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Because worldbuilding tends to appeal to creativity and hypotheses, it happens that different people provide different answers, each one being entirely valid.

As an example, here's a question I asked: What could cause rock formations (small stones, boulders, islands...) to levitate?

Which one to validate, if any? How to reward every person who worked on it?

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    $\begingroup$ You can upvote as many questions as you like... $\endgroup$
    – Chad
    Commented Sep 19, 2014 at 18:07

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I would suggest that OPs should upvote all answers they believe are of good quality and select the one they find the most useful for the accepted answer.

From the help documentation

Accepting doesn't mean it's the best answer, it just means that it worked for the person who asked

Meaning that you should choose the answer which helped you towards your final solution/understanding. This may not or may not be the highest voted answer. A high rating indicates the quality of the answer not it's usefulness to the OP.

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    $\begingroup$ I'm not sure this is enough, when I ask "how can rocks fly", any sound explanation helps — and there are many. $\endgroup$
    – Sheraff
    Commented Sep 19, 2014 at 8:10
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    $\begingroup$ Define your acceptance criteria ;-) $\endgroup$
    – Liath
    Commented Sep 19, 2014 at 8:12
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    $\begingroup$ It's probably the closest we will get to an actual answer to this meta question, however. That's what answer acceptance is about. There is no rule that you must accept the highest-voted answer, either! @FlorianPellet $\endgroup$
    – user
    Commented Sep 19, 2014 at 8:43
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    $\begingroup$ You often face a similar problem on SO when three people suggest the same solution. At the end of the day sometimes you just have to pick one. $\endgroup$
    – Liath
    Commented Sep 19, 2014 at 8:44
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    $\begingroup$ Consider whether the OP thinks they are asking the question for their own individual benefit, or on behalf of the entire community. With a fledgling community in beta the temptation is to ask broadish questions on behalf of everyone to cover as much of the topic as possible from the start, but SE is not designed for that purpose. $\endgroup$
    – Allerion
    Commented Sep 19, 2014 at 9:41
  • $\begingroup$ @CalWest I agree, I've tried to expand my answer a little emphasising that the answer is a personal choice. $\endgroup$
    – Liath
    Commented Sep 19, 2014 at 9:49
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    $\begingroup$ I would also mention you don't have to accept an answer at all. Sometimes the breadth of answers (sorted/vetted by community vote) is what makes the thread worthwhile. In cases like that, the 'accepted answer' feature doesn't quite make sense. $\endgroup$
    – Robert Cartaino
    Commented Sep 19, 2014 at 14:19
  • $\begingroup$ Isn't there a way to make that a functionality then? Accepting multiple answers or declaring a question answered while not validating any because all proposed solutions are valid? Not ideal for SO but maybe relevant here... $\endgroup$
    – Sheraff
    Commented Sep 19, 2014 at 18:54
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    $\begingroup$ @FlorianPellet That's an interesting proposition. Please post it as a separate question, perhaps even on Meta Stack Exchange, so it can be discussed properly. $\endgroup$
    – user
    Commented Sep 20, 2014 at 18:04
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    $\begingroup$ Turns out this questions' been asked before. And the downvotes they're getting doesn't really encourage me to post again ! meta.stackexchange.com/search?q=Accepting+multiple+answers+ $\endgroup$
    – Sheraff
    Commented Sep 20, 2014 at 23:54
  • $\begingroup$ From Liath's response: "A high rating indicates the quality of the answer not it's usefulness to the OP." Sure, but am I rewarding an answer for my own uses only, or the use of the greater community here? I recently gave the check mark to an answer that was not the most suitable to my particular question, but that I honestly believed would serve more users. We're not just trying to get answers for ourselves. We're also hopefully answering many others peoples questions so they don't have to ask, no? So could there be a way to differentiate? $\endgroup$
    – Len
    Commented Feb 22, 2018 at 16:55

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