Praetor Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 Like some of the most visited tech sites have, i think it's important to start choosing the best answer in a given thread if the OP doesn't do chooses it. I do see a lot of threads with a correct and some with even more correct answers but the OP doesn't even give a "best answer", making the thread still going on with offtopics chats and with no correct disclosure. Also it doesn't help the guests that come here looking for help because the best answer gets lost in the sea of posts and for me that's the part i care most, because once in a while one goes google searching an issue and likes to see that someone had that same issue fixed, saving time. So the solution is for the moderators start choosing a "best answer" from the answers a thread has (if it has a "best answer"), letting the ones that volunteer their time to give solutions to folks to have this "reward". And if the OP doesn't like the "best answer" then he can chose the most appropriate, but that must be obligatory, either by the OP or by an Moderator; if no correct answer was given in a given time then the mods can close the thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zhangm Supervisor Posted December 4, 2013 Supervisor Share Posted December 4, 2013 Steve's broached this in one of the pinned posts: What is the Tech Issues Solved label? It is the Best Answer feature enabled in all the tech areas and allows the topic starter and moderators to select which post is marked as Mark Solved, or the best answer to their support request. Some people are helped and don't bother to vote, but if you feel that your post should have been voted Best Answer, you can report the topic (first post) and then give the link to your post which moderators can then set to Mark Solved. So in short, if you feel you answered the support request but didn't get 'marked solved' for it, report it, but please wait at least 24 hours before reporting the thread, give the OP a chance to come back and mark it for themselves. Do not PM a moderator to have your post marked as solved, use the report button so that staff have a log of the action taken. I've had this in mind when reading some of the support threads in my areas, however, many of the threads don't have sufficient feedback from the OP to determine that a given answer resolved the issue. In those cases, I just leave the threads unmarked rather than potentially mislead people into trying something that won't work. Steven P. and Nick H. 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Praetor Posted December 4, 2013 Author Share Posted December 4, 2013 My issue is that if someone searches for a particular problem even if the correct answer is in that thread it could be skipped because it wasn't marked as correct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barney T. Administrators Posted December 4, 2013 Administrators Share Posted December 4, 2013 Steve's broached this in one of the pinned posts: I've had this in mind when reading some of the support threads in my areas, however, many of the threads don't have sufficient feedback from the OP to determine that a given answer resolved the issue. In those cases, I just leave the threads unmarked rather than potentially mislead people into trying something that won't work. :yes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zhangm Supervisor Posted December 5, 2013 Supervisor Share Posted December 5, 2013 My issue is that if someone searches for a particular problem even if the correct answer is in that thread it could be skipped because it wasn't marked as correct. Agreed. The system is fairly new though. In my opinion, it will improve slowly, as our members get used to the new feature, and also become more comfortable with giving us feedback about correct answers that haven't received due recognition. I'm personally cautious about marking best answers that are ambiguously so - an example of why would be the Microsoft support forums, where staff will mark their own copy/paste template replies as best answer after some period of time. It becomes just as bad as not having an answer declared. Having other Neowin members give feedback and reports in these threads might be helpful in that respect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Praetor Posted December 5, 2013 Author Share Posted December 5, 2013 yeah, MS support forums sometimes the answer is not even related in any way to the question :laugh: , it was the staff choice; in here that can be avoided by the use of community. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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