Should the accepted answers be unpinned on superuser?

Question

Inspired by this

Stack Overflow now doesn't pin the accepted answer as per this post

We no longer pin the accepted answer (with the green checkmark) to the top of the list of answers. By default, we now sort strictly by votes (descending order by highest score), and the accepted answer's order in the list is based on its score.

And it is asked on Meta StackExchange do we want the same change?

We can change the way the engine sorts answers in site settings. We would like to hear from you all if it is something you want to see on your site. ... We are going to collect feedback before the end of September 19th.

I am posting this here so that we can have a discussion of what is best for the Super User community.

Answer 1

I'm actually kind of leaning towards keeping the status quo.

We don't have the volume of SO, and many of our questions are narrowly scoped enough that if an answer's outdated, so's the question (and someone can ask a question about a new version and refer to the old one if needed).

I also feel that unpinning the selected answer might be more not less confusing for new users.

Answer 2

I would have preferred a selective unpinning by some rule that takes into account the difference in the number of votes between the accepted and the most upvoted answer.

Sometimes one can come upon an accepted answer with one upvote, with another answer having several dozens of upvotes. Clearly in such a case the accepted answer is not generally accepted, except by the poster.

It would be nice if there was some way in such cases to vote for changing the accepted answer, the same as we can now vote for deleting an answer. But failing that, I would have liked to see first a very highly upvoted answer, rather than the accepted one. It would also be less confusing to the readers.

Answer 3

I think it should be left the way it is. Barring that, I feel this should be a user selectable preference in their profile... but I generally feel the accepted answer should still have its place at the top of the pile of answers.

My reasoning for this is two-fold:

• Accepted answers which were accurate and solved the OP's problem^*1 should get special placement.
• Late answers can be selected as the "most helpful" answers as well. If an OP is paying attention, they can move better answers up the page more easily.

People who don't read all the answers will miss out no matter what order is chosen. Of course, no matter what order is chosen there are drawbacks. That's why I would prefer to have it as a user controlled setting.

*1: (Note: Solving the OP's problem is not necessarily the same as answering their question. The whole "XY problem" and other issues make that an important part of many answers.)

Answer 4

As someone that sometimes ask and answer questions on this site, I haven't found pinning useful. When searching for solutions I usually have to read all answers because the pinned one is focused on a use case unrelated to the question asked, when I answer, I usually am the only answerer (and in the only case where I'm not I overscore the accepted one) and when I ask, I accept my own answer as usually they are self answered. So for my particular use case, the pinning is either irrelevant or actively harmful.

Answer 5

NO

The proposer of question who had experienced the issue would have tested the solution and would have been the working amongst them(Most effectively from askers frame). Answers which have been upvoted the most could be more effective from perspective of general audience but the sufferer knows the better solution. Alternatively accepted answer could be at top and most accepted it's second.

Answer 6

Except in those few cases where the answer is super long, the most upvoted but not accepted answer being immediately below it is visible enough, and any serious research effort should know that an unaccepted answer is likely to still have valuable information that should at least be considered.

As others have noted, given the all-or-nothing aspect of this change, I'm in favor of keeping things as they are.

But, I don't think it would be the end of the world if this changed either.