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

Question

Sometimes you give an answer to a question where:

1. You know it is the right answer
2. You know it resolves OP's problems
3. There's no answer "better" than yours
4. You have spent time and effort on it
5. Other users like it with several upvotes

BUT

OP that asked the question does not accept it with the green checkmark.

What annoys me is not the mere -15 points on reputation because, as well said by Jeff, if the answer is a good answer, the community will upvote it.
I would like to get the green checkmark on pending questions for two main reason:

1. Personal satisfaction (what I answered, helped and worked for real!)
2. Curiosity (Did it work? Cool, I can "close the case" and remember this solution)

Bonus reason:
3. Good breeding (why not?)

I know that the system warns a user to accept an answer when he/she leaves questions without accepted answers after X days but, from the answerer's point of view, there's no way to put some "pressure" on who asked the question.
Ok, I could ping the user with "Did it worked?", "have you tried?", "What about my solution?", "Still alive?" but imho that is not a good, official, effective option.

This feature fits well in these scenarios (thanks ccornet):
- The OP is new, unaware that answers can be accepted.
- The OP forgot about the question, and due to sort order in their profile, never saw it again.

My proposal:
Having received X upvotes and after Y days, is it possible to have a "WAKE UP" feature where you can send a private predefined message to the OP who asked the question?

You could realize it in different flavors:
1. A voice recorded "WAKE UP" screamed when user logs in.
2. A red bloody "WAKE UP" message on users activity.
3. A blinking horse head near username.

Obviously, this is just a provocation.
This feature could be implemented with a SOFT PRIVATE and absolutely PREDEFINED alert message.

Answer 1

There are many reasons why an OP might not accept your answer. A lot of them would render such a mechanic useless.

1. The OP doesn't agree that the answer solved the problem.
2. The OP hasn't visitted the site in a while, or has stopped visitting altogether because the problem was solved.
3. The OP managed to self-solve the question, and has abstained from accepting an answer.
4. The OP only logs in to ask questions and see answers, not for participation in the community.
5. There are other competing (not "better", just competing) answers and the OP is still deliberating even to that day.
6. The OP is new, unaware that answers can be accepted.
7. The OP forgot about the question, and due to sort order in their profile, never saw it again.

And there are myriads of other reasons. Of these, only the latter two will probably actually respond, and it would be a wiser move to kindly request it by commenting their question. If the primary concern is seeing if the OP's problem was fixed, it would kill two birds with one stone to just make a comment. They get an alert, and you directly ask them how it's going. Putting pressure on the question asker with a blaring message of "WAKE UP!" can be disruptively rude.

EDIT

Your edit clarified my confusion on your comment. You've transformed your proposal to something which is unnecessarily rude, to something which is unnecessarily redundant. As I stated, we already have a method for soft alerts in the form of comments. You claim they're not official/good/effective, but for the former it's already an implemented function so I can't see how more official you can get. For the latter two, utilizing a pop-up that specifically states "You should be accepting an answer here" is no more effective than writing that exact message into the body of a comment. The people who would listen to the prompt would be the same people that would check responses when they receive that alert, while the people who don't care about reading comment responses would not care about any other kind of pop-up banner. At the end, I believe our current utilities are more than satisfactory for this purpose.

Answer 2

Who cares what the OP thinks? If it's a good answer, the community will vote it up.

Remember that every edit and new answer pushes a question to the top of the stack.

The standard set of advice around How to get attention for your old, unanswered questions also applies to answers, IMHO.

If you really feel you must do this, a comment on the question can be OK, if used judiciously and in moderation.

Answer 3

Feature already exists...here's serverfault telling me to "wake up" for a question I asked a short while ago. Note the red text above the question, "Have you considered accepting an answer or starting a bounty for this question?"

_{(source: sampsonresume.com)}

The reputation earned from a green flag is mere pennies compared to the score of upvotes you'll get if your answer is well-written, and correct.

Answer 4

No, thanks.

Posters automatically get pestered about answers without accepted answers in their profiles (if they care to look). That is enough.

Moreover, making the acceptance rate a visible part of the UI has generated far too much acceptance pestering as is. Providing a tool for it will validate people apparent opinion that it is OK, and I vehemently disagree with the practice. To the point that I have considered voting against the answers of people who do it (I rejected the idea in the end, the answes stand should stand or fall on their own merit, but I was sorely tempted).

---

I just noticed the comments on Jonathan Sampson's post. I, too, didn't read closely enough to notice your disclaimer about the existing system. Please accept my appologies.

But that also means I didn't notice your explicit request to put "pressure" on the OP (your word). So my original answer was far to gently written.

Please allow me to amend my remarks:

What in the world makes you think that it is appropriate to put "pressure" on anyone on these sites?!?

To make my position clear: Not just "No.", but "NO!".

Acceptance pestering, in any form, is rude.

Answer 5

As has been said elsewhere about answers which are the "best" but not accepted.

• What if my answer is better and the community agrees
• Would it be possible to have a “community accepted” feature?

Also, on the topic of the OPs who don't accept the answers:

• What’s with those who ask a question, but don’t ever seem to come back to add requested info?
• Should questions with no accepted answers be charged “interest” after awhile?

This is a community site. We are providing answers in the hopes that they will specifically help this one person, and in general help everyone who comes after. This is why there are two measures of acceptance. The checkmark is for the specific case, and the upvotes are for the general case. If you answer is correct in the general case, you will get many upvotes and be recognized that way. If your answer is specifically correct, you will get the checkmark, but only if the OP agrees that you deserve it.

Answer 6

I would like to get Green flag on pending questions for two main reason:

1. Personal satisfaction (what i answered, helped and worked for real!)

You've already done a good job... You answered a question which "You have spent time and effort on it", and "There's no answer 'better' then yours". The community has upvoted you. You should feel satisfied!

2. Curiosity (Did it worked? Cool, i can "close the case" and remember this solution)

Well, "You know it is the right answer" and "You know it resolves OP's problems". So you need not be curious ;-)

But in seriousness, a simple comment saying "did this work?" would help. Besides, there's a lot of other questions out there which people are more active on. Just go answer those!

EDIT: I can relate to the gut feeling of wanting every person to specifically mark your answer as the "right" one. There's a warm and fuzzy feeling from having that big green check mark next to your answer. The fact is, it seems a lot of questions get abandoned, and after some time using the site, this becomes clear. If someone asks a question, you post an answer, it gets highly upvoted, you comment asking if it worked and there is no activity from the OP whatsoever, it becomes clear to everyone else that you provided a good solution to a question which was just abandoned.

Don't forget, everyone else with the same question might see your answer and it might solve their problem. No green checkmark for that, it just happens! So just pat yourself on the back and keep answering more questions!