sometimes it is not. I almost never consider my BA% rate when deciding to answer a question or not. I have found that by answering every question that interests me to the best of my ability without regard to a BA% has been successful in keeping my % pretty much stagnant for a long long time now.

I like earning best answers but as one could see my approach has been to answer a lot of questions and just keep answering more and try to do better each time if I can. The best answers will come if they are deserved. For me it depends on the type of question.

If the question asks for research and facts and there already is a correct and complete answer or two up before I see the question then I will most likely just read throughly all of the answers and comment if it feels right, mark appropriate answers as helpful, and move on. If a question asks for my opinion and I feel I can clearly express mine then I will just go ahead and answer the question regardless how many answers are up already, how many votes they have, and how good or bad they are. However in this case I still might not answer if an opinion like mine has been eloquently articulated by another user I will just mark that answer as helpful, possibly comment on that or another answer and move on.

You are right though an early answer will have a better chance of getting voted best because it will get votes early if is is deserving of them however I have found that a significant % of the questions I answer are asked by users who select the best answer themselves, sometimes they select mine and sometimes they do not, sometimes the selection of best is in line with the voting and sometimes it is not. I almost never consider my BA% rate when deciding to answer a question or not. I have found that by answering every question that interests me to the best of my ability without regard to a BA% has been successful in keeping my % pretty much stagnant for a long long time now.

I like earning best answers but as one could see my approach has been to answer a lot of questions and just keep answering more and try to do better each time if I can. The best answers will come if they are deserved.