I have a suggestion.
What if a button for the "Answered" label was placed on the first post of the thread? A button only visible to the original poster (and maybe the admins too).
A good place will be at the lower left corner of the original post parallel to the Edit, Quote, etc.. (or right next to them) buttons with the same size, perhaps format too (a rectangular box with curved edges with the icon next to it).
A good icon would be the one like on the
Edit button
, but instead of a "pencil on a paper", a we put a "green check mark on a paper"; and the green check mark would be on the same place where the pencil is and approximately the same size to it too.
After being pressed, there would be a confirmation pop-up (e.g., Are you sure this question had been answered? Then two buttons, "Yes" and "Cancel"
would appear in the middle of the screen, so people won't accidentally press it.
Perhaps to keep uniformity, a similar looking pop up like the ones you get when you have a new message in the inbox.
It takes too much time to change the label into "answered," and putting this would increase the ease of use of the forum.
Thanks!