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I think the title says it all. Whats up with that?

3 Answers 3

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Otherwise you receive all the benefit of promoting the question, at no cost.

Thus, every question should be bountied, all the time, so the bounty concept would become meaningless.

https://askubuntu.com/faq#bounty

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    But bounties are auto-awarded at a relatively low threshold (+2, I think); I think many bounties placed would have a cost because of that. Plus it's not like you can set more than one bounty at a time.
    – Fred Nurk
    Feb 10, 2011 at 7:19
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    "all the benefit"... except somebody to answer the question. Bounties shouldn't expire until the question is answered IMO. And they should accumulate point-interest the longer nobody answers it.
    – Oli Mod
    Feb 14, 2011 at 0:04
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    @Oli: I think not allowing bounties to expire might work, but allowing them to gain interest would almost give people an incentive not to answer - let it languish a little while so that it's worth more.
    – Windigo
    Feb 20, 2011 at 6:20
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(The other 2 answers have talked about the system, I'm just going to give some tips on how I would have done this since it took me a bit to figure it out)

I assume you're talking about this question, which you posted a bounty on but only got 2 responses. When you bounty a question it puts it in the featured tab, which is only half the battle.

The other half (and I would consider the important part) is continuously improving your question. You've responded to two of the answers, but in the comments. What you could do is update your question with the things you've tried. Did anything come out of Dylan's recommendation? The vbeinfo feedback could have been integrated into your question that you've tried that. Have you found anything in your google searches that could maybe cast some light into this? What kind of video card is it?

Every time you update your question with the information right up front this bumps the question to the front page (and with a nice unmissable orange 50). This gets your question more visibility, and more tips.

As you improve your question it makes it easier for the next person to help answer it. The people with the now-out of date answers will either update with the next thing to try or delete their now-not-so-useful answer.

I tend to upvote questions that are always being improved because hey, maybe I don't know jack about high rez CLI, but I'll gladly upvote someone who is continuously improving their question.

So in short; consider your bounty like an power up in a video game, it helps but not by itself.

I've tacked on a bounty to the question, now we can use what we've learned and continue on and (hopefully) be a great example of how to collaboratively solve a problem.

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  • I was a bit mean in one of my problems/questions. I gave out 50 bounty for solving my problem. When none did, I answered it myself and gave the bounty to myself. If none of the people can answer it then they shouldn't have the credit! :)
    – Alvar
    Jun 3, 2011 at 16:55
  • Any ideas for how to improve questions in general? I have a question (askubuntu.com/q/111892/8724) that I've googled for answers to, I asked another question about a possible solution that I don't know how to effect, but I'm short on ideas—hence the question. Was it simply not a good question to put a bounty on?
    – zpletan
    Apr 1, 2012 at 13:15
  • I think you're just stuck in a situation that isn't easy to answer. Apr 1, 2012 at 17:25
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When you create a bounty, the rep is deducted immediately, regardless of whether the question is answered or not.

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    But if nobody supplies an answer and the time expires... why don't I get it back? Feb 10, 2011 at 0:55
  • The moment the bounty is created - not awarded - the rep is gone for good. This is the case whether or not you receive responses, and regardless of whether the bounty is actually awarded. Feb 10, 2011 at 1:00
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    Well, I guess the "bounty" is more about giving you extra priority by providing it on the front page. So you must "pay" for that, it's not about the answer itself. It's like advertisement on a web page: even if nobody clicks on the ad, people who wanted to advertise something had to "buy" the place that ad is shown. I am not related to the askubuntu.com team or such, but I guess this is the answer: bounty "fee" is about handling your question with priority (like showing it on the front page) and it's nothing about the answers. This is my idea on the topic, let me to know if I am wrong.
    – LGB
    Feb 11, 2011 at 14:47
  • @LGB I recommend posting that as an answer! (And I'm not alone.) Jul 24, 2012 at 4:58

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