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I came across multiple questions, where the original poster found a solution and edited the question to add that solution to the question instead of posting the solution as an answer. For example: 1, 2, 3. I found this post on SO Meta, which suggests a course of actions on how to deal with that, but I found no similar advice here on U&L Meta. It seems reasonable to:

  1. Leave a comment under the question asking the original poster to post their solution as an answer.
  2. If there is no reaction for a few days, to edit out the solution from the question and post it as a community wiki with a reference to the original poster.

If the original poster decides to post their answer separately, the community wiki answer can be removed.

Is this correct? Can a moderator post the answer under the original poster's name instead? Should I flag the question for moderators' attention?

1 Answer 1

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Yes, what you describe (comment asking the OP to post an answer and post one yourself if they don't) is the best thing to do.

No, mods cannot post under another user's name, so there's no point in flagging for moderator attention, we can't do anything you can't already do, I'm afraid.

So yes, go with the SO approach, that seems reasonable.

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    Yes; providing an answer, even community-wiki, allows that answer to be voted on, which then marks the question as "answered" (not unanswered), even if the OP doesn't click the accept button. This helps future answerers focus on questions that still need answers.
    – Jeff Schaller Mod
    Nov 18, 2020 at 14:47

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