Shouldn't at least partial credit be given for best answer if you thoroughly investigated and cited but the questioner never comes back?

When the question-asker doesn't pick a best answer, the question goes to voting. This allows other members to vote on which answer, if any, is the best. In this case, I think it's obvious that you should have been picked as the best answer, and I'm not sure why anyone voted 'no best answer' for it.

However, I think situations like this are in the minority, and it rarely happens (at least from what I see). Plus, now we are able to see who votes for what answers. Anyway...sorry that happened to you.

You deserved the best answer.

Usually even if the questioner doesn't come back other folks in the Mahalo community look at the question and vote. That's the way it usually works. I looked at your question just now and it does look like a good answer.

Not to mention the only one. But the question is so obscure and uninteresting that probably no one happened to decide to look at it and vote. I find most of my best answers are picked by votes not the questioner.

The voters are more likely to pick the best answer as well, because the asker doesn't know what the answer should be or they wouldn't have asked in the first place. But there is no guarantee, sometimes good work just gets ignored.

This is where I end up doing "vote patrol" where I go through the "Undecided" tab to look for questions in need of votes. I try to contribute in that way as best I can.

It was a good answer and I find it hard to believe that the community voted this as No... at least from my observations it looks like the asker himself selected "No Best Answer" in this case there is nothing we can do, especially when the asker doesn't provide any feedback. With that said, in the four months of Answers existence this is one of the few times I have seen such a scenario play out.

I would say that your filled the requirements of the question by answering it thoroughly and correctly. I don't get why no best answer was selected. My question is that if there is only one answer, why wouldn't that become the best answer by default?

This could be that partial credit suggestion you had. Unless, of course, the questioner rates it as a non-helpful question.

You did good work, and you had an excellent answer.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.