A convenient way to know when a thread is successfully answered.

Hi guys. Something came to mind.
I was thinking that everytime we look at an entire forum, the only information of the status of any one thread is the amount of posts and the amount of times it has been viewed. What if an option is added, in which the person that posted the thread is the only one who can access this option, and what the option would consist of is whether the problem or question he/she had was resolved.
If it is the case it was resolved, then he/she can click on this, and when any user looks at any one forum, a green checkmark appears at the beginning of the thread if the thread has been sucessfully answered or resolved. (remeber only the thread creator can select this of course)
I think this way, it would save much time in not having to go into every thread with lots of posts and see if the thread poster's question was answered. If, however, the thread hasn't been answered yet to full satisfaction, then it appears just as all threads appear now. But when the question is answered, then a green check mark at the beginning of the thread appears.

let me know what you guys think.

zLinuxz

This has come up before and I do like the idea, I just don't think it will be as good in practice as it is in theory. Many threads go from one original question to many questions by many people. If the original poster marks the question as answered the other posters in the thread will likely have much less of a chance to have their questions answered, which will result in a bunch of new threads about the same thing. Thanks for the suggestion. If anyone has any ideas on this I am more than willing to consider them.

--jeremy

in practice, i think an 'answered thread' option would probably work best with the search. if there was an option to mark a thread as answered, there wouldn't necessarily need to be a check mark by the thread in the normal forum listings. that way, threads are left to live as long posters see fit, without anyone passing them over because the threads are already answered.

a search option to return only posts or hits from threads marked as answered might cut down on manual searching- esp. for the larger searches.

I can actually see Jeremy's point of view here. Who would have the final say over when a post has been answered? What would happen if it needed to be expanded upon? And all the extra threads that might occur as well could be a problem.

Well if the thread initiator can mark it as 'answered', why not make it so that if there is new input to the thread it becomes 'extended' or expanded or some other term?

Having a thread marked as answered need not make it closed/locked.

<shrug>

right. Lilke when you post a Question, you can have an option in the post section saying that this is a Question. But if you just post any other kind of post, you just leave it as is, like right now. It can be special when you have a question or problem about the subject. And then that specific thread can be "extended" like you guys say, or something of the same line.
I think that would work, . Considering that when the little green check appears, that does not mean the thread is closed. It just indicated the Original question was answered. But if there is another Question Post, and the questioner marks it as a question,then the green check disappears and becomes like a normal thread with no green check.
What do you think now Jeremy?

But then the new person (the one who made the checkmark disappear) would now have the option of retagging the thread? And the original poster would no longer have this ability?

I don't know if this would be more work that it'd be worth, but it sounds decent. At least worth trying, so we can see how it works in practice.

Then, if it doesn't work out so well, it can always be removed. But if this would be more work than it'd be worth, and end up completely failing, that'd sure be a waste of time.

hmmm...

IMHO

Cool

Yes I understand that an answered thread is not necessarily closed, but like Jeremy mentioned there may be someone with a very similar problem who hasn't had there problem answered but could by carrying on the thread rather than making another one and going through all the questions in the thread before.

Also, if you see a thread as answered would you be likely to take another look at it? I know that I wouldn't.

On the other hand, a better structuring of threads I think is a good idea, certainly something to look at in the future.