The Bounty System on Stack Overflow Stack Overflow has a bounty system that allows users to offer reputation points for any user that would produce an accepted answer to a question, in an effort to draw more attention from users across the site.
What is a bounty system?
Bounty System, in U.S. history, program of cash bonuses paid to entice enlistees into the army; the system was much abused, particularly during the Civil War, and was outlawed in the Selective Service Act of 1917. Congress authorized a $100 bounty in July 1861 to men enlisting for three years.
Could you pay off your own bounty?
Removing your own bounty is quite simple though, if not very well communicated. All you need to do is visit a Post Office and speak to the Clerk behind the counter. Here you’ll have the option to pay off your bounties.
Can You award a bounty to your own answer?
(You cannot award a bounty to your own answer.) If you do not award your bounty within 7 days (plus the grace period), the highest voted answer created after the bounty started with a minimum score of 2 will be awarded half the bounty amount (or the full amount, if the answer is also accepted).
How many question bounties can you have at a time?
Users may only have three active bounties at any given time. Questions may only have one active question bounty at any given time. To avoid overly promotional bounties, if you are offering a bounty on a question that you have already posted an answer to, your minimum spend is 100 reputation (not 50).
How does a bounty work in Stack Overflow?
If the bounty was started by the question owner, and the question owner accepts an answer posted during the bounty period, and the bounty expires without an explicit award then we assume the bounty owner liked the answer they accepted and award it the full bounty amount at the time of bounty expiration.
Do you need to be the Asker to offer a bounty?
You do not need to be the asker of the question to offer a bounty on it. All bounties are paid for up front and non-refundable under any circumstances. If your new reputation brings you below the requirement for any privileges, you will lose access to those privileges. Users may only have three active bounties at any given time.
