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Hey all!

I'm a newbie here, just registered yesterday.

I asked a question at Math SE and I received 2 good answers, but I can't get them both up neither choose as best one.

I think it's unfair to select just one of them as the best. So I googled it and find a suggestion in this SE Physics Meta question.

Well, you have the option to not mark both of them. Upvote them if you find it good. – hwlau Dec 11 '10 at 9:24

But I can't do it because SE says that I must have 15 reputation.

So I'm in a dilemma: if it is to choose a best when I don't find THE best answer, which one to choose, if both of them pointed my mistakes in that problem?

I just want to be fair and make the right things in here.

Thanks!

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1 Answer 1

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You can apply any of the following pseudo-rigorous decision process:

  • Which of the answers is more easily understandable to you?
  • Which of the answers explains more what the problem is?
  • Which of the answers did you see first?
  • Which of the answers is written by a user with a longer name?
  • Which of the answers contains fewer mathematical symbols?
  • ... or you can just flip a coin

Okay, I was just being facetious. But people on this site are generally mature enough to know that (a) it is a good idea for people to accept an answer and (b) sometimes there are just answers that are equally good. They won't take it personally if you choose one over the other.

So my suggestion is to just leave a comment thanking them for their help, possibly expressing regret that you cannot accept both, and choose one by whatever criterion you happen to think of.

If you feel generous, soon enough you will pick up 9 more of the requisite reputation points; after that you can always come back and add up-votes to those two answers!

Lastly, a preemptive plea: please don't "not accept either" if both of them are good answers that helps you solve the problem. I think that should be resorted to only when none of the given answers addresses the problem you were having.

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    $\begingroup$ Yes, accepting one is considerably better than not accepting either if they both answer your question. Acceptance is not just about the reputation; it is both a social gesture acknowledging that what someone did helped you and a simple flag to tell others that this question has been answered and they should focus on other questions. $\endgroup$
    – Qiaochu Yuan
    Feb 2, 2011 at 16:39
  • $\begingroup$ Well, I think I should get enough reputation to vote both up. Besides, I seem reasonable that though "one accepted answer is better than none". I will use both! Thanks! $\endgroup$
    – paulochf
    Feb 2, 2011 at 19:02

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