

The Problem


The Result


The Reach

(Since Jeff loves Datum)


FROM posts p1 
LEFT JOIN users ON (p1.OwnerUserId=users.Id)
WHERE p2.Score >= 2 
AND users.Reputation < 15
AND p1.PostTypeId = 1
AND p1.AcceptedAnswerId = 0





Modifying there where clause, and removing the left join:

AND p1.OwnerUserId = 0  


Building off the previous and using an even more restrictive WHERE clause

WHERE p2.Score >=5


Modifying the where clause for Reputation to

AND users.Reputation = 1





Added more statistics for deleted users.


  • 15
    What about people who did select an answer, but is now down-voted into oblivion Jul 23 '09 at 23:43
  • 3
    ++ well put .
    – redsquare
    Jul 23 '09 at 23:44
  • Brad .. that shouldn't be affected. This should only affect questions where no answer was chosen. Jul 24 '09 at 4:55
  • 1
    – a_m0d
    Jul 24 '09 at 6:23
  • 22
    – spoon16
    Jul 24 '09 at 6:33
  • 12
    @spoon16, There's a non-trivial amount of rep involved (over 100k), which would both encourage answering questions by new users, and would clearly mark the questions as answered for future viewers. Jul 24 '09 at 6:56
  • 8
    – Cian
    Jul 24 '09 at 8:25
  • 1
  • 7
    – Eran Medan
    May 9 '12 at 4:34
  • 3
    Are there any indications why the feature was rejected?
    – Ian
    Jul 5 '13 at 12:22
  • 1
    – Jeff B
    Jul 12 '13 at 20:57
  • 4
    – Ian
    Jul 24 '13 at 12:53
  • 1
    Any updates on this? Possible to reopen mods? Nov 24 '14 at 17:54
  • 4
    Having come across over 6 years later, I find it very interesting that there is no accepted answer...
    – Skooba
    Apr 1 '16 at 17:01

12 Answers 12








  • 27
    – user212646
    Sep 11 '13 at 20:03
  • 4
    @user212646 You are also a deleted user?! 😂 Feb 28 '20 at 19:48



  • 1
    Also, if the original poster ever does come back, they should be able to change it. Jul 24 '09 at 4:55
  • 9
    – mafu
    Jul 24 '09 at 7:08
  • 1
    – ChrisF Mod
    Jul 24 '09 at 9:28
  • 1
    – JoshDM
    Feb 17 '13 at 6:06
  • 3
    It's nice to see that this feature was considered, once upon a time. It's a shame that every subsequent suggestion on Meta now receives downvotes and passive-aggressive answers instead. Any plans to revisit these issues? meta.stackoverflow.com/q/354584/534406 Aug 6 '17 at 21:55




  • 11
  • 12
    – Benjol
    Jul 24 '09 at 6:50
  • 4
    – sth
    Jul 24 '09 at 10:28
  • 11
  • 7
    – Gnome
    Jul 12 '10 at 2:23
    – Synetech
    Jul 5 '12 at 21:56


  • I think this answer is the simplest that keeps the spirit of accepted answers while taking care of the abandonment problem. We could automatically apply it to Questioners with less than 100 rep who haven't been seen for 3+ days. Of course if the original Questioner returns they can always "unaccept" an answer they don't like. Oct 7 '19 at 19:08



    – Ivo Flipse
    Jul 12 '10 at 8:28
  • 2
    – Nicole
    Aug 18 '11 at 3:15






  • 3
    System already floats up correct answers by community voting.
    – random
    Jul 12 '10 at 1:48
    – TheLQ
    Jul 12 '10 at 2:07





So I'm here from this question.



Spot on. The good thing is with community accepted answers they could flux to NEW answers that address new versions of the code in question.

The problem is when you get a question like mine here - this takes a lot of knowledge and from speaking to guy on LinkedIn afterward quite a few hours, he had to go and download a dataset (COCO), replicate my setup, implement my scripts, use test images, the Docker setup for that alone is a very large pull - but he did it, I accepted and awarded the bounty.

If I hadn't it would just put people off answering tough questions, because it's not going get thousands of views as it's specialist, but it is invaluable to those that are working in the field. For Stack Overflow it means you attract more niche skillsets and for people like that awesome guy he'll carry on putting in the effort.

Note: TensorFlow 2.0 just came out so while he is correct now, it takes at least an hour to install everything fresh, and I bet they'll be a new one to deal with a version soon from someone else.

I guess the thing is by having an "Accepted Answer" people feel deprived when it's right, but not accepted, as they're missing the rep through not a fault of their own. You could have Rank 1 answers, so the "accepted answer" is right at the time, and fresh answers award points for being the most upvoted. Which can change as time goes on.

I'd be interested to find a way of querying Stack Overflow (as the example) to see what stats are for questions that are abandoned older than two years that don't have an answer and upvotes across multiple answers.


Why accepting is important?

Apart from the fact that accepted answer helps you to make sure that problem has been resolved (at least in most cases), it somehow sends the signal to new users that this question has already been answered and post a new answer only if you really have something to add.

How to implement community accepting an answer? (Should we?)

As mentioned in other answers here, there should be a difference between OP accepting an answer and community upvoting an answer. Therefore, community accepting an answer seems not like an option. But... read below;

How to make active users considering accepting answers?

Meanwhile, I think users with many questions that have upvoted answers but not accepted ones should get a little push towards reviewing their posts. At least make those active ones to pay their dues. Probably making them to mark the answers as not accepted, to explicitly claim that they did not get their answer or leaving a comment saying that they have considered accepting while between the answers neither one is significantly better or, in some cases, stating their problem is not yet fully resolved. This way, we still give them the choice of not accepting but not just because of ignorance.



  • But isn't that what flagging (answers) is intended for?
    – smci
    Dec 2 '11 at 11:12
  • 1
    @smci No. Please no.
    – bjb568
    Sep 17 '14 at 2:36


You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .