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I have a question that will require extensive work, and is unlikely to be solvable within the bounty period. I'd like to offer the maximum possible bounty for it, but I absolutely want that bounty going to someone.

Would it be an abuse of the system for me to note that I would offer a bounty, wait till I get a working answer, then posting and awarding the bounty? I'd alternatively do it without announcing it, taking into account the time/effort needed to answer the question.

I'd note there is a very clear, specific outcome I require - which is that those keys be detected at all, and that would be included. Also, if I get the outcome myself, whoever put in the most obvious effort, or was most useful in finding the effort should get the reputation (so there's no room for me to weasel out)

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Part of the point of offering a bounty is to get attention for your question. As such, I would suggest that you offer a low-value bounty (the lowest possible is 50 right now), and in the bounty reason description (which you can manually specify), state that you're looking for a detailed answer to a complicated question, and will post a large (500 I believe is the max) bounty once a good solution is given. Basically, explain what you said here: it'll take more than a week, but you want to give a good award. This will give the question some publicity and show some commitment, and will allow you to still award the full bounty at your discretion later.

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    can i offer a bounty for a question twice?
    – Journeyman Geek Mod
    Commented Nov 23, 2011 at 6:31
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    @JourneymanGeek yes you can.
    – Sathyajith Bhat Mod
    Commented Nov 23, 2011 at 6:43
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    @JourneymanGeek also note - once you issue a bounty, the next bounty rep that you must offer must we twice the rep offered last bounty - ie, if you offer 50rep first time, the next time you must offer 100
    – Sathyajith Bhat Mod
    Commented Nov 23, 2011 at 6:44
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    also, if the 50 points get awarded by default, can i issue it to the same person?
    – Journeyman Geek Mod
    Commented Nov 23, 2011 at 6:49
  • @JourneymanGeek indeed. You can award multiple bounties on a question and award them to the same person more than once.
    – nhinkle Mod
    Commented Nov 23, 2011 at 7:13
  • ok, neat. 50 point bounty added. I'll add 500 once there's a solution
    – Journeyman Geek Mod
    Commented Nov 23, 2011 at 9:41
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I personally don't see a problem with it, as long as you are very clear and precise about what you expect, and actually follow through on the bounty (which we trust you to do).

The community probably wouldn't allow this for everyone, but since Journeyman Geek is a high-reputation, trusted user in good standing, the community will probably be fine with this.

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    Updated the question with the bounty offer, and very specific, clear requirements on how to get an answer that is good enough to get the rep. Should there be no suitable answers, but i get the keyboard working, the rep would go to whoever put in the most effort, for fairness' sake.
    – Journeyman Geek Mod
    Commented Nov 23, 2011 at 3:26

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