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I do understand the importance of limiting the time in which a bounty can be awarded (I think).

However I wonder if mods have the ability to award an expired bounty in exceptional circumstances.

On this question I have totally missed the deadline to award the bounty to the person who has rightfully deserved it. It was totally my fault, but don't see why that user should not be awarded the bounty for the great contribution.

The answer already has 2 votes, the second came right after the bounty has expired.

If I had enough reputation, I would award the bounty again, but that is not possible at the moment, which makes me feel very bad about it.

I also really think that there should be a few days more time to award a bounty. Or perhaps it should not be strictly time based, but log-in/session based. Like for example prompt the user for a last chance to award the bounty when the user returns after the expiration time.

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  • Well, now you got enough rep to offer it again :)
    – tshepang
    May 28, 2013 at 5:55
  • @Tshepang I don't have enough reputation. May 28, 2013 at 8:49
  • You only need 75 rep to start a Bounty.
    – tshepang
    May 28, 2013 at 10:41
  • @Tshepang I suppose that is because my next bounty must be at least 100 points as I have already done the 50 points bounty. May 28, 2013 at 10:48
  • Oh, I see now. Sori.
    – tshepang
    May 28, 2013 at 10:49

1 Answer 1

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However I wonder if mods have the ability to award an expired bounty in exceptional circumstances.

No, we can't; once the bounty is over it's over. The system already awards half the bounty if you forget, but in this case the answer didn't get enough upvotes to qualify for it. Changing bounties so they don't expire until the user logs in could result in them extending indefinitely, and bounties put the question on the featured list, so we can't have them sitting there forever. I guess the grace period could be extended, but the site already nags you quite a lot about the impending end of a bounty via notifications and e-mails, plus the bonus 24 hours to make up your mind if you got a bunch of really good answers; that should really be more than enough time.

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  • Well I meant the grace period to be extended until the user logs in - not the period in which the question is featured. Also it still doesn't have to be open-ended. Could be like 7 days if the user doesn't log in. May 28, 2013 at 8:49

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