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Discussion: Being Able to Propose Own Responses as Answers RRS feed

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    I just noticed this, where I can mark my own posts to someone's question as a "Proposed Answer".  Should this be changed?  Theoretically, you can have everyone marking their own posts as "Proposed Answers".  But shouldn't the community and NOT the individual who posted the answer be the only ones capable of marking someone else's answer as a "Proposed Answer"?  For example, on stackoverflow.com (which I frequently visit), you cannot choose your own answer to your own question as the accepted answer until 48 hours has passed since you answered your own question.  Shouldn't a similar system be implemented here?  Being able to mark your own responses as "Proposed Answers" immediately after posting a response seems a bit out-of-place in this environment.

    Feedback please.

    Thomas
    Wednesday, June 8, 2011 3:15 PM

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    A perfect example of this is the user "Lluis G.E" in threads like this one: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sharepoint2010general/thread/ac4d3697-2a75-45c1-9424-d48eb8d74c8c

    The user has been marking his posts as answers immediately after posting.  In some cases, the information is correct.  In other cases, the information provided is beaten by another user who would provide additional details that this user would not.

    So I ask: why allow users to mark their own responses as answers so quickly?  Why not add a delay period?

    Thomas
    Thursday, June 9, 2011 12:53 PM
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    This has been discussed many times. I agree that being able to propose your own post as the answer is open to abuse (and indeed is abused by some users). I also believe there is no benefit to allowing users to propose their own post as the answer. So if it were my forum, I would not allow it. Microsoft, however, appears to have no problem with it.
    Thursday, June 9, 2011 2:01 PM
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    Then perhaps Microsoft should reconsider.  Their own people are abusing it, as well.  I'm surprised that Microsoft would let their own moderators and staffers abuse the forum features in this manner.

    And I'd like to publicly state that Microsoft should pitch in to this discussion, because once their own staff and selected moderators start to abuse a forum's feature, its time to address it.

    Thomas
    Thursday, June 9, 2011 2:37 PM
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    > So if it were my forum, I would not allow it.

    I do not allow it in "my" forums.

    But because it is theoretically possible this means I have to un-propose all such self-proposals and write in a Moderator Note in bold saying not to do it.

    This occasionally leads to trouble makers who are annoyed at not being allowed to push their own posts in this way. If they repeat after being warned not to do it I give them a final warning and if they persist I simply delete their subsequent self-proposed posts.

    > Microsoft, however, appears to have no problem with it.

    Rumour/rumor has it that the possibility to self-propose was once removed from the forum software, but that some MS moderators wanted it back and the block on self-proposing was removed leaving it possible again. How true that rumour/rumor was I don't know. (The MS Moderators in "my" forums don't do this - there is one who marks his own posts directly as answers but I un-mark them quickly enough unless the OP has actually said that post was the answer.)

    SP 2010 "FAQ" (mainly useful links): http://wssv4faq.mindsharp.com/default.aspx
    WSS3/MOSS FAQ (FAQ and Links) http://wssv3faq.mindsharp.com/default.aspx
    Both also have links to extensive book lists and to (free) on-line chapters

    Friday, June 10, 2011 6:00 AM