How fast should I accept a correct answer?

Question

Many riddles get many answers, some of them are correct, while some are wrong. Which one to accept has been discussed earlier, but I can't find a place where the "when" is discussed.

The reason why I ask is that I believe questions with accepted answers might be of less interest for other people. Also, I guess people look through other persons answers before posting an answer themselves. In my opinion, it's interesting to see the reasoning used when answering the question, both for correct answers, and for wrong ones.

Therefore, I would think that by not accepting the first correct answer the moment it is posted, people are encouraged to post interesting answers, both correct and incorrect ones.

Is there a consensus, and if so: what is it?

Answer 1

That really depends on you. You are free to accept an answer whenever you think an answer is correct and satisfies the question well. If you want to accept an answer late, you can do so. It certainly generates more interest since people are less likely to take a crack on a question with an already accepted answer.

Also, if the posted answer is lacking something (like a better explanation or a missing clue) you can delay accepting that answer which provides an incentive for the answerer to improve his answer. In such cases, it is often helpful to leave a comment explaining what you are expecting for acceptation.