[EEvangelist]

When the asker disappears (which happens even more at SO) a cleanup crew will come and either accept an answer (but give the experts chance to discuss which) or delete it. At SO it just sits there, with whatever votes and no accept. When the opposite happens, you need to do a bounty at SO which may or may not work (never worked for me). At EE the question is first marked abandoned, attracting experts who subscribe to that zone - if no reaction, a moderator will send out requests to know experts in the zone and re-zone if needed. Works well