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If you look at this question, there is a highly-rated answer, which happens to be mine, and there are also two zero-rated answers; however, none are accepted. What is community policy / best practice? Can/should the asker be prodded into accepting an answer?

As I was about to post this question, I saw there is a tag called "auto-acceptance." Is that a thing? When does it trigger?

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    The highly rated answer is yours. Your wording is misleading; could you please rephrase?
    – user200500
    Commented Mar 27, 2013 at 0:29
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    @Asad Not misleading. I am asking generally, although this situation was obviously the motivation and closest example.
    – Alan H.
    Commented Mar 27, 2013 at 0:32
  • @Asad Updated question anyway to note my own interest in the example.
    – Alan H.
    Commented Mar 27, 2013 at 4:28
  • @AlanH. Thanks. I was looking for a way to reverse my vote anyway.
    – user200500
    Commented Mar 27, 2013 at 4:56
  • Several years later, dozens of other users (including me) are still trying to debate this issue. I really hope SO staff will consider the idea eventually. meta.stackoverflow.com/q/354584/534406
    – BoffinBrain
    Commented Aug 6, 2017 at 21:49

4 Answers 4

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In this particular example, the user hasn't been on the site for over 2 years. I doubt you'll get anything out of prodding them with a comment.

Good answers still bring rep via upvotes, so I don't think it matters too much.

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The community policy is to endlessly rage on Meta about it.

Seriously though, if your answer is good enough, it will get the attention it deserves. If you really believe the OP is unaware of how accepting answers works, a gentle comment on the question with a link to the relevant FAQ is the most you can do. If you decide to go this route, it would be courteous to refrain from mentioning a specific answer for the OP to accept, since it is somewhat unfair to other answerers.

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  • Does my inquiry really read as rageful?
    – Alan H.
    Commented Mar 27, 2013 at 0:38
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    No, yours doesn't IMO. But it is true... People care so much about 15 rep o_o
    – ɥʇǝS
    Commented Mar 27, 2013 at 0:39
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    @AlanH. No, your question is the pleasantly surprising exception to the rule. I'm sorry if I come across as naggy, but this has really been done to death here on Meta.
    – user200500
    Commented Mar 27, 2013 at 0:40
  • Asad, @Seth: Thanks for clarifying!
    – Alan H.
    Commented Mar 27, 2013 at 4:22
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No. Please don't prod the OP of a question asking him to accept it.

The only exception to this general rule is when the OP comments "Thanks! it fixed my problem" and you see it before it gets too old. In that case I usually leave a friendly comment alone the the lines of

@OP If this answer has solved your problem please accept it so others know the problem is fixed. Thanks!

As this question in particular is rather old however, I don't think there is any point in poking the OP. The community "accepts" an answer with votes and the system sees it as answered so it's not a big deal..

A "Community Accept" feature has been discussed very often already and I don't think it's a good idea.

Would it be possible to have a "community accepted" feature?

Community vote for "Accepted Answer" (Rep. >= 5000 only)

https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/147242/can-we-consider-community-changing-accepted-answer

"Nudge" feature

Feature request: moderator ability to accept an answer

Forcing Acceptance

Feature Request: "WAKE UP and accept my answer please"

If you find an answer that is exceptional, consider giving it a bounty.

And, remember, you should always upvote a good answer!

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  • Leaving a comment asking someone to accept is more likely to succeed if you tell them how to accept. When I leave such comments, I include something like "if this solved the problem for you" or "since this solved the problem for you" (even though I only post such comments when it's pretty clear the post did). That decreases the chance of accidentally asking the OP to accept an answer that they don't actually like. The other thing to keep in mind about these comments is that it's best to delete them not too long after posting them, regardless of whether or not the answer was accepted.
    – Eliah Kagan
    Commented Mar 27, 2013 at 1:00
  • @EliahKagan Ah, yes. Forgot to mention that part. I usually link to here: meta.askubuntu.com/questions/1137/how-do-i-accept-an-answer
    – ɥʇǝS
    Commented Mar 27, 2013 at 1:02
  • Interesting. At first, I like the idea of a "community accepted" answer, because I have definitely seen accepted answers that are, in fact, not correct, or which become outdated (and the asker is not always still around to update the answer as required by the march of progress).
    – Alan H.
    Commented Mar 27, 2013 at 4:26
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Or if you really think the answer is good enough and well deserving, you can start the bounty on the question and award the bounty reputation to the one who deserves it. I think you can award multiple bounties on same question too, so all of the answers will get the reputation they deserve.

Warning:-Sarcasm ahead
But we don't wanna loose our own bounty for someone else's question, unless we're trying for a lousy medal, do we? ;-)

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