Comment 11 for bug 107810

Matthew,
I really doubt that people don't use the 'This Solved My Problem' button because there is no obvious way to thank the user. I really think its a matter of not "seeing" (for your varying definition of see): the button doesn't really contrast with the background, it's not in a place that is expected for the task at end, etc.

Of course, without any empirical evidence (eye tracking, observation data, or even user interviews) your opinion is just as good as mine.

In the lack of evidence for one or the other theory though, I think it would be a little drastic to remove all the functionality related to the 'Best answer' now. An unfortunate side effect of that solution would be to introduce some inconsistencies in the data model. Now, all questions in the SOLVED status have their answerer and answer attribute set. It wouldn't be the case after the change.

I think a more conservative change, allowing us to gather some more data on the reason behind that behaviour before choosing the final solution is best for now.

We should first change the label to a very long and verbose, but very explicit 'I Solved the Problem on My Own'. As an additional safe-guard, we should add a message near the buttons like: "To confirm an answer, use the 'This Solved My Problem" button located at the bottom of the answer.'

We should revisit this issue two weeks after the change to measure if this change had an impact on the ratio of the different answers kind. We should probably also attempt to contact some of the users that didn't succeed in using the UI properly to try to understand what is the source of their mistake. We should take care in the way we formulate our question to minimize rationalization effect (see http://www.uxmatters.com/MT/archives/000183.php for some tips).