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In this question the asker put:

I will add 250 rep as a bounty when I am allowed to an proper answer.

This really rubs me the wrong way... If the question is good, the question shouldn't need a bounty. If the question doesn't get attention, then a bounty... But I can also see if the user is particularly desperate for an answer, it could be a motivation tool, but there's no way to enforce a follow through. And what does it say to the community about what bounties are for?

A few questions:

  • Is it actually inappropriate or am I being over sensitive and should just go get some sleep?
  • If inappropriate, what would be the best course of action? Edit? Downvote? Flag?
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2 Answers 2

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I'm not aware of any official rule against the practice, and it's not really wrong per se, but it does strike me as rather crass. If you start out promising a bounty before the question's even asked, hoping it'll get me to answer, you're basically calling me a rep whore. (I may even be one from time to time, but that's beside the point. :) You wouldn't know that, and would be making unwarranted assumptions about my character -- and everyone else's.)

If you see such promises, there's nothing wrong (IMO) with editing them out. They're not part of the question, they can obviously be construed as rude (whether they are or not), they're not enforceable anyway, and any question that wouldn't get answered without such a promise (assuming it's been seen) is simply a bad question.

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    Yes, edit them out. They may not be against the rules but the question is for the question and saying you will offer a bounty is definitely not part of the question. They only have to wait two days to add a bounty, they don't need to tell people upfront. It's really not that long of a wait.
    – animuson StaffMod
    Nov 11, 2012 at 15:58
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A bounty cannot be offered, if not after two days the question has been asked. I take the user is anticipating he is willing to put a bounty for the question, and he will do it when he is allowed. Probably he is anticipating it is difficult for other users to give an answer, and he thinks users need an incentive.

I understand that you think the user could be promising something that he is then not going to give, but I think that who is really interested in getting the bounty will wait to see if the OP is really going to offer a bounty; who is not interested in the bounty is going to answer independently from the bounty really being offered.

What I would do is removing that part of the question, as knowing the OP is going to offer a bounty is not information necessary to answer the question. At worse, that information is "damaging" the question, as users could wait two days to see if effectively the bounty is going to be offered.

There is nothing on Stack Exchange that says you should not make public your willingness to offer a bounty, but it's someway contrary of the bounty's spirit: You should not ask a question with your mind set to "I will offer a bounty"; you should ask a question thinking of obtaining an answer.
Only if nobody answered the question, and you are really interested on the answer (or it is someway urgent), you should consider offering a bounty. That is the reason why there is a limit of two days to respect before to offer a bounty: If the question is answered before two days are passed, the question was not that difficult to be answered. (Although, it could be users are trying to guess the answer, but that could mean the question is not well written.)

TL;DR: I would rather remove that sentence about the OP's willingness in offering a bounty from the question.

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