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This question is a duplicate of this feature request.

We have a lot of good answers here on AskUbuntu, but as time goes by, they get outdated. How about allowing members with enough reputation to flag a question or answers as needing update, so that either the author or someone else can update the it by making changes so that it will work in the present.

Either the OP can update it, or we can start a update queue from which members with higher reputation can take up flagged posts and update it to the current context for a small reward in reputation points.

If the number of update requests start become overwhelming, we can increase the number of flags required for considering the update request valid. Also if the system is implemented, as time goes by, the number of requests will come down as more older posts get updated.

In this way, we can maintain the answers/questions and they will remain relevant for more period of time.

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    For answers, it is sufficient to leave a comment, and the person who answered should update it (if they are active on the site). I have seen that a s a frequent practice. For questions, my personal opinion is that many questions are related to specific version of Ubuntu, hence it's necessary to leave them unaltered. Some users are reluctant to upgrade to newer releases, so perhaps those questions may help them
    – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
    Commented Aug 8, 2015 at 8:15
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    @Serg, for answers, a system in place would encourage people to update posts and accelerate the process. For questions, why should we provide support for EOL releases? I agree that questions specific to releases which are not EOL should be untouched.
    – daltonfury42
    Commented Aug 8, 2015 at 8:43
  • technically we don't provide support of EOL releases. If somebody comes with questions about 10.04 , you'll see comments saying "10.04 is at the end of life, please upgrade ". I agree with you that answers may need update, but questions asked years ago often are the similar to what people might ask today. Well, can you show an example of a question that would need to be updated ? and how ?
    – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
    Commented Aug 8, 2015 at 8:59
  • I guess this is why I don't think it would work. There are several problems with just updating outdated answers. For example; New answers will most likely go unnoticed since the other ones would have more upvotes. Another example is when updating an old answer, that would either remove the old content, which is still valid for people using old systems; or would make the answer cluttered with information (for example, 1 section per version of Ubuntu) that the relevant info would be tougher to figure out.
    – Dan
    Commented Aug 8, 2015 at 13:19
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    As @Dan noted, this is something we're trying to solve at the network level, you should feel free to post your thoughts there.
    – Thomas Orozco Staff
    Commented Aug 10, 2015 at 12:02

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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Why? This is a standard bounty reason:

enter image description here

If the post means so much, offer a bounty.

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  • But how many such bounties do you see everyday? So either there "current answers are not outdated" or this mechanism is not effective.
    – daltonfury42
    Commented Aug 10, 2015 at 12:07
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    @daltonfury42 how many bounties do you see at all? If people can't be bothered to spend imaginary internet money, its not our problem. And I'm pretty sure I myself have offered one such bounty, so yes, for me, it is effective.
    – muru
    Commented Aug 10, 2015 at 12:09
  • Well, if people are not bothered to spend their reps for it, then this system of addressing outdated/obsolete answers is a failure.
    – daltonfury42
    Commented Aug 10, 2015 at 12:11
  • @daltonfury42 As I said, I have posted such a bounty myself at one time. So it is not a failure for me. Maybe not the best possible way, but it does work. Try it out yourself.
    – muru
    Commented Aug 10, 2015 at 12:15

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