Is it useful to keep poking old question from unknown users?

Question

I think it's a good idea that the Community account pokes a few of the 'older' unanswered questions to give them some attention. However it also pokes questions from users that aren't around anymore (migrated questions?) like this one. Some of those questions might be good questions and have good answers, others won't. But since the original poster isn't around anymore, the correct answer will never be accepted and the question will be poked until eternity.

Can the Community account take over these questions and mark good answers? Although we might not be sure if it was the exact solution for the OP. Maybe these questions should be closed or even evaluated for deletion if they aren't off high enough quality?

Answer 1

Fortunately, the definition of "answered" does not only mean the OP has accepted an answer. A question containing at least one answer with one upvote is also regarded by the system as answered (see more here). So it doesn't matter if the user no longer exists, the question won't be poked until eternity provided the latter criteria is met.

It wouldn't be appropriate for another user or the Community account to decide accept an answer, as only the original OP can say which answer is best for them.

Where possible, we as the community need to improve the quality of a question and make it more attractive for people to answer. We want those gold nuggets to encourage high quality across the site! There are some tips on how to do this here.

However, it's certainly true that some questions cannot be salvaged and should be closed (e.g. not enough information to answer or applies only to a very narrow audience). Please vote to close these questions if you see them. Moderators can see if the community marks a question for closure and help it along if necessary. Or if you think a question is particularly damaging to the site, please flag it for a moderator to action as soon as possible.