6

See this question in meta itself to see a simple example:

Sure the comments answered it, but it could do with an actual answer in place to make it so that it is resolved and people who have the same question can find it easier. A really cool feature would be the ability to mark the comment as the answer maybe?

Or am I just barking up the wrong tree here and I should let sleeping dogs lie?

13

I think that's a bad example because the correct answer is, "close the question as off-topic" ;)

If there's a useful answer that someone has already submitted as a comment, that's a great opportunity for a low-rep user to gain some easy rep by writing up a complete answer with some supporting text and links.

So if this is happening a lot, the real problem is that there aren't enough ambitious new users.

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    +1 I do this all the time - but make sure to give credit for the idea, I always start my answer with "Expanding on what @drewbenn said in comments..." – Mike Ounsworth Apr 21 '16 at 15:48
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    I also often leave a comment-on-the-comment to the effect of "@drewbenn, if you turn that into an answer, I'll +1 it :-)" – Mike Ounsworth Apr 21 '16 at 15:49
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    I thought this was discouraged as it would be "stealing" other people's points, but it's definitely a good idea. There are a LOT of 'unanswered' questions where the answer is just in the comments. – Daisetsu Apr 24 '16 at 2:22
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    @Daisetsu I know a lot of people disagree with what I just wrote and I'm waiting for some of them to provide alternate answers here! But in my mind, if you had the opportunity to write up an answer, and didn't, and someone else does the work to write a good answer, that's not stealing, that's working hard to earn your points. (Note that I expect the answerer to do some work to write a good answer, with links, explanations, etc.) – drewbenn Apr 24 '16 at 5:31
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    Oh, I totally agree with you @drewbenn, I'm just saying that's what other people said about it. I'm more than happy to provide an answer based of comments if nobody else has. – Daisetsu Apr 24 '16 at 6:09

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