If I give an answer to a question with a bounty too close to the end of the deadline, there's a good chance that the person offering the bounty won't have a chance to award it to me before the bounty expires. If I'm lucky enough to get a couple upvotes in that time, I'll get half the bounty, but otherwise I'll get nothing. It seems like there is little incentive to pay attention to the first few screens of the "Featured" tab because I know it's quite likely that I'll get nothing even if I give the right answer.
Is there a good reason why bounties are not awardable after the bounty expires?
Here are some possible changes:
- Make the bounty awardable any time after the question leaves the Featured tab.
- Make the bounty awardable for a period of days (7?) after the last answer given within the bounty period.
- Make the bounty "upgradable" by letting the offerer choose to award the rest of the bounty to the person who won half the bounty.
- Make the bounty "upgradable" by giving the rest of the bounty to the first answer that gets chosen as correct after the bounty expires.