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Just in browsing (I hadn't been to the site in a while) I've noticed one of my previous questions has been nudged by Community onto the list of latest questions. The question itself was answered but through a comment and not an answer and hence I can't mark it answered. This didn't trouble me, but now it does somewhat (the only answer provided didn't work for me as it was using techniques that I wasn't using if that makes sense to work my data up). In short is there a way of closing the question, as the answer was there (the original data I posted answered the question but due to my lack of knowledge/understanding I didn't realise it at the time). Thanks to some friendly nudges in the right direction I got there myself (it wasn't a complicated question).

Thanks,

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    $\begingroup$ What question are you referring to? I looked at all your questions and did not find one that matches this description. By the way, where do you say the answer is? Is it in the question itself or in a comment? $\endgroup$
    – whuber Mod
    Jul 28, 2012 at 16:15
  • $\begingroup$ Sorry I should have mentioned that it was on the main site. It has a 3 rating. In terms of the answer the data I provided in the question is enough to figure the answer out and the back and forth I have with someone in comments is enough to work the process through. I was just looking to close this off and wasn't sure as to how? $\endgroup$
    – user8812
    Jul 28, 2012 at 16:27
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    $\begingroup$ You can ask the person who posted the comment to post it as an answer so you can accept it. This notification can be done using a ping, e.g. @user8812. $\endgroup$
    – user10525
    Jul 28, 2012 at 16:55
  • $\begingroup$ @Procrastinator - thanks I have now done that in the question. I'd be happy to take this as an answer but I'm going to leave this open in case there is a more formal way of closing things out if that makes sense. $\endgroup$
    – user8812
    Jul 28, 2012 at 17:05

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So, just to be clear, it appears that this comment is what you are taking as an answer.

A good way to close out a situation like this is to post your own answer incorporating (and even referencing) the comment and then accept that answer.

Thanks for your concern about the quality of our site!

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    $\begingroup$ This seems reasonable, but I would try @Procrastinator's strategy of pinging the individual first to see if they would repost the comment as an answer. If they do, I think that's ideal. If they don't for any reason, then I would post my own answer w/ (& referencing) their comment. $\endgroup$
    – gung - Reinstate Monica
    Jul 28, 2012 at 19:48
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks all - I can see both sides of this and will probably try @Procrastinators approach on this in future (as I have a couple of other questions that this can be applied to - where my background statistical knowledge isn't great I have a lot of answers already there that I didn't realise were right). I'd ideally prefer the commenter to answer as it seems wrong of me to answer, and accept my own answer to my own question (even when referencing their comment). The pinging idea seems the cleaner way forward. Thanks again. $\endgroup$
    – user8812
    Jul 28, 2012 at 20:31
  • $\begingroup$ I think this is reasonable (and I just did the same thing on Stack Exchange.) In that case, the comment was a very good hint that sent me off down the right track, and then I did the work about implementing it. I figured that if the person had the time/inclination to work up an answer, then they might have done so, but perhaps in future I should ask them first if they'd like to do the full answer? [rhetorical question...] $\endgroup$
    – James Stanley
    Dec 19, 2012 at 20:33

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