Some of the "unanswered" questions don't really deserve that title

Question

I've been browsing the unanswered questions, partly because Area 15 says:

71% answered: Needs Work – 90% answered is a healthy beta, 80% answered needs some work.

However I've found some "unanswered" questions really were answered, for example:

• Crash when using std::queue. That had a perfectly good answer by Edgar Bonet, however he did it as a comment, not an answer so it didn't count.

• What could cause interrupts from MCP23017 suddenly stop working? - the OP worked out the problem and acknowledged that in a comment, however the question went "unanswered".

• Attiny85 programmer with Arduino error Yikes! Invalid device signature - again, answered in the question comments, and acknowledged as such by the OP.

• After putting Arduino Uno into DFU mode, it is no longer recognised by PC - the OP is asked for clarification but doesn't respond so the question lapses.

It seems to me unfair that these questions go into the "29% unanswered" bundle when they really were answered, or the OP simply lost interest (probably got it answered somewhere else).

Does this seem right? Is there a way of fixing up these statistics in some way?

• RSM: Attiny85 programmer with Arduino error Yikes! Invalid device signature - I don't think that one ever got answered as the OP was vague as to what worked and then went on to buy a proper programmer. Note I was commenting there.

Answer 1

In cases where there's already an answer in the comments (or edited into the original question by the OP), we could copy it into a Community Wiki answer, with an appropriate acknowledgement. That will show up as an answer, but will prevent reputation going to the wrong person.

In situations where a question can't be answered due to lack of information (and the OP hasn't responded for a long time), we can vote to close the question as "Unclear what you're asking".

These steps won't solve the problem entirely, but it might help a little. What's important is to get the community involved in Review tasks so that problems can be dealt-with quickly. The other moderators and I aren't really supposed to do that ourselves (we're only supposed to deal with exceptional cases). I see the review queues are getting rather long again though, so we may have to step in to help things move along.

• sachleen: I've always suggested the OP make their comment an answer so others can find it more easily. They can get the reputation, as well.
• Anonymous Penguin: Related: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/117251/…
• Sean Houlihane: Cleaning up these ild questions will make the site look cleaner, and I think that will help longer-term to improve the review process.