Im working on an open famous problem (i.e. a conjecture in mathematics), but i am having a hard time figuring out if i can or should publish any of the material im working on, on my website. I don't know if any of it is important for a future academic/scientific paper (I would want write). But if it is important, should I be more careful posting on my site?. Question is basically if something has allready been written and published on a website and it turned out to be an important result or proof of something, would it be accepted in a journal or Arxiv if it was allready published on a website?
Its not like I do advanced stuff, I do not have a phD or something, im amateur mathematician and love to do small puzzles and stuff. Would it turn out to be a problem if some of it was allready published on my website? And if someone else got ideas from my work, and decided to write a very mathematical paper about it without giving me the credit. Does this make it more obvious I should not post on my website, to keep it secret and hidden? Maybe the last bit is not something to be concerned about, but I still think its worth mentioning.
If I take it a little further, what if someone published a proof or some new material on say math.stackexchange (on this site), what would happen?
If this is a duplicate please refer me to the question.
Best Answer
Short answer. nothing posted on your website would prevent you from posting on arXiv. Posting on arXiv would not usually prevent subsequently submitting to a refereed journal.
Longer answer. Your profile shows that you are really interested in the Collatz conjecture. I applaud your curiosity. That said, I think it unlikely that you will make real progress. As @DietrichBurde comments, you do not want to prejudice people's opinions of your possible eventual success by publishing (in any form) mistaken claims.
Your questions here seem to attract some positive attention, so I suggest that you continue to ask them when you need help with intermediate results. If you or anyone else succeeds on Collatz with your methods that will establish some priority.