Is it encouraged to write an answer to your own question if it is just a summary of the comments?

Question

I recently asked a question on how the uncertainity principle applies to a situation described there. There have been some comments, which, I think are at least partial answers. I commented that and hoped that one or some of the users who commented would consider turning their comment into an answer. Unfortunately, this has not happened.

I believe that by "combining" all of the comments, I might be able to write an answer to my own question. My answer would not be very in-depth or precise, but it would be some sort of "intuitive" (which is, without math and purely by describing - and no, I'm not saying that mathematics are always unintuitive. But the answer would only deal with the concept, not describing them mathematically) answer.

However, I am not sure whether it is allowed ot encouraged to do so. It does not feel quite right to me to write an answer consisting of information that I did not research or derive - basically, I would be "stealing" the answers (which in this case are however comments) of other users and pack them all in one post.

Is there any site policy regarding situations like this, and how should one deal with it?

Answer 1

This behaviour isn't really frowned upon, so it should be fine. This answer by David Z is basically on that exact topic, and gives good advice how to do it properly.

Given the comments are over a week old, and you feel they answer your question, I don't think it would be a problem to combine them into an answer, as long as you give proper attribution when relevant. I would even say this is a time where that's actually a pretty good idea to do so.

Answer 2

I ultimately agree with Jmac's answer; however, I am going to go a little further and say that this can be done at any time. I don't think the fact that the comments are a week old matters.

With the exception of comments that link to related questions/material, comments are not intended to be permanent. Comments are intended to either ask for clarification or suggest post improvements and should be deleted once the content of the comment has been addressed. Therefore, answers do not belong in the comments, and if you want to preserve any good content found in the comments, that content should be put into an answer. If you wait too long the comments could be deleted, and the information will be lost, so it would be best to do that as soon as possible.

Answer 3

I could add that it is probably appropriate to cite those who helped you to find an answer (like @BioPhysicist and @JMac). Even though they get no reputation or upvote for this, it is considered a polite thing to do in a larger physics community.