Should I accept my own answer even if it's inspired by another much detailed answer?

Question

Three paragraphs written below consist a complex situation, please try and understand every sentence

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I had a question about thumbnail generation in new Ubuntu release, I asked and started a bounty on it and received a really well written answer, but it was a bit complex and I had to make few (minor) changes to the answer to get appropriate results and finally it worked (after making those changes)

and after a week or so another same question arrived and that question said that the answer that I revived didn't work for him (without providing much details). that was an opportunity for me to write an answer which was highly inspired on the answer I received, But with those minor changes that could solve the new users problem , so I did it.

and the poster of duplicate question accepted my answer with those minor changes, now those two questions are merged and my new answer is on my old question.

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So my dilemma is

1. should I (the original poster) should accept my new answer because it worked for two people or should leave it as it is because the original answer had much more research than mine?
2. Is it a bad practice to un-accept the answer in favour of your own.
3. Or simply what is the best possible thing to do with situations like these?

My video (.mkv) thumbnails are green (or monochromatic)?

Green Thumbnails in Ubuntu Gnome 17.04

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Also the accepted answer reputation I got, is gone (no entry of it) it's minor one, not relevant in any way

Answer 1

As the author of the original answer you based yours on, I personally have no problem with you accepting your own if it better served your needs.

I will admit to a bit of confusion on my part when I saw the accept come and go and come and go, but that's not really relevant.

The most important thing to me is that questions get quality answers and the site as a whole is improved by our actions. I perceive this question and both answers as worthy of upvotes. As far as rep goes, I believe you get 2 points for accepting an answer not your own and nothing for accepting your own answer if you care.

Personally, I've accepted answers and upvoted answers that led me down the right path and posted my own tuned answer that worked best for me inspired by the original answer as an alternative along with testing results to indicate why the alternative existed.

Example

I've also accepted my own answer on occasions where there were no other quality answers provided. Ultimately the right to choose is yours.

If I'm not mistaken, the loss of your rep on the accepted answer on that other question was the result of your answer being merged from it's original location to your original question. As I understand it this would not occur if the question you had answered and had been accepted for had been closed as a duplicate (as I recommended) rather than merged.

I requested and received some clarity on merging previously but as with most things it seems it's down to the opinion of the one doing the work.

Answer 2

General answer

There are different "schools" on AU, and below is just my perception.

Personally, I would have mixed feelings to accept my own answer, if it is based on the good work and research of someone else. If what I end up using is mostly an edited version of the existing answer, I would probably either:

• ask/suggest an edit or addition to the poster of the existing answer (preferable), or:

• accept the existing answer and add my own edited version, describing what I changed, how and why. It would depend on the situation.

That, in short, is my general answer.

Answer 3

The help page What should I do when someone answers my question? provides a single guideline for the selection of the accepted answer (emphasis by me):

Choose one answer that you believe is the best solution to your problem.

I think there are valid arguments for either answer but ultimately it’s up to your judgement which one you find more helpful.

Imho there’s no reason to discourage a change of the accepted answer; a new, better answer may appear at any time for any reason.