This thread allows anyone to propose any bounty for any question. Then, the bounty-giver should clearly state:
- The question the bounty is being placed on
- A description of the expected answer (be specific, don't use words like "succint" or "detailed" -- legitimate descriptors are "factual", "original", "with references", etc.)
- The amount of rep at stake
- The amount of time he will keep the bounty open for (can be forever [1])
As on SE, a bounty can be divided among answerers, too.
On Q2A, an administrator has the priviledge of being able to deduct, and add reputation from or to users. As soon as the bounty is put at stake, the amount of reputation at stake will be deducted from the offerer's account by an administrator.
Once the bounty-giver certifies that he will give a bounty to a certain answer within the time frame specified plus one day, the administrator can then award the bounty to the answerer. If the bounty-giver does not choose a particular answer, the administrator will award the bounty to the most voted answer, and if there is a tie, then the bounty will be divided among the answers. Once the bounty is awarded, an administrator will hide the answer proposing the bounty on this thread.
It is important that
- The bounty is not awarded to the bounty-giver, because then the bounty will just attract nice answers, then the bounty-giver can give a crappy answer, and lose nothing from the bounty.
- The bounty-giver or anyone else should not be allowed to change the time frame, since that will give no value to the bounty time frame, and people will not respect the time frame given.
- In contrary to SE, the question can still be closed if there is a bounty on it. Or else the feature can be abused to avoid question closure, as is done sometimes on SE.
[1] Please note that setting the time limit to "forever" reduces the value of the bounty since answering users will not be sure when they will get the reputation. Therefore, the chance of a user answering your question will be reduced.