"Unselect Best Answer"

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damric

damric

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Sep 17, 2010
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Why is this here? Is there official guidance on this?

The only list of forums rules I see is this:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2083609/read-forum-rules-styling-posts.html

It seems silly to have this function if it gets you in trouble. Maybe this can be fixed, maybe it can't, but did I miss the sign somewhere that says don't press the button?

I honestly figured it was there to fix wrong solutions, but I just got my peepee slapped for my first use of the function.

Please do enlighten me :)






 
Solution
ex_bubblehead
As I stated, let the OP have a shot at selecting a best answer in their own thread before you take that option away from them. "Poaching" (for want of a better term) best answers is considered an abuse of the system and doesn't win too many friends among the moderators. We have no problem if you set an answer in an old thread as the OP has most likely moved on and has ignored the emails asking them to come back and choose an answer. And in the case of an obviously wrong answer, again in an old thread, there won't be too much heartburn if you choose a better one, just as long as it wasn't chosen by the OP. It really boils down to just using common sense.
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Is there an official guidance on this that you can link me, or is it a grey discretion area?
 
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If the OP has selected a Best Answer, even if you think it's wrong, resist the urge to change it. We assume the OP selected it because in the OP's mind it was the best answer to the question, we do not second guess. Bottom line is to use the deselect button very sparingly and have at least half a dozen good reasons why you did it if queried by a moderator. We do watch these things closely as a team.
 
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Fair enough. Can we get a statement like this stickied somewhere in the rules so that disagreeable sorts like I don't go around unselecting everything in sight?

 
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We assume that you'll just use good judgement when choosing or changing a BA, and not to go changing BA's selected by the thread originators, or selecting BA's in threads that are still active. There have been a few gamers of the system caught and punished appropriately, but overall the system is working pretty well as is. If you're ever in doubt you can always PM a moderator.
 
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Ok my next question is, as far as selecting BA. The ability is there for me to select BA for questions that I am not the OP. Example:

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2123035/setting-amd-6300.html

In this case I selected Blackbird, because if you ever owned a Raidmax PSU, well you know how they like to shoot fireballs out the backside. Is this kosher?

 
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Nope. That's an active thread (look at the date created) and the OP has yet to check back in. If you happen to see an old thread, say, 2 months without activity, then go ahead, the OP has probably moved on. The rule is, give the OP a chance to select a BA in their own thread, then respect it.
 
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So this doesn't apply then?

To set a Best Answer, you must meet the minimum requirement of having 5 Best Answers of your own. This is to ensure that the people setting them are somewhat knowledgeable and to make gaming the system harder.
Click to expand...

I'm probably mistaken, but that sticky from March 30th 2014 really makes it seem that if the option is there because you earned it, then can use it.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-1781385/select-answer-check.html




(Meanwhile, wikkid88's Raidmax PSU fails and takes down the rest of his rig. If only he had known that Blackbird had given good advice).
 
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As I stated, let the OP have a shot at selecting a best answer in their own thread before you take that option away from them. "Poaching" (for want of a better term) best answers is considered an abuse of the system and doesn't win too many friends among the moderators. We have no problem if you set an answer in an old thread as the OP has most likely moved on and has ignored the emails asking them to come back and choose an answer. And in the case of an obviously wrong answer, again in an old thread, there won't be too much heartburn if you choose a better one, just as long as it wasn't chosen by the OP. It really boils down to just using common sense.
 
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Solution
Oh hay, a best answer! I have another question; IIRC you needed an expertise badge to be able to downvote an answer, but I can't in any threads at all. Is this feature not fully implemented yet or am I doing something wrong? I see it as a way to let the OP see good and bad ideas when your opinion has already been stated so you don't need to post +1 or -1.
 
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Icraft.... i just did a test on your post above to see if downvoting was working. do forgive me for that. i know upvoting works fine already but tested it anyways on somewheres response.

the concept of downvoting has been in discussion by the mods and i brought up how it could be abused (just as it is on the news site) so there might be certain restrictions in place for non moderators and downvoting. i cannot say for sure. i mentioned that we only really needed to have upvoting to keep all negativity down to a bare minimum as if there is abuse or a problem you should be using the report button instead of downvoting.

i'm really hoping that gets implemented as we do not need a rash of downvoted answers just because users do not agree with it based on their own personal opinion (regardless of whether it is true or not) which is the case with the news site and other social media sites.

as far as the remove best answer and select best answer option is concerned... you are free to pick a best answer in any older post which has been abandoned by the original poster. you are also free to unselect and reselect a best answer in a thread which had a best answer picked by somoene else other than the op in an older thread. you are also free to unselect a best answer in a current thread in case someone other than the op jumped the gun a bit and picked a best answer before the thread is completed and the op selected their own. i've done this in a few cases since the op has the first call on whom gets credit and it is their responsibility to choose an answer. its up to the public at large only if and when the op is no longer involved in the thread. i would say if the thread is 1 or 2 months old without any new responses then its fair game.

to do otherwise... would be frowned upon. i shouldnt have to say it but marking specific people such as a friend or other account as best answers in old threads all the time is also frowned upon. the option is there to help people reading old threads easily pick out the best advice chosen not to play favorites. if you had a friend who gave the best advice in this case then its fine to mark them but please, no favoritism. having two accounts and marking one as best answers to boost your count is gaming the system and is heavily frowned upon and often results in a stern warning or worse.
 
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I'm pretty sure my account has been verified for years since I get emailed updates constantly.

 
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As a reminder too, on this, any user with a confirmed email address that has been awarded 5 or more Best Answers has the ability to set a Best Answer on any thread. The rest is as ex_bubblehead says with regards to policy and judgment. There are abuse prevention measures in place to keep users from abusing the system, too.

-JP
 
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I downvoted a few peeps and now have no permission to do it. Oh well apparently my disagreement with people's opinions means I can only agree with people's opinions on these forums now!
 
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Test post.

EDIT: Looks like the UI prevents you from doing it to your own posts, but you could probably do it using wget or curl. As such, voting one's own posts (with the possible exception of in comments) is a pretty strong sign of spammer.

Neither of you have any active or previous bans, including voting.
 
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perhaps my suggestion to not allow downvoting and only allow upvoting was taken seriously 😛 (i have no clue whether or not that is the case)

all i know is that i can upvote and downvote with my moderator account while you guys seem to only be able to upvote (and you damric with 213ba/2875p should definitely be able to do it if it was allowed since our requirements normally arent all that strict)

i dont have a test account to play with or i'd double check that....
 
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