List of bounties with no deadline

Question

One of the problems on Stack Exchange sites is that questions don't always receive good answers. While unanswered questions are easy to find, this is not the case with questions that have one or more answers that don't meet the criteria of the question asker (or of other users on the site).

For this reason, I am drawing some inspiration from other sites, such as Programming Puzzles & Code Golf and Puzzling:

This is a list of unofficial, deadline-less (hence not searchable) bounties offered by users on various challenges on the main site.

The list need not be limited to questions that already have an answer. You can offer bounties both for your own questions and for other people's questions.

Disclaimer: There is no guarantee that the user will award the bounty for you in case you fulfil its requirement. Especially if the user isn't an active member anymore. The only guarantee is his/her written word.

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Guidelines for updating

• To add a bounty, create an answer that contains a link to the question that needs a (better) answer and the bounty you are willing to award.
• Answers can be commented on, allowing someone to notify the bounty's creator that the bounty may have been earned.
• If a bounty has been awarded, delete the entry or move it to another section of the answer, with a title such as "Awarded".

Answer 1

I offer bounties on

• Can someone explain what “corrupt without being charming” means? — six answers so far but all are disappointing. An explanation of this aphorism needs to discuss the Aesthetic Movement, Victorian attitudes to homosexuality, and the events of The Picture of Dorian Gray.
• Meaning of “Woman Question” in Candida by Shaw — it would be good to have an answer linking the meaning of the line to the theme and subject matter of the play.

Awarded

• Why did iambic pentameter become so standard in English poetry?
• Vision of the future in Max Beerbohm's “Enoch Soames”

Withdrawn

• How much of Ariadne Oliver's character is self-insertion by Agatha Christie?
• What does “in the Ring” mean in “Because I could not stop for Death”?

Answer 2

I'm offering a bounty for a good answer to ...

• Why are the names Rumi and Mevlana respectively used for the famous poet? There is one answer already, which gives one interesting piece of information, but a thorough answer worth accepting would cover a lot more than that: why is he never referred to by his personal name, why the name "Rumi" in the Western world (even though that name means "from the west" and from their point of view he was from the east), why the name "Mevlana" in the Middle East (especially if there was a shift at some point away from using the name "Rumi"), ... ?

• How did real historical Igbo society differ from its portrayal in Things Fall Apart? This is one of the highest-voted unanswered questions, and difficult to answer well since it would require both a detailed analysis of the fictional portrayal and some detailed knowledge of real-world Igbo society. I imagine a PhD could be written on this; if anyone can give it a really good answer here, that'd definitely be worth a bounty.

• Did Jean Rhys recognize her fictional portrait in Ford Madox Ford's *When the Wicked Man*? This whole situation, a sort of literary menage a quatre with four different people all writing about themselves and each other, seems interesting, and the question should be answerable (even if the answer is "no, in all Rhys's writings there's no commentary on this") but it's gone unanswered for almost exactly one year.

• Are all or some of the characters named Sganarelle the same person? I don't know anything about Molière or his works, but this kind of intertextual question about a potential common character in otherwise unrelated works interests me a lot. The question hasn't got any votes or attention in the last 2.5 years, so maybe a bounty will spur someone to research and answer it.

• What's the evidence for "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" being secretly set in Edinburgh? This has quite a lot of upvotes for an unanswered question, suggesting people are interested but maybe don't have enough knowledge to answer it. A good answer would probably require both in-depth analysis of the story and significant cultural knowledge about Scotland.

• Why did Jeanbernat cut off Frère Archangias' ear? A bit obscure, perhaps, but an interesting question, as answers might draw on any kind of cultural connection or significance. I suspect it simply dropped off the radar, with no activity since the day it was asked, rather than being exceptionally hard to answer.

• How does the theme of fate manifest in 'Njal's Saga', and how does it differ from the theme of fate in the Aeneid by Virgil? A potentially interesting question, and good answers would need to draw on knowledge of two ancient literary works from very different cultures, which feels like it would be bounty-worthy. Again, no activity since the day it was asked.

Awarded

• How and why did the story of King Cnut change? It's interesting to study how traditional stories have evolved and changed over the centuries, and this may require a lot of research to find the answer. (Naturally, the bounty would only go to a thorough and well-supported answer.)

• What is the origin of the name "Frankenstein"? There is one answer already, but it's not satisfying or thorough enough for me to upvote or accept. I'd like to know, not only what theory or theories have been put forward for the origin of the name, but the evidence for and against each one.

Answer 3

Currently, I'm only offering bounties on some of my own questions, because I am greedy with my Imaginary Internet Points but interested in answers to what I've asked. All bounties are 50 points for a Good Enough answer, with the possibility of more if I think the answer is superb.

Unanswered questions:

• Why are there two characters named "Rose" in Rose Under Fire? - My first ever question! I adore the book and would like to see someone else's analysis of these lovely ladies. A good answer here would be grounded in an understanding of both characters' personalities and plotlines, perhaps tying in themes from the wider story.

• Why does isolating "there" on its own line sound less emphatic in Korean than English? - I'm always interested in the process of translation. Working fluency and an understanding of poetic conventions in both languages are probably required.

• What did the students at the Royal Wavertree School for the Blind think of "Redwall"? - This is a question where I'm convinced there must be something known, but I just can't find anything. If everyone says that the book was written for these kids, why can't I find information about what the kids thought? Perhaps you can :)

Questions where I'm unsatisfied with the answer:

• What is the dialect in "The Origin of White Folks" and what does it add to the poem? - When asking this question I was hoping for analysis specific to the poem, whereas the current unsourced answer talks about general trends.

Withdrawn bounties:

• Who is "The Rithmatist"? - I answered this myself