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It would be interesting to see the top or accepted answer score as well as the question score for related / linked questions.

I typically browse the highest voted questions first when searching for answers (simply because there appears to be activity there). However in some cases - poorly asked, niche, basic, broad or questions which have been asked many many times (generally by new users) there can be some awesome answers (with high vote counts - because they are awesome) but you wouldn't know about them unless you ventured in.

You wouldn't generally browse to a post (at least first off) if it had +2 votes (+20 answer hidden away) if there was also a +20 question (a whole bunch of low voted answers).

What's the advantage to publicizing the question score when in most cases users are trying to find answers? Questions shouldn't be voted up simply because an answer within helped. They should be voted up when it's a good question! There really should be a better way to promote the top answer the thread holds, rather than how well or early on the question was asked.

An accepted answer doesn't necessarily mean it was a good answer, or that it helped anyone but the OP.

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  • 1
    Interesting point, however which would you show, accepted or highest, it could start getting really crowded.
    – Richard Tingle
    Commented Nov 11, 2013 at 16:34
  • One or the other - maybe simply highest?
    – Patrick
    Commented Nov 11, 2013 at 16:35
  • 1
    Could we see a mock up of how it would look?
    – Richard Tingle
    Commented Nov 11, 2013 at 16:35
  • How about if you click the box with the score, it will toggle between question/answer score and change colour to tell you which.
    – Cruncher
    Commented Nov 11, 2013 at 18:28
  • @Cruncher, color alone should not be used to distinguish modes, not only because quite a lot of color-blind users still might want to understand your site, but also because "usual color meanings", such as green being good, are actually stereotypes that vary depending on the reader's culture.
    – Frédéric Hamidi
    Commented Nov 28, 2013 at 22:25
  • Maybe it can be done similarly to the search function, where answers are returned as well as questions
    – Patrick
    Commented Nov 29, 2013 at 6:52
  • 2
    Is there any way to see the dups of a given Question?
    – brasofilo
    Commented Nov 30, 2013 at 21:48
  • @brasofilo The “Linked” list in the right sidebar. This contains a bit more than the duplicates but usually not much more if any.
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    Commented Dec 3, 2013 at 16:39

2 Answers 2

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+50

I would solve this by fixing the underlying problem rather than changing any of the mechanics of SO, and I would take a different approach for an average question than for a duplicate.

For a dupe, first vote to close as a dupe of whatever the best original is. Then, flag the question, choose Other, and ask for the answer(s) to be merged into the dupe because one of them is awesome. (Presumably you have already voted it up already.) Now the awesome answer is in the right place.

For an average question, make it better. Edit it. Fix the wording, spelling, lack of an example, or whatever. If information was added in comments on the question or on answers that led to the insight that produced the awesome answer, the OP should have put all that in the question, but you can do so now.

Finally, promote the great answer on twitter, your blog, or wherever to drive up the views on it and increase the chances that people will vote up the question as well as the answer. Personally, I have upvoted many "meh" questions because they inspired a great answer I was happy to read.

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    I just wish the merge process was a bit more transparent and did not take so long.
    – Shafik Yaghmour
    Commented Dec 3, 2013 at 15:50
  • 1
    @ShafikYaghmour Merging isn't a panacea. It's often not possible because the questions use different examples. Making sure that the dupes are resolved to leave the question with the best answer (rather than the best question, or the earliest question) is a very good point.
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    Commented Dec 3, 2013 at 16:37
  • I'm not convinced, and it would appear to be an ever ending impossible task... I still strongly believe that questions shouldn't get votes to highlight the value the answers hold within...
    – Patrick
    Commented Dec 8, 2013 at 14:43
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Made this a specific feature request: Linked answers should (within linked list) resolve to linked answer

Perhaps linked answers can be shown in the linked list as answers (similar to search)? This would certainly be an easy way to promote answers over the question they reside in...

24 A: How do I do the impossible with CSS?

rather than the current:

2 How do I do the impossible with CSS?

Obviously, if you were to link a question, not an answer, you would get the normal:

2 How do I do the impossible with CSS?

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