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Is there any way for moderators to either promote a comment which contains an answer to an "answer"? I ask because of questions like this:

light ray 'entropy'

I have only been on this site formally for two days but I've browsed it for a few weeks and I've seen this happen several times. It would be nice if there was a clean way to move these out of "Unanswered".

I looked around in the meta, but I didn't find anything directly about this.

Please redirect me if there IS already a discussion on this, though!

I don't think I have flagging rights yet, is this an option for a flag or could it be?

Thanks

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Nope, we can't convert comments into answers, only the other way around.

I've noticed the same thing: people will often post something as a comment that really should be posted as an answer. When I see this, I usually leave a comment in reply suggesting that the original commenter post an answer. (Something like "@person That would make a pretty good answer") Or, if it's an old question and the commenter is likely to be long gone or not to care, you can just take the content of the comment and post it as an answer yourself.

Because you have the option of doing something about it yourself, this isn't a problem that needs moderator attention, so I'd say don't bother to flag it.

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    $\begingroup$ Not trying to be obnoxious, but what is "old" on a site like this, relatively speaking? Three months? Six months? A year? Thanks $\endgroup$
    – user2053414
    Mar 5, 2013 at 6:02
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    $\begingroup$ A few days maybe? It's not a hard-and-fast rule, and probably should be based more on recent activity (or the lack thereof) than on age. Honestly, I wouldn't worry about it too much; if you see that someone posted what should be an answer in a comment, if in doubt, just make an answer out of it. Asking the commenter to do it is a courtesy, but not a requirement. $\endgroup$
    – David Z
    Mar 5, 2013 at 6:16
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    $\begingroup$ Should the question then be made community wiki, if one makes an answer out of a comment of someone else without adding much additional information to it? Otherwise, I would feel like a jerk who steals the idea of someone and takes the rep for it ... Or can the new answer afterwards be attached to the account of the original commenter? Therefore I would rather ping the original commenter to make it an answer first, if he is still on the site. $\endgroup$
    – Dilaton
    Mar 5, 2013 at 9:17
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    $\begingroup$ @Dilaton no, the question certainly shouldn't be made CW. And technically, the answer shouldn't be CW either, although if you want to check the box to do so, that's your right. Note that I did suggest pinging the commenter first, and if you do post an answer based on someone else's comment, you should acknowledge your source. But fundamentally, when people post answer-worthy material as comments, they have to acknowledge the possibility that someone else could repost it as an answer. If they wanted to get the reputation for it, they should have made it an answer to start with. $\endgroup$
    – David Z
    Mar 5, 2013 at 9:50
  • $\begingroup$ @DavidZ: I think it still should be made CW, as Dilaton said:, ""I would feel like a jolt who steals the idea of someone and takes the rep for it."" $\endgroup$
    – Abhimanyu Pallavi Sudhir
    Aug 15, 2013 at 15:24

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