Re: indicating "the answer"

I can maybe see this for the Q&A section, but I don't feel there's a need for it, because the "correctness" of the answers is already indicated by their ordering underneath the question (the answer with the highest XP rank is first etc.).

For all other sections, and particularly for SoPW I'd be opposed, it's called Seekers of Wisdom, not Seekers of Answers, because you can learn as much (if not more) from nodes which go off on tangents or present slightly less suitable solutions as from ones that just answer the question directly. Also, I'm not sure the OP is always the most qualified to judge which answer is best, and TIMTOWDI makes it hard to choose the "best" answer anyway.

All dogma is stupid.

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Re^2: indicating "the answer" by jdporter (Paladin) on Mar 20, 2006 at 08:44 UTC
While I think tirwhan overstates the difference between seeking wisdom and seeking answers, the essential point is correct. For better or worse, SoPW has evolved as a place for asking nearly ephemeral questions. While we can take steps to improve the timelessness of some worthy threads, it remains that most SoPW threads become stale, and then smelly, after some period of time. The crowd's attention has passed on to the newer articles. Everyone should just assume that if no one has replied in a thread for a few weeks, the subject has been forgotten. There's no point in trying to keep it on life support. So if, as an OP, you haven't gotten satisfaction after a couple weeks, just post a new SoPW. You'll probably have learned enough that it will more than a mere repetition of the first post. (And when you do this, it's recommended that you include a link back to the previous thread, for context.) In contrast to how SoPW works, we have the Categorized Questions and Answers section. Here, questions are concisely framed, and all answers are supposed to meet some minimum standard of quality, in terms of how well they address the question. If you think your question is so important that it ought to be visible in eternity — including potentially receiving answers — then posting it as a Categorized Question is appropriate. We're building the house of the future together.	[reply]

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Re^2: indicating "the answer"
by jdporter (Paladin) on Mar 20, 2006 at 08:44 UTC

While I think tirwhan overstates the difference between seeking wisdom and seeking answers, the essential point is correct.

For better or worse, SoPW has evolved as a place for asking nearly ephemeral questions. While we can take steps to improve the timelessness of some worthy threads, it remains that most SoPW threads become stale, and then smelly, after some period of time. The crowd's attention has passed on to the newer articles. Everyone should just assume that if no one has replied in a thread for a few weeks, the subject has been forgotten. There's no point in trying to keep it on life support.

So if, as an OP, you haven't gotten satisfaction after a couple weeks, just post a new SoPW. You'll probably have learned enough that it will more than a mere repetition of the first post. (And when you do this, it's recommended that you include a link back to the previous thread, for context.)

In contrast to how SoPW works, we have the Categorized Questions and Answers section. Here, questions are concisely framed, and all answers are supposed to meet some minimum standard of quality, in terms of how well they address the question. If you think your question is so important that it ought to be visible in eternity — including potentially receiving answers — then posting it as a Categorized Question is appropriate.

We're building the house of the future together.

[reply]