Process for dealing with bounties that don't have an answer associated with it

Question

One of the reasons for starting bounties is to get the community to provide answers (to questions that don't have enough attention or can be answered if given some incentive), but at times even after the bounty expires there is no answer added to an unanswered question.

The current process for bounties still include notifications to the person who created the bounty to award the bounty once it expires, even if there is no answer for it.

Is there a way to create some incentive to continue the bounty but at a lower cost to the person who created it (because they didn't get the expected result, which is to get an answer), or maybe reimburse some of the cost so that they might create another bounty for a different question?

Is the process of starting and awarding bounties creating good incentives for people to post and answer them, or should we revisit this process so it provides a better experience?

Answer 1

Honestly, if the question didn't get an answer when originally posted and STILL doesn't get an answer when a bounty is placed on it then I don't think ever diminishing bounty amounts is going to help get a response.

It probably means the question is either too esoteric, or possibly unsuitable to the site as a whole.

The fact no answer came back is in itself a useful indicator. It means something is a problem with the question itself.

Answer 2

This question really belongs on the main meta site.

But I will suggest one possible change to the system (which is the exact opposite of that suggested in the question).

One can top-up a pay-as-you-go cell phone plan and have any unused balance carried forward into the next pay period.

Perhaps, before the bounty expires, one could increase the bounty, extending the expiry period and including the original payment.

For instance, I could offer 100 points today, and if I haven't awarded it before the 7 days are up, I could pay another 100 points to offer a 200 point bounty for the next 7 days.

There could be a minimum increase of say 100, and maximum total of 500.