I suspect the bounty was offered by a user (perhaps the OP) whose account since then was deleted. Thus, the ownership of the bounty went to the Community User. — Joel Reyes Noche2 hours ago
Thanks, @JoelReyesNoche and ToddTrimble. No need to keep this question open now. — Steven Landsburg1 hour ago
I will add that if you look at the questions revision history or at the timeline you can see there: "Notice added Authoritative reference needed by user140765." (Although I am not sure whether this message is still displayed there after the bounty ends.) — Martin Sleziak2 mins ago
@ToddTrimble I think your comment would make a reasonable answer (with a bit of expanding).
I am not sure whether Steven Landsburg means the question on meta or the question on the main when he writes: "No need to keep this question open now."
But I assume that if he wanted to remove the question on meta, he could simply delete it (as he did with at least one previous question on meta).
@StevenLandsburg I was merely pointing out the fact that the username was shown there. When starting a bounty, you can choose one of several bounty remarks - as you can try for yourself if you try to offer bounty, but do not submit it or you can look at the screenshot shown in this answer: How should bounties be categorized?. "Authoritative reference needed" is one of the possible choice for bounty reason. — Martin Sleziak24 secs ago
@MartinSleziak Of course, I meant to say closer rather than closed.
I am not sure whether this is still an issue - I haven't heard from MO users for some time. As far as I can tell from Todd Trimble's message, the moderators are not pursuing this either.
@Catija Is there something new concerning the new design for MO?