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We have an Enlightened badge:

First to answer and accepted with score of 10 or more. This badge can be awarded multiple times

But we don't have a badge to reward adding a good answer to a question that already has an accepted answer.

I know we have Populist, but that's not the same at all:

Highest scoring answer that outscored an accepted answer with score of more than 10 by more than 2x. This badge can be awarded multiple times.

You can earn this if you answered before the accepted answer was accepted or even written, and you don't earn this if the OP switches the accept to your answer before you double the high-scoring accepted answer. (And as I recently discovered, if you have a high-scoring answer and a new answer is added, then accepted while it still has a low score, you will get Populist even if that answer quickly ends up outscoring yours.)

So I suggest Undeterred:

  • at the time of posting your answer, the question has an accepted answer
  • at some point your newer answer become the accepted answer
    • why not just more votes? Partly because then it's just a diluted Populist. And mostly because I want to reward a desire to help the OP more than a desire to show off. Both are important parts of SE, but we've all seen those "you're doing it wrong" answers that get a lot of upvotes. That's not what I want this badge to encourage.
  • self-answers and self-accepts obviously excluded
  • I don't see a need to require any minimum score for your answer or score differential from the originally-accepted answer, but am open to hearing thoughts on that
    • Shadow Wizard worries that OPs sometimes accept hacky and darn-near-wrong answers because they happen to work, and that moving the tick from an early, well thought out, but difficult approach to a later ugly hack that is massively downvoted yet accepted would be bad. To prevent that, the suggestion is to require a minimum score of two for your answer (so at least one person other than OP upvoted or downvotes were outweighed by that much.) I can support that.

I think Silver?

The behaviour this encourages is

If I know a great answer to a question, I will provide it, even if there are other answers right now, and even if one of them is accepted. I'm confident that what I have to offer on this question is worthwhile.

(And as time goes by that confidence is proved correct when the tick moves.)

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  • I like the idea, but I think that good answers are proved by votes rather than accepts. I'd like to see a hybrid of your answer and populist that's easier to get than populist but has the answer after accepted answer that your proposal has. I wouldn't have the accepted answer needs to be changed requirement though I'd require upvotes like populist does, only fewer of them e.g. outscore accepted answer and score > 1 Commented Oct 20, 2015 at 13:55
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    @RobertLongson we would need to find a way to exclude the "you're doing it wrong" kind of answer that doesn't help the OP at all but gets tons of upvotes from people who agree the OP is an idiot. That's why I want the tick to move - you're not just providing another opinion or variant, you're genuinely sure that what you have to offer will help the OP more. Commented Oct 20, 2015 at 14:17
  • A lot of questions with accepted answers are already getting more answers. See meta.stackexchange.com/q/268959/166155 Is this really a behavior we need to further encourage?
    – Double AA
    Commented Nov 11, 2015 at 6:06
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    One of the previous Winter Bashes (2013, IIRC) has a Pirate Hat awarded for "stealing a checkmark", which is very similar to what you're suggesting here. I don't recall noticing any adverse affect it had on answering patterns during that winter bash, but if the data is available somehow, it may be useful to review.
    – Mureinik
    Commented Nov 11, 2015 at 7:31

2 Answers 2

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Critical flaw in your suggestion, is that OP might many times select the quick and dirty solution, rather than the correct and complicated solution.

Consider this theoretical flow of events:

  1. Question is posted.
  2. Answer is given, which is correct, but complicated. OP gives it a try, messing around, and finally accepting it since it's working after all.
  3. Other answer is given, which is also working, but using some non-elegant hack, not elegant and not a good practice. But it's much more simple to use. OP try, gets excited, and accepts.

First answer gets lots of upvotes, second answer gets some downvotes, but nobody can oppose the OP decision.

In my opinion, this does NOT deserve any badge, and I suspect it happens much too often.


My suggestion to keep this request alive:

Make it a bronze badge, and require a score of at least 2 to the new answer. (OP is likely to upvote, so require at least one more.)

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  • Should this really be an important case then a minimum score on the answer (perhaps zero? one?) would prevent it, no? Commented Oct 20, 2015 at 13:43
  • @Kate yes it's important, to measure the quality. Score is the only way to have some kind of measure - not that it's perfect, but it's better than leaving it only to OP, in my opinion. Commented Oct 20, 2015 at 13:47
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    I think you overestimate the number of "bad" accepts, but a minimum score of 2 is ok by me. Commented Oct 20, 2015 at 13:53
  • This has happened before at great extent to get the pirate hat during one of the winterbash events.
    – Travis J
    Commented Oct 20, 2015 at 21:06
  • @TravisJ good point, we wouldn't want innocent fun game to result in actual badges... Commented Oct 20, 2015 at 21:07
  • typically once a badge is associated with a behaviour there isn't a hat for it any more. Commented Oct 22, 2015 at 19:15
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This might be good but I recommend a series of badges depending on the time and score your answer gets. Since a lot of users would love to show off their proud badges, maybe this would encourage even better answers.

  • Contradiction - Answer you post gets score of 2 or more, becomes accepted answer before 60 days of posting - Bronze badge

  • Denial - Answer you post gets score of 5 or more, becomes accepted answer before 30 days - Silver Badge

  • Counter Offer - Answer you post gets score of 10 or more, becomes accepted answer before 30 days - Gold Badge

These badges should be able to be earned multiple times and will follow the rules you have stated, especially about the one with the exclusion of self answers. The Good Answer series are good but this series of badges should help greatly improve answer quality in the sites and deter bad answers.

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  • I'm not clear on the timeframes here. Do you mean there's a minimum blackout window after {the question/the previously accepted answer/your answer} is posted before the tick can be moved to qualify for the badge, or a maximum window during which it must be moved to qualify? Commented Oct 20, 2015 at 22:17
  • Maximum... I made it more clear Commented Oct 20, 2015 at 22:25
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    I'm not so keen on the negative connotations of the names you've picked. Counter Offer is okay, but Denial is mean at best.
    – mattdm
    Commented Nov 10, 2015 at 22:08

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