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If I ask a question on StackOverflow, and find multiple answers to be especially pertinent and useful to my own work, is it appropriate to award a bounty to them?

Others may also find the information useful, but it would be hard to find given the context of the question.

Link: How are the ntoh functions implemented under RHEL/GCC?

This is a question that I did not create with the intent to apply a bounty to, and I feel it has received sufficient attention. I simply want to reward those who shared knowledge that I desperately needed right away.

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  • Totally off topic, but I really like that "screenshot" you created (linked in your SO profile), you should publish it somewhere!
    – Shadow The GPT Wizard
    Jul 31, 2013 at 7:17
  • @ShaWizDowArd: Screenshot? Linked in my profile? Huh?
    – John Dibling
    Jul 31, 2013 at 11:10
  • i.imgur.com/dOLkgVR.png maybe you put that long ago and forgot about it... :)
    – Shadow The GPT Wizard
    Jul 31, 2013 at 11:42
  • @ShaWizDowArd: Oh, yeah, haha. I actually stole that from someone else, but it perfectly sums up my SO experience.
    – John Dibling
    Jul 31, 2013 at 11:47

3 Answers 3

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You can't start a bounty on that question yet, but once you can one of the reasons you can select from is:

Reward existing answer

One or more of the answers is exemplary and worthy of an additional bounty.

So yes, it is appropriate to use bounties this way.

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  • Great, thanks. I also saw in the FAQ that subsequent bounties must be at least double previous ones. If I want to award, say, +100 to each of the three posted answers, is that possible?
    – John Dibling
    Jul 30, 2013 at 20:24
  • @JohnDibling No, unfortunately I don't think it is. If you offer multiple bounties for the same question you have to keep increasing the value.
    – Bill the Lizard
    Jul 30, 2013 at 20:27
  • Well, it's not like I can't spare the rep. I just don't want to 'snub' anyone.
    – John Dibling
    Jul 30, 2013 at 20:29
  • You could probably award multiple bounties per person in a way that adds up to the same total. Would be a lot of rep to give out though
    – StephenTG
    Jul 30, 2013 at 20:30
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    @JohnDibling You could just give them all 500. ;)
    – Bill the Lizard
    Jul 30, 2013 at 20:33
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That's one of the accepted uses of bounties.

See here for more info. It specifically mentions under "Can I award a bounty to an old answer?" that bounties can be used simply to increase the reward for a good post

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  • I read that just before I posted. Maybe I didn't read closely enough, but it didn't seem to address my question.
    – John Dibling
    Jul 30, 2013 at 20:22
  • @JohnDibling Added more info on where it mentions that bounties are ok for this
    – StephenTG
    Jul 30, 2013 at 20:23
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It is possible to start a bounty after someone has helped you get to the answer. I have done so in the following question. If you feel that a user has gone above and beyond you can chose to take this course of action.

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