<p>I have noticed that several of the questions in the <a href="https://stats.stackexchange.com/unanswered">"unanswered questions"</a> section actually have reasonable answers in the comments.  Others have been there for many years without an answer, and it seems to be unlikely that any answer will be given.  This makes it annoying when you want to browse through popular unanswered questions, since the same ones come up the front every time and you have to scroll through many pages before seeing anything new.</p>

<p>I suppose the first problem can be solved by someone going through the questions and adding answers that replicate the answers in the comments.  But this still leaves the problem of old questions clogging up the top results.  In view of this, does anyone here have any objection if an enterprising individual were to go through questions that are too old (e.g., older than say, three years) and add an "answer" that merely flags them as old questions so that they no longer appear in the unanswered questions section?</p>

<p>Is this a good idea?  Terrible idea?  Heresy?</p>

<p><strong>Update:</strong> Some commentators have now pointed out some <a href="https://stats.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1409/should-the-standards-for-closing-questions-be-relaxed-somewhat-for-old-questions">related discussion</a> and <a href="https://stats.stackexchange.com/search">tips for advanced searches</a> that can be used to bypass this problem.</p>
