The answer to this question is correct and should really be accepted, but I don't know if the user will return to do it.
Is it possible to mark an answer as accepted on their behalf?
-
2As this meta question is being used as a duplicate target, I've made it slightly more generic so it doesn't fall under [Too Localised] any more. (Too Localized was an older close reason that's now been deprecated anyway)– Robotnik ModJan 22, 2021 at 0:06
Add a comment
|
3 Answers
As the answerer of the question in question, let me say:
Accepting answers is completely optional.
The question owner is not required to accept an answer to their question. We view accepting an answer as a simple social convention, a little informal “thank you” between the asker and answerer, a virtual tip o’ the hat to that person whose response, as the question owner, you personally found the most helpful.
That doesn’t mean the community will agree with your choice. But as the question owner, it is your choice to make.
The default sort order is “votes” for a reason. Normally, the best answer will automatically float to the top through community voting. This is important because we expect a lot of our question askers to be drive-bys, programmers who ask a single question, get the answer they need (or don’t), and are never seen again. This is intentional and by design.
From http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2008/11/why-cant-i-accept-my-own-answer
Basically, voting is extremely important. Accepting answer is great, but we shouldn't be pushing users to do it if they're not ready. Users who accept too early potentially discourage other answerers. Of course, in this case I'm 100% sure that any answer not a duplicate of mine would be wrong; but the other points stand.
To address Raven's comment below: As long as at least one answer has a positive score, the question won't be bumped as unanswered; so that's not a concern.
We cannot accept answers on behalf of other users.
Your best bet is to leave a comment on the question (which you've already done) and hope he'll see it when he comes back to the site.
That particular question was just asked yesterday, I'd give it some time (It's not a problem just yet IMO)
Moderators cannot force an answer accepted, (un)fortunately.
-
Can they ping users by email? It is ugly having obviously answered questions littering the site! Jun 1, 2011 at 11:13
-
10@Glen We could, but that'd be tantamount to abuse. Our job as moderators is to use email contact for, well, moderating duties. Just like it's not our place to enforce correctness, we're also not in charge of telling people to participate. Jun 1, 2011 at 11:50