Should accepted answers appear first, just above the highest scored answer, or should answers now appear only in order of score? (Vote by Oct. 19)

Question

Moderator note
After a period for voting including as a featured question, votes have been tallied on this question as of 16:50UTC on 19 October, and the results are as follows. Note that only upvotes have been counted as this is a binary choice. There is a clear winner. The third option is interesting but was not part of the original SE proposal.
Answers should appear only in order of score (this is the new behavior on Stack Overflow)	14
The accepted answer should appear on top (this is the status quo)	21
Pinning the accepted answer below the top voted answer	9
The accepted answer should appear on top	5
Answer making an argument for unpinning	5
Pin the accepted answer	2
The MSE question has been updated with this result. Andrew Leach ♦

For the full background, please see this MSE question.

In short, currently, if the question-asker “accepts” one of the answers, that answer is “pinned” to the top position, shown to all visitors at the top of the page, the rest of the posts appearing in order of score, so that the highest voted post, if different, appears directly beneath it.

It was noticed on StackOverflow this caused problems for that site. The most pressing problem for SO, which is technically oriented, is that old, obsolete, or dangerously outdated answers could and would be shown before more updated or correct ones. SO posts often get thousands of views by voting users long after the original question is posted, and so new answers often rapidly accrue votes and over-take highly upvoted, previous, out-of-date answers. Therefore now SO shows answers (if using the default sort) strictly in descending score order.

This turned out to be popular for that particular site, and so now the Powers That Be are asking their other sites for their preferences.

So, do we want to take the option? Would you prefer the status quo, where the OP-accepted answer is shown first (except where the OP themself posted the answer, of course), or should we switch to strictly score-based sorting

To inform your decision, you can view the complete list of which answers would be affected on Main (6,888 answers; average score difference between accepted and top-voted = 4.6 pts) and Meta (137 answers; average score difference between accepted and top-voted = 4.25 pts). Note that the settings for Main and Meta are independent; we can unpin on Main and keep the pin on Meta, for example.

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_{It would be best if answers to this question took a concrete, binary stance — keep pinned or unpin — and optionally, but encouraged, a rationale.}

Mod note (Andrew Leach ♦): Because there is a binary stance, only vote up the answer you support. Only the upvotes on each stance will be counted. If you vote up one answer and vote down the other, you effectively double your vote, which is undesirable.

Answer 1

The accepted answer should appear on top (this is the status quo).

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We have the opposite problem to Stack Overflow. Answers on SO often get thousands of views and votes by active voting members long after a question is posted. New posts can therefore easily overtake an early accepted answer. Here, however, the number of views by active voting members bombs after about 48 hours. The only way of promoting a later, superior, more helpful answer and making it easily visible to readers is through the 'accepted answer' mechanism.

We are on the verge of having many of the best answer posts on EL&U suddenly consigned to obscurity under a pile of mediocre early answers, reducing the value of this site to readers.

An accepted answer says that it was the most helpful to the author of the question regardless of the number of votes it may have accrued. It tells the community that to all intents and purposes the problem has been solved.

Despite the differences in scores, the author of the accepted answer may have understood the OP's dilemma better than a higher scored answer. And sometimes the OP may change their mind and accept a better, more nuanced answer that was posted days, weeks or even years later. If I am the author of the question I would like to thank the user by accepting their answer and seeing it pinned at the top of the page. This shows my gratitude and it has the given advantage of being read first, and it will lead to more upvotes if it is seen at the top of the page rather than lost in a sea of answers.

Finally, the top answer is not necessarily the "best". HNQ visitors are not always the most objective or knowledgeable in the field of language. Native speakers have an instinct that is matchless to any artificial intelligence software or language learner but that doesn't mean they are able to explain or understand why one answer is superior to another.

For instance, this question "Closet" vs. "Wardrobe" Why is the first more common in the US? posted on December 14 2017 at 12:49 has three visible answers. The “best” answer, with 87 upvotes, was posted on the same day at 13:39. But the author of the question accepted an answer which was posted six days later. Was the author of the question wrong to accept an answer with only 13 upvotes? Does that answer not deserve the top position? You be the judge.

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Another reason for pinning the accepted answer at the top is that it keeps the two most significant answers at the top, namely, the accepted answer and the most popular of the other answers. And it does so without additional programming, compared to sorting by votes and then pinning the accepted answer below the top-voted answer (if they are different answers).

Answer 2

Answers should appear only in order of score (this is the new behavior on Stack Overflow).

The mandate of SE in general is to create a “library of reusable knowledge”, and each site attempts to do that in its subject area by attracting and retaining domain experts.

Those experts become “the community”, and the community expresses its will — and that very domain expertise — principally through voting.

I do not think it advances our agenda to allow one question asker — who, by definition, does not know the correct answer to his question — to outweigh the aggregate opinion of this expert community.

The “accept” button should and does express “this is the answer which most helped the OP”, and it still will, even after this change. The difference will be the first-listed answer will be more likely to help anyone else who has the same question down the road.

On a more practical level, I really only see situations where the accepted answer having a lower score than some or most other answers when the OP came in with an axe to grind and accepted the answer which best flattered his preconceptions, despite everyone else disputing it. There are even cases where a diamond moderator had to delete the accepted answer (10K+ only link) because it was highly controversial and didn’t meet the standards for an “answer” on EL&U.

Answer 3

There is an interesting idea on Meta suggesting pinning the accepted answer below the top voted answer. That system might give an advantage to the accepted answer over other highly scored answers, but never over the top voted answer.

I'd like to know if anyone thinks that would be worth testing. We may not be able to choose that option for this effort, but if there's interest we might be able to get it on SE's radar.

Answer 4

The accepted answer should appear on top!

I urge readers to vote to pin the accepted answer at the top of the page. This feature does a lot of silent good work whilst the very few annoying instances where an OP picks a (seemingly) obviously wrong answer are very scarce indeed, however memorable these are (see Cag51's post on Academia and the information therein).

Despite the terms voting and upvoted, there is a severe problem in terms of how democratic the voting system is. Early posts get voted on a lot, later posts much, much less so. Around 48+ hours after a question is first posted, the number of views by active voting members drops off significantly.

Pinning the accepted answer allows relatively 'late'-arriving but excellent and helpful answers to be recognised and pinned to the top of the page where they currently benefit readers. Without this feature some of the best and most helpful information on the site will languish unseen underneath a list of earlier mediocre answer posts. This current system still retains the benefit of having the highest-voted answer directly beneath the selected one. The new one will see many existing good posts vanish into obscurity.

Another benefit of the current system is that the Original Poster is the only member who is routinely alerted to new answers, especially those that arrive weeks, months or years after the question is originally posted. Because of this, they are in by far the best position to curate their own question page, and, if appropriate, accept a late answer. Certainly, the slew of voters on the original few answers will not be notified and will not get the chance to vote anew on the full range of answers.

Lastly, the current system affords some respect and agency to people who ask questions on the site. Whilst there are always vaguely annoying members in every aspect of the daily life of every SE site, we don't allow this to destroy or make us abandon useful and helpful features of the site. Where the odd muddle-headed OP might select the wrong answer, this is rarely anything more than an annoyance, and a rare one. In contrast if we in essence lose the selected answer feature, users will lose the benefit of many excellent posts and the helpful information that they provide. The vast majority of people asking questions here are sensible adults fully capable of making appropriate decisions regarding selected answers.

Some SE sites, for instance SO, get thousands and thousands of views by active voting members. So, for example, the highest voted answer on SO has over 33,000 votes. On these sites a very high number of votes over a quite sustained period may be the best indicator of the accuracy and helpfulness of an answer. Here, however, this is not the case.

The voting system on English Language & Usage is a good thing. However, it is not perfect for many reasons, including those detailed above. The 'accepted answer' feature helps provide checks and balances within the system. In particular it defends against the unintended and unwelcome tyranny of the early upvoted answer. Just like a healthy democracy, where second chambers and the separation of the legislature, the judiciary and the police provide safety in the form of checks and balances, the same is true of the accepted answer feature in its current form. Vote to keep it!

Answer 5

I'm just posting this as an answer to make an argument for unpinning. Please upvote Dan Bron's answer to practically indicate support for unpinning according to the rules Andrew Leach laid out.

I'm in favor of unpinning because the current system has no good way for anyone but the original poster to adjust the position of the pinned answer, and aside from situations where the original poster is mistaken or biased (which Dan Bron mentions, and Araucaria argues are rare), I think it's not uncommon for the original poster of a question to just not be active on the site any more.

Araucaria's answer talks about situations where there is a not-so-good (or even outright incorrect) early answer and a late better answer. I agree that the voting system isn't set up to handle this well, but there is always at least some chance for the newer answer to catch up by votes over time, especially if people use tools like bounties to draw attention to it. However, if the not-so-good early answer was accepted and the OP is no longer around, there's absolutely no way for the late answer to reach the top spot under the current system of pinning accepted answers (short of the drastic step of special diamond moderator intervention). So I don't think pinning accepted answers is a good solution to the problem of early answers having an advantage relative to late answers.

Answer 6

Pin the accepted answer. Point by point:

1. The accepted answer feature constitutes one of the checks and balances to the voting system.

2. Highly upvoted answers are often just early answers.

3. Highly upvoted answers which later prove to be wrong will no longer be able to be superseded by demonstrably correct well-evidenced and well-researched answers.

4. Late answers, however good, however correct, do not get highly upvoted

5. Question posters are not thickos who are unable to recognise a later well-argued and well-evidenced answer to be better than an early one.

6. The current proposal is a disincentive—especially for experts in that area—for members who wish to post late answers. They may not expect to accrue lots of upvotes, but they can at least hope to be more widely read if their answer is accepted.

7. Given that early answers, even those which are highly upvoted, are often subsequently proved wrong, the proposal will condemn later correct answers to obscurity and promote misinformation.

8. Many of the, correctly, highest voted answers to important, popular and useful questions are so precisely because the OP was able to accept the answer and promote it to a more prominent position where it was read more frequently and thus upvoted. This will no longer happen.

9. Users are unable to downvote answers which they previously thought to be useful after a better, more well-informed, well-researched answer comes along (unless it is edited).

10. Question posters are the only users who are routinely alerted when a new answer is posted. The thousands of users who already saw the question and voted on the smaller number of answers do not routinely get the opportunity to revote when a later answer appears.

11. Because of the point above, question posters are the only users who are in a good position to curate their question pages. No one else will do so and then revote as new answers appear, often years later. They are in an ideal position to decide which answer should be at the top of the page.

12. Many good answers are the result of detailed or diligent research. See, for example, answers by Sven Yargs, StoneyB, Tchrist, Mari-Lou A, JEL, Janus Bahs Jacquet. However, research takes time. If these folks give a stellar answer after a few days research, one of the ways future readers can benefit from it is if the OP selects it over an older, not well-researched but highly upvoted earlier answer. The current proposal disincentivises research.

13. SE has done a lot of work to promote the role of question posters on the SE network. For example, they recently increased the rep for votes on questions so that it matches the rep for votes on answers. The current proposal is a step backwards, demoting the importance and the agency of people who ask questions.

14. Some SE sites, for instance SO, get thousands and thousands of views by active members. So, for example, the highest voted answer on SO has over 33,000 votes. On these sites a very high number of votes over a sustained period may be the best indicator of the accuracy and helpfulness of an answer. Here, however, this is not the case.

15. There are many types of question on the EL&U network. A prominent one is Single Word Requests. The current proposal would be very appropriate for a single-word-request site. However, this is not what EL&U is meant to be. The current proposal will not be supported by serious and dedicated contributors to EL&U (in terms of content), apart from answerers of single-word-requests and similar type questions. Serious SWR askers, who research their questions, such as Mari Lou A, and serious askers and respondents of more linguistics-based, etymology-based questions will not be in favour of this proposal. Indeed it will reduce their contributions. If you wish to see less from Sven, JL, Mari Lou, or you wish to see less future contributors like Stoney, etc then vote for this proposal. Also do this if you want to see more people misinformed.

16. The voting system of SE and EL&U is a GOOD THING. However, it is not perfect for many reasons, including those detailed above. The 'accepted answer' feature provides a balance to this system. Just like a healthy democracy, where second chambers and the separation of the legislature, the judiciary and the police provide safety in the form of checks and balances, the same is true of the accepted answer feature in its current form. Don't vote to remove this! Keep true democracy alive!