I often see posts in which no Answer has been offered as such, but the user's problem was solved using advice which appears in the comment section of the post.

This is mildly upsetting, because there's nothing at the scrolling-list level to indicate the post has a successful resolution. So it reflects badly on the stats (unanswered questions), and future users are likely to click elsewhere when the answer is available there.

The obvious (impossible) solution is to contact the advice-giver and make them present the helpful advice as an official answer. And then, of course, go ride after the user who posted and tell them to go accept it.

More than once I've posted an answer, made obsequious motions of gratitude to the actual answers -- "See the comment! Please return, T-Pony, and get the credit you deserve!" -- and of course kept the secret hope that maybe I'll scrounge an upvote (or two) by accident.

What's supposed to happen? And how can I Keep My Motives Pure?

Sigh ... I'm sure I'm in the wrong Meta ... x.x –  Smandoli Apr 21 at 22:31
Sometimes — even quite often — the advice in the comments reduces the question and answer to something that should be closed as 'off-topic because it is a trivial typo' problem. When that's the case, I vote to close it as 'off-topic trivial typo'. –  Jonathan Leffler Apr 23 at 3:14
Extending what @JonathanLeffler said, if I encounter a "find my syntax error" question or a question that can be trivially solved by skimming the documentation, I mostly closevote and leave a comment pointing out the error, posting a link to the relevant docs or giving a small example, which practically solves the problem. Posting this as a comment instead of an answer has the advantage that it keeps the question eligible for automatic deletion if it is currently eligible - if I post an answer and it is upvoted, the question will no longer be automatically deleted after it is closed. –  l4mpi Apr 27 at 18:21
@Deduplicator: did you really have to add a answers-as-comments tag to 9 old questions? Does this tag have any added value, aside from bumping up those 9 old questions on the fornt page? –  Cerbrus Sep 18 at 9:29
@Cerbrus: I concede only the two top-voted ones (and the new one which made me dig) really needed it. Good thing I remembered to stop after 8 old ones. Sorry about the 6 noise ones. –  Deduplicator Sep 18 at 9:31

6 Answers 6

up vote 133 down vote accepted

Post an answer with the solution in the comments, and make it Community Wiki by checking the Community Wiki box.

Sounds good. Where do I find that, by the way? The Help link took me to stackoverflow.com/help/privileges/edit-community-wiki, but that doesn't include a link. Is it a click-red-shoes thing? Snark snark. Sorry, but really, I don't quite see how to get there. Humiliating, really. –  Smandoli Apr 21 at 22:37
It's the checkbox near the lower right-hand corner of the edit window. –  Robert Harvey Apr 21 at 22:37
Pure Motives Are Now Mine. I didn't understand this purpose of Comm. Wiki. Thank you. –  Smandoli Apr 21 at 22:44
Example: stackoverflow.com/questions/20796943/… Another example where I posted an answer which was incorrectly suggested as a suggested edit: stackoverflow.com/questions/4954876/… –  Gilles Apr 22 at 1:06
Why does it have to be Community Wiki? –  Simon Kuang Apr 23 at 22:44
@SimonKuang: Because it's not your work. If you don't CW it, people will likely downvote you anyway. –  Robert Harvey Apr 23 at 22:44
@Smandoli I think the threat to "steal" the answerer's reputation will motivate answers as well. –  Simon Kuang Apr 23 at 22:44
This is the ultimate solution, but if the question is relatively recent you should probably follow pennstatephil's answer and leave a @ comment with a reminder to re-write the final solution as an answer, so the correct person has a chance to get the credit. I often leave comments with suggested solutions because the question wasn't clear and I don't feel like writing up a full answer until I'm sure that I'm solving the right problem. (And sometimes the final solution is more worthy of a "close as trivial" vote than a full answer, as Jonathan Leffler notes in comments above.) –  AmeliaBR Apr 26 at 0:10
Heh, I'd entirely forgotten about the community wiki. –  JasonMc92 Apr 27 at 21:48
This community wiki box is a highly underpublicized feature. (Well, maybe I'm saying that because I didn't know about it, and the universe revolves around me.) Either way it is the solution to one of my SO pet peeves: answers in comments. I just used it here for the first time. Yay! –  Jean-François Corbett Apr 28 at 8:00
I just tried to do that here: stackoverflow.com/questions/12585612/… and got a "Trivial answer converted to comment" message. –  aronisstav May 13 at 12:21

I've wished on a few occasions to be able to provide an answer "on behalf" of 'user_X' based on their comment to the question that was the correct solution. I don't want the credit, I just want to ensure that there is an answer that I can vote on (without stealing credit from 'user_X') and to also be nice and ensure that 'bad_boy_Y' doesn't come along and spot the obvious answer, provide it word for word, and take all the reputation credit.

An option for a ~20k+ user to convert a comment into an answer (ownership maintained) would be really cool... especially if the original comment converted to say...

This comment has been converted into this answer (that would actually jump to the answer)

As it would be really nice if the person that did the sleuthing work to solve the problem in the comments got the credit for the answer.

can you convert this answer to a feature request? I'd vote for it :) –  eis Apr 22 at 14:15
That would be a nice addition, but it would probably be too much work for the people who maintain the site, for too small a benefit. At least this way, you're providing credit to the comment-giver, and if he/she decides to answer, you can take down your answer (if you're strong enough to resist the temptation of more rep). –  trysis Apr 22 at 14:23
bad_boy_Y feels this doesn't really count as an answer. –  Smandoli Apr 22 at 17:20
The idea of converting comments to answers is nice is principle, but I'm not sure how often it would be practical. Generally I find that when questions end up answered in comments it is a series of comments and back-and-forth with the OP, rather than one single comment that solves it all. –  AmeliaBR Apr 26 at 0:01
So which comment did you steal this answer from? –  dave Apr 27 at 12:25
This opportunity should also be given to the person asking the question. –  Samuel Åslund Oct 13 at 15:20

I generally ask the commenter (using an @ callout) to convert it to an answer so I can accept it. The feature proposed by @scunliffe would be a nice way to do that work for them.

+1 ...I started using callouts only recently and needed this answer to get my awareness up on how to apply here. –  Smandoli Apr 24 at 15:34

If you think that you know the answer then post it. If its essential part is written in an existing comment then provide a link to it in your answer. That's it.

Note: don't make it a community wiki unless you want to avoid the responsibility if you posted a wrong answer: the original comment may point in the wrong direction and/or you may interpret it wrong.


Answer your own question but give credit to the person/s that left the comments, I have done that in the past when I received the answer I needed from two different people in the comments, I just answered my own question, copied the answer from the comment and gave creidt to the people that posted the comment.

Agreed. But I was interested in dealing with posts by others. –  Smandoli Apr 22 at 17:16
Yeah I think the response by @scunliffe was the best but until they implement such a feature (if they do) then I think this may be the best way to do it. –  TristanD27 Apr 23 at 8:50
@Smandoli It should apply also to question of other users. You could just answer the question but give credits to the commenter. Making the answer a community wiki and giving credits to the original commenter sounds maybe like the best option. –  Trilarion Apr 28 at 7:46

A comment that answers a question usually contains the key parts of an answer, but there's almost always additional detail that could be included. Go ahead and answer the question, but make sure you take the time to do a thorough answer. This of course assumes that the person who wrote the comment has had sufficient time to decide whether they want to answer it (Give them at least a few hours).

That way you are really contributing to future seekers of the question, and not just copying someone else's answer.

Usually when I find it, the Asker has already validated the comment/answer, and there is nothing to add. In any case bad_boy_y has difficulty regarding this Answer as an actual answer. –  Smandoli Apr 24 at 16:32

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