Many times I (and you too, probably!) have come across comments on questions that more or less answer the question. This question, for example, OP figured the problem out and was able fix it before any answers were submitted. Nobody wants to gain rep for answers that weren't theirs, so DucatiKiller and others encouraged OP to submit his comment as an answer, but OP never did, thus the question sat on the unanswered list.
Could we create a 'convert to answer' flag for comments, such that the person who really did come up with the answer could get credit and/or rep for it, and remove it from the list? I'm thinking it could be just like close votes - the flag submits the 'covert to answer' suggestion to a mod or to the review queue, and the flaggers/mods/reviewers could have a chance to edit the comment into a more comprehensive answer.
There is of course the possibility that someone who makes an edit of, say 100+ characters, gets half the rep of the upvotes, or maybe it prompts the comment OP to convert the comment manually, and after some arbitrary units of time the comment is submitted from the 'community' and the comment OP misses out on the rep. The main point being - I feel dirty submitting/getting rep for an answer that was not my own, and would like to give credit where it is due.
We could instead create a 'upvote as answer' flag on comments to give the commenter some rep, and once it reached a certain # of upvotes it could be highlighted or converted.
Questions/comments/concerns/ideas/bomb-ass chili recipes are welcome!
