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by sikhnerd 3655 days ago
It's annoyingly common how the OP doesn't mark this answer as accepted, or even acknowledge how amazing this answer is from one of the technology's creators -- instead just goes on to ask a followup.
2 comments

The accepted answer is often wrong (or obsolete) and grants a small number of points. The obsession with it on SO is a bit odd.
Yeah I tend to think if another answer has double the points of an accepted answer, that answer should come first.
Plus, often there is a decent and accepted answer given quickly and then a much more complete answer given later on that is really the one that should be considered in the archive.
In the vast majority of cases the accepted answer is the most upvoted answer http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/178439/can-we-exempt...

But then again: the most upvoted answer doesn't mean that it is the most correct (whatever it means) one. Though likely it is.

Out of curiosity, why do you care whether the answer is marked as accepted?
Because it more likely that beginning programmers would jump straight and look for the "accepted answer".
What mechanism would you suggest otherwise?

For example, suppose I ask a question, and within 10 minutes get an answer which is good enough for me, then I accept it and move on.

Hours later, someone gives a much better answer. What is my obligation to track the topic after I already know a correct answer? What should be the mechanism to override my acceptance?

What is more achievable: putting that mechanism in place, or getting beginning programmers to look at the first answer rather than looking for the accepted one?

To which I'll add, I'm looking at it in privacy mode (not logged in), and can't tell which is accepted. Is that something that only people with an account can see? If so, aren't those also people who are now no longer beginner SO users?

I'm no UX expert but maybe highlight the accepted answer and a different colored highlight for the top voted answer.