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Accept Multiple Answers or Split Bounty among Several Users

More Often than not I get more than one really good answer to a particular question posted on SO.
There is no way one can appreciate that more than by up-voting his answer, because StackOverflow only allows me to accept one answer which I have already used up for another answer.
A way to accept more than one answer would be useful.

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marked as duplicate by Shogging through the snow, GEOCHET, Jonathan Sampson, tvanfosson, TheTXI Sep 3 '09 at 20:43


@Rich: No need to be caustic. Aeon is new, and doesn't have the historical-knowledge that others do here. Some questions may be re-asked for time to time. Just be courteous, and point them to their answers. –  Jonathan Sampson Sep 3 '09 at 20:22
Yeah, some matters need to be resolved don't they, or do we rather shove it under the carpet. –  Kevin Boyd Sep 3 '09 at 20:23
Don't argue about it, just close it already. –  Shogging through the snow Sep 3 '09 at 20:27
@Aeon: Don't let some of the responses here affect you negatively. Most of us are genuinely interested in helping educate others in a respectful manner. Just flag any comments that you feel are unnecessarily-rude and the proper actions will be taken. –  Jonathan Sampson Sep 3 '09 at 20:27
@Jonathan,No negativity here! It's just that I wont offer by right cheek if someone hits my left. –  Kevin Boyd Sep 3 '09 at 20:29
@Jonathan, After all I'm here for the interest of the community not to have a mutual slugfest. –  Kevin Boyd Sep 3 '09 at 20:30
@Aeon: Glad to have you aboard! Keep the ideas coming. –  Jonathan Sampson Sep 3 '09 at 20:32
@Shog9: Yeah, this is definitely a topic that has had its fair share of air-time. I saw one of those when searching for dupes as well, but decided to go with the first result you posted. –  Jonathan Sampson Sep 3 '09 at 20:33
*decided to answer a dupe again anyway for the rep. –  GEOCHET Sep 3 '09 at 20:34
Flagged and requested a merge; shame to see the discussion split up this much. –  Shogging through the snow Sep 3 '09 at 20:35
@Rich I've been capped for hours, actually. Answered because the OP asked. If an answer exists in more than one spot, it's easier to find. –  Jonathan Sampson Sep 3 '09 at 20:35
@Shog9: Agreed. What a mess. –  GEOCHET Sep 3 '09 at 20:36
*as long as I get accepted beforehand. –  GEOCHET Sep 3 '09 at 20:40

4 Answers 4

up vote 2 down vote accepted

Technically this already exists, the answer accepted by the original poster, and the answer accepted by the community (i.e. the one with the highest votes).

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Have more than one accepted-answer can be confusing.

If two or more answers are acceptable, they should probably be adapted into one single answer, and then that one should be accepted.

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Possibly! I wouldn't know about the confusing aspect because the person who asked the question would know in most cases what worked for him and what didn't. –  Kevin Boyd Sep 3 '09 at 20:17
@Aeon: Confusing for those who have the same issue, and find your question. "Which of these do I implement..." If you coalesce the correct responses into one answer, and then accept that, there is no room for confusion. –  Jonathan Sampson Sep 3 '09 at 20:19
@Jonathan: Agreed. Accepted answers are a scarce resource, if there is more than one correct answer, then these answerers should compete to make their response more complete, correct, or somehow better in order to earn the acceptance. Everyone benefits from the extra effort on the part of answerers to make their response the best. –  ベレアー アダム Sep 3 '09 at 20:21

To me, a nice comment saying:

This is a good answer, too, but I can only accept one.

...is just as good as getting that little check mark. Sometimes it even gets me a vote boost if other people think my answer should have been accepted. Bonus.

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Part of the reason there is one accepted answer is to distill knowledge. When other people use your question as a resource, they want to be immediately directed to the one most useful answer you received. This is also why subjective questions are discouraged: ideally, there should be only one correct answer to a question.

Allowing multiple accepted answers dilutes the value of an accepted answer, and makes the format more forum-like than Q&A.

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That's the reason for this feature request to distill the best from the better. I have received more than one excellent answer for a particular question and that too with bizzare frequency. –  Kevin Boyd Sep 3 '09 at 20:21

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