Recently it happened to me 2 times that I answered someone’s question he got the solution of his problem but instead of accepting the answer they just said thanks in the comment. This is not good it leaves the question unaccepted. See this he didn’t accepted the answer https://discuss.codechef.com/questions/128624/getting-error-in-dijkstra-code?page=1#128632 and this https://discuss.codechef.com/questions/128555/increment-operator-behaviour?page=1#128561 some of them even don’t reply they just read correct their solution get ac and go I know because I have examples of them getting ac after I post the bug in their solutions.
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Its a common problem. It was before, and it will be even afterwards.
Trust me when I say this, this problem at my time was even more serious xD. With right people not accepting answers and people asking college friends to give free upvotes to place in top contributors list.
But those times are long gone, at least partially I hope. This problem had been in my mind since I received moderation rights, and it at least mitigates the problem by a good margin.
Mods have the power to accept answer on another user’s behalf, or even reject an accepted answer (i.e. moderation over karma).
Coming to the point-
I keep an eye on the forum, what questions are asked and what questions are answered. Its really important to make sure the top contributor’s list is a reflection of their hard work. I go on accepting answers where they are missed, or even rejecting accepted answers which are not worthy. However, as important as it is, this is highly subjective. One may agree with my views, one may disagree, but what I can guarantee is that both the mods refer to and guide each other in all such cases, where mistakes can be expected.
So, what decides when an answer should be accepted?
Simple, if the question is new (not a repetitive one) or the answer provides some valuable additional insight.
I went through your answer, it answers the question aptly. But the question is old, and repetitive, and a simple search over the forums would be sufficient for that. I liked @aryanc403 's answer below yours, but even thats not accepted as what he said is already told by people before. Sometimes rules seem harsh, but they are for the greater good. I am trying to follow a method to minimize (or possible nullify) any contribution related to "XYZ is getting placed in top contributors not by merit but just because he *insert rant here*"
If, even after that, there are any discrepancies, please mail it to me and we will have a look at that.
And yes, we do encourage people to accept answers 
. Thats a lot less work for us 
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#yeah I do agree with what @ssp547 said and I replied many time to some “thanks” answer on their own question and I requested them to accept the answer instead of thanks…
I also consider it disrespectful if they don’t reply
I do had an experience when people just like the last comment on answer and even don’t bother for saying "thanks " also
It really disappoints the writer of answer very much as he tried to help someone by contributing his important time and they are not even saying “thanks” also and obviously they don’t even accept answers… though They won’t be getting negative karma for accepting or upvoting…
On the other Hand even there are some people who donate their karma even if they have very few (<5) on getting help…
After seeing the question I wanted to write a long answer here. So bear with me it will be long. You may find it irrelevant to above question. And there is nothing new in it. But it contains all the this which I want in this forum.
I have read question and @vijju123 's answer in morning itself. But I’m presenting my view point on this now. I never thought I will see some post like this. At First after reading question I wanted to highlight. (Many dont even know how to accept answers.) But this was already highlight and soln was also proposed by @vijju123 .
(this problem at my time was even more serious xD.) Some helpful links to highlight this situation.
- Spamming in Top contributor’s list
- Announcement : Noticed Malpractice in Forums
- And many more just scroll down a bit.
This all ended with this post Stopping laddu awards for Top Contributors . @admin 's most upvoted question in this forum.
And then we got forum in it’s present shape. A long journey was started back then in 2012. And we still have a long journey left ahead.
Presently we have dedicated moderator @vijju123 who keeps eye on each and every post of forum. Don’t worry @ssp547 , @l_returns whether someone accepts or not but is acknowledged by @vijju123 .
I can feel your feelings @ssp547 , @l_returns . I have also felt same in April’18 (When I was quite active in forum) and these karma points were inspiration to answer further.
As mentioned earlier many people are not aware of accepting answer. And this is also a reason why when people with karma <5 truely want to acknowledge your contribution rewards you with only karma point which (s)he have.
(Open for Discussion) Currently whenever a comment/answer has been made on forum. It bring question on front page of forum. I want (and a request for @admin) there should be some midway between this. Mod can see page in its current form. But when someone answer/comment he should have a option whether he wants this to be bought on front page or not. But If this option is provided then every one who is new to forum will always select not to bring it on front page. And there contribution will remain unacknowledged by rest of community.
But I personally do not like something unnecessary coming on front page. I personally liked Separate section for editorials only. . And completely disagree here. (My Opinion) And we should have 3 sections. (For Editorial and Blogs (Similar to CF), For Doubt resolving , Request for admin and Admin should reply to these on regular basis. )
There are some guidelines present and we can add some points to it. But not everyone read’s those and situation will be same again after sometime when this question will be on 10-11th page of forum. (What we can do is create a new question or add points in current guidelines). Whenever a user’s answer is accepted then we can refer him to that link to read those guidelines. (Many dont even know how to accept answers. Please feel free to tell them how to do it. Especially those with <5 karma.)
But I still agree with “XYZ is getting placed in top contributors not by merit but just because he insert rant here” this should not happen.
- (if the question is new (not a repetitive one) or the answer provides some valuable additional insight.) This truely deserves karma for both author of the question and answerer of question.
- (But the question is old, and repetitive, and a simple search over the forums would be sufficient for that.)
For Second Point.
- For author of question - Not everyone has good googling skills they come on codechef with a hope that there query will be resolved. But their question broadly falls in two categories -
- Firstly Some specific error in their question in which any editorial cannot help them.
- Helping them also deserves acknowledgement.
- Second Editorial was present also their query was resolved in earlier post’s. But here comes this point ( Not everyone has good googling skills. )
Moderators have very tough job so that only truely deserving people should be on top contribution list. And as far as I can see they are doing their job well. In current scenario many a times happens is that if someone has a post or a very good editorial He remains on top. e.g. - [When ??]SnackDown’ 18 This was not only on front page but was also at top of Recent Questions . It left it’s position only when month was over. This had surely left someone who deserved to be at top of top contribution list.
At last for @ssp547 @l_returns you both are doing good job. And don’t worry @vijju123 remember you username’s also. In initial phases only karma points are there which motivate us to do better. You both can feel this right now. I have felt same. And @vijju123 had also felt same. Do read last lines of these answers you will surely enjoy those days of @vijju123 and will be able to connect with days when you wrote your first answer on this forum. And some Golden Memories for @vijju123 1. 2. and @vijju123 I admit stalking here. And after some time you will realise that it was only your journey which matters most not those karma points. But they do unlock some privilege in forum.
I don’t know what my answer wants to say but I wanted to write something on this question. Because I have also been in same situation earlier.
At last @ssp547 @l_returns its your right that if your answer deserves accepted tick mark then there should be a tick marks. On the other hand (he said is already told by people before) is also there. And there is a border line here.
I also remember when (although for a short duration of time) I kept on opening and refreshing forum homepage. Just to answer question. Now summers are going on you guys are also doing same. And I’m not getting time to solve long challenge questions also. xD. Irony here is that during that time my end sems were going on but now no exams are there.
But at last after some months this post will find its place in those olden post’s and new people enter into our forum and will feel same.
Ending with a request for mod’s and @vijju123 just like “I want to ask a question” - Ask them all here! .
Do add one more point in this (So, what decides when an answer should be accepted?) If a person karms is below <=(Threshold which you should decide so that ( question is new (not a repetitive one) or the answer provides some valuable additional insight. ) there is honesty with this point also. ) Then whether repetitive or not but it is in acceptable form then you will accept it. Because it will encourage them to write more.
Happy Coding 
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Omfg! I am really sorry…it was my first question ever and I did give the points for the answer and I thought that’s it… that’s how you make the solution…and btw I never “submitted” any solution related to that…
And I don’t know why are people over analyzing this stuff…it could be just that people are new and don’t know how to accept the solution and close the question…well at least that’s what happened in my case!
And yeah I did reply!
And it can also be that I don’t open discussions page much…I just open the contest page from my mobile read the question and close…lol I read this discussion today and came to know that I was mentioned here! xD
I am really sorry but it wasn’t intentional!
Hmm I think you are right about this problem. and yaa any update on the bug i posted ??
Yes. That bug isnt a priority right now, since they said there are mods to make sure things go smoothly. It is simply intended to count views, and if someone misuses it we will punish it appropriately. We dont expect people to be so bad/desperate to resort to such maasures, but any suspected case will be deal by mods.
Many dont even know how to accept answers. Please feel free to tell them how to do it. Especially those with <5 karma.
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I would also like to mention that @vijju123 as a moderator accepts many of the answers and that’s really nice
He do try a lot to reflect hard work of contributors…
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This comment is going to be long. Bear with me, it can be longer than combined word limit of 5 comments 
xD.
(this problem at my time was even more serious xD.)
Lol…those days xD. Karma farming, Karma Super farming, Karma farming 2.0 xD. Now that I look back at those days, its good we got rid of laddus. Eliminated all the toxic people from forums. Really. I still remember, it was like, one hate-post against me once every 1-2 months xD. I am glad and proud of what discuss is today, from what it was when I joined the forums.
Presently we have dedicated moderator @vijju123 who keeps eye on each and every post of forum.
<333333333
I want (and a request for @admin) there should be some midway between this. Mod can see page in its current form. But when someone answer/comment he should have a option whether he wants this to be bought on front page or not.
I feel it will be tough for community, especially new users, to properly use this feature.
And completely disagree here.
xD. I know, not the popular opinion of mine out there, but my views are more leaned towards whats actually possible. I’d have @admin focus more on things like virtual contests or deal with other pressing issues which crop up from time to time, than go on re-structure discuss. It’d be good to see, well organized, I agree, but among all other options it wont assume a high priority. Things and updates with discuss take lot of time and testing, so I am a little concerned of whats the best suggestion to forward to them. Every suggestion is, nevertheless, forwarded and noted. Its just that some suggestions seem so charming that work is started sooner than others
Whenever a user's answer is accepted then we can refer him to that link to read those guidelines.
User’s answer accepted by mod? Because user’s answer accepted by the thread OP means he already knows the stuff in good enough details
(But the question is old, and repetitive, and a simple search over the forums would be sufficient for that.)
Its not hard and fast, and I allow leniency over here.
There is a clear zone of repetitive questions where I strongly adivse to search forums. Like, questions of TLG. Search forums for TLG adn you’ll see at least 6 questions with exact same issue but users not bothering to search. I dont want to promote that, and hence some form of inhibition is necessary. I would prefer if users ask the OP to search forums for this, rather than answer the question. This is mostly where I reject accepted answers
Then, there is a little bit controversial zone. As you said, not everyone has googling skills, so these type of questions are left to the users. If the question is something like “When will XYZ editorials be released?” and I see it getting 15+ upvotes, then thats wrong. For these questions, I tend to community wikify them, so that it doesnt disturb the contributor’s list. Some questions where common errors (garbage values, not taking input properly, not declaring array of correct size, or declaring array of size {10}^{9} etc come in this category) are again, left more on discretion of thread OP. I give weightage here to both, the content given, hard work of the answerer and how common/easy this doubt was. The answers are usually accepted, though processing is expensive xD. Common questions asked are,
"Is the answer worthy of 25 points?"
"How common is the question?"
"How much hard work went for the answerer?"
"How common is the answerer in attending to queries?"
"How were similar things dealt in past?"
"Can I justify the action?"
and many more xD. But all you need to know is, I do my best to serve the community. Any discrepancies can be mailed to me for a reelook, as I agree nothing is perfect :). Mostly its Point 3. which causes discrepancy, so I am tending to be more lenient there xD
This was not only on front page but was also at top of Recent Questions .
Yeah, asking @admin to revert this is in my To-Do list. But important issues first xD
Do read last lines of these answers you will surely enjoy those days of @vijju123 and will be able to connect with days when you wrote your first answer on this forum.
xD. I remember. Especially for answers in Jan, 2017. I was new to forum with 1 karma, had a doubt to ask. Read that I needed 3 karma for it :/. Answered for a week, no one even upvoted, because I was new xD. In the end, at 7th day after answering I asked OP to give at least 2 karma so that I can ask question, as I had been trying for weeks 
. So he pitied me xD. That memory was my motivation for making a thread to let these users ask questions
And some Golden Memories for @vijju123 1. 2.
Actually, the most golden memory is my most downvoted answer xD. I was jsut chilling at forum, ahving a gala time when hater attack happened xD. Another reason I am glad we removed laddus
and @vijju123 I admit stalking here.
O_O :o xD
And after some time you will realise that it was only your journey which matters most not those karma points.
I can personally guarantee this
Then whether repetitive or not but it is in acceptable form then you will accept it. Because it will encourage them to write more
I take care of this. Dont worry and trust your mods (or mail them if you dont! xD)
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This is opinion based we can keep it open.
P.S. - I don’t knew that editing a question will open it again.
Keep it open. I would have closed it if it was needed.
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And I still have no idea how to accept that solution!
U have to click on a tick mark beside the answer… And u can do that only on ur question and while u r logged in…
Moderator can also accept answers on any of our questions… So u cannot accept a answer which is already accepted by moderator… But if u still liked answer and wanna do something then u can upvote it… by clicking up thumb symbol…