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I have recently asked this question which got two answers.

The two answers are correct and solved my problem efficiently in two different ways.

Accepting an answer is important as it both rewards posters for solving your problem and informs others that your issue is resolved. - Meta

I have accepted one answer mostly to informs others that your issue is resolved but I feel this is unfair for @choroba who provided a valid answer too.

What is the best attitude in this case ? Is not accepting any answer a good practice for a case like this ?

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    If both answers equally help, and solve the problem, then judge them on how they are written and structured and how much information they give. That's what I do, and I've never had a time when answers are so amazing that I can't even judge them on that.
    – user364819
    Commented Oct 26, 2015 at 19:25
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    @ParanoidPanda: Could you please convert that to an answer so that schmucks like me who go around hunting for unanswered questions don't have to look at this one any more? ;-) (And I'll upvote if you drop me a note and it's a good one too!) Furthermore, It would mean an intelligent answer from you instead of dumb questions for once ;-) >:-)
    – Fabby
    Commented Oct 27, 2015 at 0:00
  • @Fabby: Ok, I have posted it as an answer. :)
    – user364819
    Commented Oct 27, 2015 at 15:35
  • The Title of this question is misleading - please make it reflect your real question about choosing.
    – guntbert
    Commented Oct 27, 2015 at 22:27
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    In the unlikely case where both answers are absolutely, 100% equally good, accept the one whose OP has the least reputation. They can use the extra +15 more.
    – terdon
    Commented Nov 8, 2015 at 14:47

2 Answers 2

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If both answers equally help, and solve the problem, then judge them on how they are written and structured and how much information they give. That's what I do, and I've never had a time when answers are so amazing that I can't even judge them on that.

You shouldn't accept neither of them though because you need in some way to mark the question as solved for other users and the system. Because then other users may not even realise that both answers solved your problem.

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  • I do this too. But this question. Both answer are clear, informative and well explained. The are the exact same level in my opinion...
    – hg8
    Commented Oct 27, 2015 at 15:40
  • @hg8: Tricky situation, just look to the smallest level of detail, and see if one is even just slightly better than the other in some area.
    – user364819
    Commented Oct 27, 2015 at 16:14
  • upgoated! ;-) :P
    – Fabby
    Commented Oct 27, 2015 at 17:33
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    And if you can't pick, you can always use the Dice of Death to determine the winner. Or pick the one with less rep if you want to help them out, because someone with 50k rep really doesn't need another 20.
    – Daniel
    Commented Oct 27, 2015 at 18:32
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    I had a lot of trouble with (this post I asked)[unix.stackexchange.com/questions/238856/… because one answer was portable but longer and one answer was not portable but short and sweet! I choose the answer I used, but up voted both!
    – FreeSoftwareServers
    Commented Nov 7, 2015 at 3:04
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No, clearly you should accept one. If both answers are valid, upvote both answers and accept the one that seems best (most informative, clearest, or whatever quality metric you can think of that narrows the field.

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    You are right: it is important to accept one of the answers in order to mark the problem as being solved.
    – user284234
    Commented Nov 7, 2015 at 6:34

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