Let's be careful about accepting answers early

Question

The site launched into private beta yesterday, and we at the time of this writing have 44 questions. Of those, 9 questions have accepted answers.

I would suggest that we ought to be careful about accepting answers this early. While it is definitely nice to see that green checkmark next to one's answer, this is still very early in the process and we should expect new users who signed up to participate in the private beta to come in at least over the next several days. Do vote, however!

Particularly on lower-traffic sites it is generally suggested to wait at least a day or so before accepting an answer, based on that people live in different time zones and that questions which have accepted answers tend to receive less attention from the community.

This isn't something I or anyone else can mandate, obviously, but I feel it is something that would be worthwhile to keep in mind as we ask and answer questions.

Answer 1

I would propose a minimum of two days at this time. Simply so people have a chance to look over the questions, though it is also worth noting that this SE does tend to require more research into answers and looking at the ones we have, there are a lot of full and detailed posts.

Answer 2

I agree entirely, also the site is very active because it's very new - I have no doubt it will slow a little, that will need some patience.

One of the criteria for having a site progress is a reasonable number of answers per question. If we accept answers too early then people will be discouraged from answering questions which already have some responses.

However I think there's more responsibilities than that. As a community we must make a real effort to revisit older questions to reward and balance later answers. Otherwise the newer answers will inevitably sink to the bottom and attract less attention.