Answers accepted too soon?

Question

Recently, I've seen something that just doesn't fit right with me.

There have been quite a lot of cases recently, where an answer has been accepted very soon after it has come in, in some cases before another author has finished with writing his answer. Therefore there are quite a few questions with an answer, that is not the accepted answer, having more upvotes.

Shouldn't something be done about this? Or should be just rely on the voting system to let new visitors know, that the most upvoted answer probably is the best?

I would suggest adding a comment on these questions, pointing this out. It may not deter new users from doing it all over again, but it would probably help users avoid this problem again.

Answer 1

I definitely agree that users should hold out to see if better answers are given.

Sadly, there's nothing the system can do to prevent this, it's more a matter of etiquette that you should not. So our only option is to 'guide' users by leaving comments and hope they change their habits in the future.

Though one should not forget that you can always change the accepted answer! But sadly, accepted answers discourage new answers, so it's preferable if they don't accept too early.

Answer 2

Keep in mind that the accepted answer is the answer that most helped the question asker. That's all it is. There is no reason why an asker should wait for more answers if their problem is solved. Votes are indicative of which answer provides the best information for the community as a whole, and in my opinion the question asker should not be accepting answers on that basis. Besides, what point is there in having the option to accept an answer if you're only going to choose the one with the most votes? That's just redundant.

Answer 3

I would question why answers are being accepted too early. That would give better insight for solving the problem. If an answer addresses the issue or is of high quality, then maybe it is appropriate. Perhaps though people are too hastily excited that they just have an answer. The fact that the Internet is so instantaneously gratifying doesn't help; unfortunately, fitness and health doesn't happen overnight.

The best thing to do would be to continue creating and nurturing the type of environment that was intended by the site. If the environment is properly established by the community leaders, then that should (hopefully) induce the right behavior out of newer and incoming folks.