Should we not have a flag to light up whether or not we intend to vote for our own best answer,?

Question

HOWEVER LONG IT TAKES..

If i know beforehand somebody will not vote themselves ,I will not bother to answer,at least with Environmental questions.

Now i just get annoyed for wasting my time and end up blocking the person.

Answer 1

Ack!!!!  I feel like this was directed at me!  Please don't stop answering my questions!  

I always have the best of intentions when I ask a question.  I always mean to pick whom I believe gave the most valid answer.  

However living on a farm sometimes means I'm pulled away from my "responsibilities," when some major or minor emergency happens.  Minor, like the hose is frozen solid and I cannot get water to the animals, major, like a horse with an artery spurting 15 feet during a howling blizzard.  Of course during kidding season, I'm just a sleep deprived zombie.

Then there's the Never-Ending-Move.  Moving one farm that has been in place for over 30 years (any idea how much junk there is after 30 years!) to another state, nearly a thousand miles away has exhausted, and stressed me to the max.  

I also completely agree with you.  I too  become annoyed when I've given a good, well thought out answer, only to have the first person who answered the question get chosen for best answer....ESPECIALLY if they answered with "I have no idea, but 2 points for me!"  ~sheesh~

I will also state however, there are people who answer on this forum (especially permaculture people!) who give very good, very informative answers.  

I've been contacted by people who viewed a very old question I answered, and did NOT receive best answer for, thanking me for the information, or asking me for help, advice with more questions they might have.  A lot of times I KNOW I'm answering a question for a lazy teenager who does not wish to do their own homework.  I'm not trying to educate them....I'm trying to help people who might be honestly looking for the information, or to put new thoughts and ideas in peoples heads...something they might never have thought of.  

I'm slightly annoyed, but gennerally OK with the idea of someone not taking the time to pick a best answer.

~Garnet

Permaculture homesteading/farming over 20 years

(And who despite her shortcomings sincerely hopes you will keep answering her questions!!!)

~blush blush~  You say the sweetest things.  It's just my guilty conscience speaking.  I do wish there was a way I could put questions on "hold" to give myself time to pick an answer when I'm busy.

Answer 2

Sorry but I am confused by the terms you are using. Do you mean there should be an option that we have to complete which indicates whether or not we will CHOOSE best answer our-self or that we will put the question to vote then allow the Y!A community to vote and only vote our-self, not choose?

Sometimes we intend to choose the answer when we set a question, but real life happens and we can not. What would happen in those circumstances?

However long it takes? What if the person does not come back to answers for a year or so? Or never? You could have pages and pages of unclosed questions.

Even if we have invested a lot of time in providing an answer and it is the most factually correct does not mean it will be chosen as best answer. I understand your frustration, but don't see how a flagging up our choice to choose or vote will work effectively.

Answer 3

When I have asked a few questions and looked at the replies I have not always had the competence to choose a best answer.

Now sometimes, if an answer connects to what I already know, I might make a choice, as compared with answers that are clearly out of the ballpark. What cause the problem is two or more very plausible answers that are both saying something I am still not sure of.

In this case some other answerers may be better qualified than I am.