Is it unethical to vote for your own answer?

Question

I often find that the questions I've answered are summarily abandoned after a short time and certainly before voting begins.  The asker doesn't bother to pick a best answer, and almost no one votes on the answers.  Is it unethical or shady, then, to vote for my own answer in order to increase the 'Best Answer' rating?  Would it be better if I refrained from doing so unless I really thought I had written the best answer, or is this common practice?  I'm of two minds on the issue, and I'd like to hear some opinions on how other people commonly approach the matter, and why.  I don't want to be dishonest with the community and conceited, but at the same time I did work at answer the questions and it would be nice to get something for the trouble instead of having it abandoned.  (If no one else bothers, I might as well get the points?)

I'm honestly not sure what to do here.  Then I realized I'm on a site that specializes in answering questions, so maybe it was time I used it from the other side. ;)

Rev · Accepted Answer

It's perfectly fine to vote for your own answers. If you feel another answer is clearly better than yours then you should vote for it or abstain from voting, but that is a moral choice and not a requirement. 

First of all if you are even able to vote that means the Asker couldn't be bothered to choose a Best Answer. 

Secondly it's not cheating even though some people seem to think it is. If it wasn't allowed you would not have the capability to. Obviously though you can't use multiple accounts to vote; that IS cheating.
 
If anybody else votes for their own answer, which happens a lot, then you will still have a tie to be decided by a third party.
 
And if nobody else votes and you feel your answer is the best, and you cared enough to vote, then I say you deserve BA.

BuzzyBee · Answer

It would be unethical if you chose only to improve your rating, especially when you know someone else's answer is honestly better. If you honestly think you have the best answer then it is fine. The difficulty is that it is hard to be objective when your own interests are involved. 
If there is only one answer, and it is yours, I think it is alright to vote for yourself if you gave an honest effort. Ideally, all of us should write only answers that we would feel good about voting for if they were the only answer. It's hard to be ideal, of course!

Anonymous · Answer

I always wondered why yahoo answers never fixed it so you couldn't vote on your own answers. therefore I figured its okay but it always irks me to go back to questions I put alot of thought into answering & some troll got best answer. Other than that I never put much thought into it.

I say just vote for your answer if you truly think its best & be a good user & pick the best answers yourself! :)

kim · Answer

For me i think it is unethical because it seems like you're after the points (i know you're not but this is the reason i don't rate my answers). makes me feel like a cheater haha ^^ but yes, i do understand your point....I even get disappointed sometimes when the answer i put so much effort in doesnt get picked haha. but yeh, i think it is unethical in a way

Octavia · Answer

No it's not unethical, I'm sure Obama didn't chose his opponent when he voted.

Anonymous · Answer

It's okay only when you are the only option, or you honestly believe you had the best answer.

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Is it unethical to vote for your own answer?

6 Answers