When is assumed answered set

[william_eastman]

As moderator for utilities space, we see status of a thread as 'Assumed answered'.  I know that a moderator can mark the threads as such - is there some other way that it happens?  Since i see threads e.g. with that status and I am fairly certain that I did not mark them...

regards,

bill.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

OP and Moderators both can mark the 'Assumed Answer, Correct Answer, Helpful too'..

[former_member183424]

It looks OP has marked the discussion as assume answer..

Because normally, if the discussion is very old and someone replied on this discussion, then moderator can set the discussion as assume answer...

and also the discussion will be locked by the moderator (Not mandatory)

But this discussion starts on Jan 23, 2014 8:40 PM

And the OP has posted an reply

So, I hope OP has marked the discussion as assume answer..

[JL23]

Each OP can himself close a question with assumed answered.

[Johan_H]

Hi Jürgen,

Just came across a question (sorry, discussion) that was posted today, that was marked "assumed answered". So I would assume that the OP marked their own question as "assumed answered" by mistake.

Which makes me think, why give the OP the option to mark their own question as "assumed answered"? This option seems to me, for all intents and purposes, to be a means for moderators to "close" old threads that are unlikely to be marked with a "Correct answer" by the OP themselves anymore.

Regards,

Johan

[JL23]

In case we saw the same question(s) then I can tell you that I deleted it right away as I see no value in a question which is marked "assumed answered" and has no answer.

Assumed answered is an activity for a user, if he got several replies, many were helpful, none of them fully correct, but he finally could solve his issue with all the answers given, then he can mark the helpful answers  and close the discussion with "assumed answered", without the need to mark one of the answers as correct.

It would be a big burden for unpaid moderators, who actually have their own job, to review any question after some weeks and closing it with assumed answered. (The performance  of SCN and its UI is not even able to support such work)

I rarely mark questions assumed answered as it would screw up my own source of information, since it helps me to differentiate between users who care about their questions (those are the people who close the question)  and those who are not.

[Johan_H]

Hi Jürgen,

In my experience, users don't close their posts to prevent clutter, but only to award points to the unpaid people who answered, in case they gave a definitive answer. In cases where the user does want to prevent clutter, and they figured it out themselves, they (can) award themselves the "Correct Answer", usually telling others how in the process.

My point is this, there are users, as you said it: "who care about their questions", and users who are only looking for a quick answer. The first won't use assumed answered, because they know there are better ways, and the latter won't use assumed answered, because they simply don't care. This only leaves users, for whom english is not their mother tongue, who recognize the word "answered", and use the option because they don't understand any better.

I don't think I said, implied, suggested or demanded in any way that moderators are paid for their efforts, nor that they should spend their time and SCN platform resources on closing posts (or any other activity for that matter). I don't get paid either for my time helping people here on SCN, nor for discussing this subject with you. So righteous high horses can safely be left in their stables.

All in all, I would even say, that with our combined opinions, the entire "assumed answered" concept should be scrapped.

Regards,

Johan

[JL23]

SCN will change the platform this year, there will be big changes and surprises too.

Follow the the document to be always up-to-date , see #10 in particular