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I thought this had been addressed before but if it has I can't find it.

There was a question asked a day or two ago which has what at first site appears to have a good answer. The OP accepted that answer. Unfortunately, the answer was technically incorrect, as the answerer himself has since acknowledged.

Is there a mechanism by which the acceptance can be withdrawn? Can moderators do this if so asked?

I'm not providing a link because I believe it's quite unimportant what question I'm using as an example and I also feel it unfair to attract undue attention to the answer, as I believe it was posted in good faith.

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  • Didn't that answer get voted to -6 or so?
    – Michael Hampton
    Commented Feb 16, 2013 at 7:42
  • No, that's not the one.
    – John Gardeniers
    Commented Feb 16, 2013 at 11:54
  • 1
    Just to be nerdy and introduce a hack where none is needed, couldn't OP post an answer himself, accept that answer, and then delete the answer?
    – kojiro
    Commented Feb 22, 2013 at 18:40
  • @kojiro I've done that myself, or asked the answerer to fix his answer. I wonder why he didn't do that, considering he himself knew his answer was wrong?
    – Buttle Butkus
    Commented Feb 26, 2013 at 22:10

2 Answers 2

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The person who asked the question can change their mind about the accepted answer at any time by clicking the check mark again, or clicking the check mark next to another answer.

Moderators cannot override this, though obviously anybody with sufficient access to the database probably could...and almost certainly won't.

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    I was always under the impression that this could not be reversed, even by the OP. Looks like I was wrong.
    – John Gardeniers
    Commented Feb 16, 2013 at 11:45
  • Also, even if a moderator deletes the accepted answer it remains accepted.
    – Chris S Mod
    Commented Feb 16, 2013 at 16:17
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The official SO position is that accepting an answer (or not, or accepting then un-accepting...) is something only the question asker can do. Mods can't do it and developers won't do it.

The idea is that the check mark shows what the OP thought was the best answer, and if the OP chooses wrong, or if things change, then upvotes show what the community thinks is the best answer.

This seems to be the most authoritative question on meta.SO (multiple dups point to it): Moderators accepting answers on user's behalf after a certain time period

And this one: Can a user who is not question owner "un-accept" an answer?

Even in the case of a deleted user, Shog9 said "no way, no how:" Allow mod accept for deleted users

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