Every once in a while, I stumble upon posts where comments ask users to accept an answer. In my opinion, it generates a lot of noise for something that is no longer needed.
An example of such noise: Why doesn't using two cd commands in bash script execute the second command?
Does it really matter that much to have that tick on an answer that we still need to ask for this?
I know in the old days of SE, we used to ask this so users have a higher accept rate, but that is not the case anymore.
I know some people think differently, but I do believe accepting an answer is functional. Skimming for answers, I always check for the accepted answer as a first pick to check, simply because the answer is proven to work at least for OP. This is especially the case if I am not too familiar with the subject.
Is an accepted answer always a good one, let alone the best? Absolutely not, but the same counts for voting. I've seen quite a few (up)votes over time on utterly incorrect answers, still the voting system is a good indication in general on the quality of an answer.
It totally depends on the case and, even more importantly, in what way. I hate to see someone pushing OP to accept his or her answer, even before anyone has had a fair chance to post a second/third answer, or the quality of an answer is all but a proven fact.
I don't see anything wrong however in a polite request to consider accepting if OP tells you excited "Yay, this works fabulously, have been looking for this for ages", but obviously is not familiar with the fact that he can accept an answer. Nothing wrong with a polite "(only) IF the answer works for you and solves your issue, would you consider accepting..." in such a case.
If someone's profile shows he or she is familiar with accepting an answer though, I'd never ask for acceptance.
I advocate the practice of accepting answers (mainly by new users) for two reasons:
I have a canned comment:
If you find this answer useful, please consider "accepting" it (by clicking the tick (✓) next to it) to indicate you've found a working solution and also so that others may more easily find it in the future.
I post this comment (or a slight variant) only whenever I see a "thank you, it worked" comment by a newbie OP (and the associated answer is not accepted).
Newcomers must be taught IMO.
Does it really matter that much to have that tick on an answer that we still need to ask for this?
It depends. The original point of accepted answer is to signal that the solution works best for OP's question, as per Stack Overflow's help page:
As the asker, you have a special privilege: you may accept the answer that you believe is the best solution to your problem.
Now, of course this implies the answer is subjectively best, not objectively.
That also implies that the solution works for OP's specific case and doesn't imply quality of the answer. Depending on the question it can be applicable elsewhere; shell scripting, basic GNU/POSIX utilities, text processing - these topics often have basic sets of practices and conceptual foundations behind them that fit a broad range of topics, so an accepted answer can work in theory for someone else's question. Questions about broken package system, compiling kernel modules, getting specific hardware working - those depend on a lot of OP-specific factors, so accepted answer really means just that it works for OP alone. The answerer also grows and changes over time, so their accepted answer posted 5 years ago may not be the best solution they could come up with today.
Accepted rate often is used as a metric of how good the answerer is or the extent of their knowledge, often this is viewed as a metric that could potentially help one find a job, even though it is not an effective metric for that. However, there's no consistent co-relation between accepted rate and answerer's knowledge or quality of answers. There are users who have decades of professional experience as developers or sysadmins, and yet their reputation points are fairly low, plus accepted rate may be low.
IMHO accepted tick mark should matter only to OP themselves. Canned comments are OK, they give OP incentive to think about the best solution they've received thus far (which may not be the best solution 2-3 years down the road). So long as "Please accept an answer" doesn't become unnecessary noise and unnecessary pressure for OP, that's all fine and dandy.
And the same Stack Overflow post has expressed this the best:
Accepting an answer is not mandatory; do not feel compelled to accept the first answer you receive. Wait until you receive an answer that answers your question well.
Even though back in the day I would rush to ask OPs to accept my answers, by now I sort of figured out it doesn't particularly matter, and objectively means very little. Others can go ahead and try to win OP's favoritism, but I'll just focus on quality of my own answers here, and if OP's unavailable or cannot figure out my own answer might be better - well, that's their freedom and I'll respect that.
