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alt text (more context)

And how does SO decide which username to put there?

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    Since the accepted answer appears to conflict with another answer that is as authoritative as possible (quoting Atwood), it may be best to switch which one is accepted.
    – LSpice
    Jan 1, 2019 at 16:19

4 Answers 4

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It means 40% of the text was written by Mike Duncan. The user name with the most % is placed there.

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    This is wrong. The true answer is "sum the total size of all line contributions (insertions or deletions) from any given author in a revision, with a small bonus multiplier of 2x for the original author".
    – Shadow Wizard Says No More War
    Jan 1, 2019 at 13:04
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Jeff describes it on his blog:

I simply sum the total size of all line contributions (insertions or deletions) from any given author in a revision, with a small bonus multiplier of 2x for the original author. We report the highest percentage of authorship in the final revision.

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    Sadly enough, this is the only correct answer here. (Sad because accepted answer is wrong)
    – Shadow Wizard Says No More War
    Jan 1, 2019 at 13:05
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After so many edits, the % starts to reflect who "owns" the most content on the post.

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The percentage is to show that certain a person have contributed the most to this post, and how much he contributed. That allows you to quickly tell who put the most effort into the post. Sort of a way to honor that person for writing/organizing information.

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