Guidelines on accepting answers for 'list of x' community wikis?

Question

I thought it was strange to still have a cw question with an accepted answer option, but it appears this topic has been discussed on meta.stackoverflow.com.

I do like the suggestion of having the accepted answer for list of X questions be a summary of the answers for that question--I hadn't thought of using an accepted answer like that.

But on SO, I also see where the original question is edited with the summary of the answers, which was the approach I would have instinctively taken.

Which approach would be best for gis.se?

Answer 1

I think that a summary created by someone would be the accepted answer. That would guarantee the top position on the post (correct?)? If so, everyone could see the answers without going tru all the postings.

Answer 2

I favour a summary answer over putting the summary in the question, though I've done both.

Also note there is no requirement for every question to have an accepted answer, although it's strongly encouraged.

Answer 3

Guidelines on When to Accept (or not) a Community Wiki Answer

There are two reasons to ask a "list of X" question.

(1) If you just want to poll a community for ideas that might help solve a problem (best book, best approach), you should accept the answer that best helped solve your problem. The accepted answer DOES NOT mean it is the only correct (or even the right) answer. It’s the one that best helped solve your problem.

(2) If your question is intended to gather a list of equally relevant answers, and you don’t expect one answer to be the most applicable, then you don't have to accept an answer. Community wiki on a “list of X” question suggests that the value of the question is in having the list of answers as a collection (i.e. a collaboration).

That’s why the accept rate calculation does not include community wiki questions.