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I placed a bounty on an old question that I've previously posted an answer to. I'm able to award the bounty to any of the other answers (which were also posted before the bounty was added), but not to my own.

Other Answers

screenshot with the award bounty button

My Answer

screenshot without the award bounty button

I couldn't find this behaviour mentioned anywhere. If it's , it should probably be added to the FAQ.

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5
  • What happens when you try to award the bounty to your own question? The FAQ implies that you can, but that you don't get the awarded rep.
    – Michael Petrotta
    Commented Sep 4, 2011 at 5:13
  • @MichaelPetrotta: The button to award it doesn't apear beside my post.
    – Jeremy
    Commented Sep 4, 2011 at 5:14
  • 1
    According to How does the bounty system work?, Can I award a bounty to my own answer?, there should be a +0 link, but there is not.
    – Rick Sladkey
    Commented Sep 4, 2011 at 5:34
  • I recall that another user recently reported that that auto-awarding to your own most upvoted answer does work, though.
    – Rick Sladkey
    Commented Sep 4, 2011 at 5:37
  • Thanks for the heads up.. Bounty wiki page has been updated. It will reflect in the other sites soon.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Sep 4, 2011 at 12:19

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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We disabled that option because it led to confusion, and is against the "spirit" of bounties. When you awarded the bounty to yourself in the past it would simply erase all the bounty rep.

It seemed more sane just to leave options that assign rep to others. If eventually you have no good answers, the system will decide what to do. It will either erase the rep, or assign half of it to the most voted answer with 2 votes or more, posted in the previous week.

See also: I just awarded myself a bounty

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  • 11
    Wow, that's too bad. Sometimes there just isn't an answer worth awarding it too.
    – Lance Roberts
    Commented Oct 13, 2011 at 21:38
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    @waffles, what if the most voted answer is your own? Will the system try to avoid assigning it to the issuer of the bounty if there are other alternatives?
    – Qtax
    Commented Jun 13, 2012 at 13:56
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    that's already bad when the answers provided are total garbage, in this case, where the original author has the most upvotes by the community, it's just... i can't even describe. also it makes one interface action disappear inconsistently, how is that less prone to confusion?
    – gcb
    Commented Jul 9, 2012 at 17:54
  • upvoted. this answer is useful for me.
    – Josua M C
    Commented Aug 26, 2012 at 5:07

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