34
votes
We have a very large & widening gap between questions and answers. How do we fix it?
We need more answers, and therefore answer-writers
There's no escaping that more answers to on-topic questions are required to close the gap.
More active participation in closure queues is a ...
SycoraxMod
- 92.6k
26
votes
Accepted
My questions don't get an answer - is it a general trend, or am I doing something wrong?
The proportion of unanswered questions is indeed slowly growing because (among other things):
the number of people answering questions is growing more slowly than the number of people asking ...
- 287k
19
votes
We have a very large & widening gap between questions and answers. How do we fix it?
Downvote
Here is the mouseover text on the downvote button:
The question does not show any research effort; it is unclear or not useful
I'd recommend we be more liberal with actually clicking on ...
- 129k
18
votes
We have a very large & widening gap between questions and answers. How do we fix it?
We do not have a problem with unanswered questions. We have a problem with low quality questions.
See the below image from this sql script which gives for the monthly answers and questions the 10-log ...
- 82.8k
17
votes
Accepted
What is considered an "unanswered question" in Stack Exchange?
Q: Why does the "Unanswered Questions" tab show questions that have answers?
A: The Unanswered Questions tab shows questions that have no answers with a positive score nor an accepted answer....
- 106k
14
votes
My questions don't get an answer - is it a general trend, or am I doing something wrong?
I now have some experience with CV and other SE venues. I think CV is more challenging than others because questions are more technical and scientific, and also because subspecialization is the rule ...
- 2,532
13
votes
Accepted
Is it allowed to ask questions again if they did not get an answer last time
From a FAQ: How do I get attention for one of my own questions without a good answer?
You can "bump" your question by editing the question to provide status and progress updates resulting ...
- 103
13
votes
Are new answerers feeling like they "speak into the void"? And can we help?
1. To what extent is this a common experience of new answerers? Do we lose noticeable number of potentially active participants this way?
I think I felt similarly when I started participating, and it ...
- 19.8k
13
votes
We have a very large & widening gap between questions and answers. How do we fix it?
If a user asks an on-topic, answerable question, will that user get an answer?
Most likely yes (currently ~60% of all questions are answered).
The question graph is biased because the unanswered ...
- 3,080
10
votes
Can we remove some of the old questions from the "unanswered questions" board?
To see unanswered questions created last month, just use the search expression
created:1m answers:0
Then you can add other search terms to refine, for example
...
- 81.7k
10
votes
Why do time series questions get such a low response rate?
It looks like I'm one of the more active users in the forecasting and time-series tags. Here is my subjective take.
I very much agree with Nick Cox' comment. Many, if not most of the questions ...
- 129k
10
votes
Accepted
Unanswered questions
My first thought was to vtc this post as a possible duplicate to the already well discussed posts which, even though took place almost a decade ago, still are in complete relevance.
In any case though,...
- 9,597
9
votes
Accepted
Can (should) I delete a question that gained no attention to re-create it with a simpler formulation?
One clear principle has consistently helped me moderate such situations:
If your intended changes affect only your work, feel free to make them. Indeed, we encourage you to do so. But if they ...
whuberMod
- 330k
9
votes
We have a very large & widening gap between questions and answers. How do we fix it?
We need more answers, and therefore answer-writers There's no escaping
that more answers to on-topic questions are required to close the gap.
In my opinion this is the single most important point, ...
- 9,866
8
votes
Simple question needs simple answer but does not attract necessary attention
Crossposting on mathoverflow (which I know is discouraged)
It would be dramatically off topic on mathoverflow, which is for research problems. Unless you are planning to publish in a mathematically-...
- 287k
8
votes
How should I flag (or otherwise deal with) questions that have not been clarified after comments were left?
Not answering Glen_b's comment does not seem to have anything to do with this question being a candidate for closing. I'd say that this question is simply too vague/too broad, so I closed it (if ...
- 140k
8
votes
We have a very large & widening gap between questions and answers. How do we fix it?
I don't think the problem is solvable just by closing more questions or downvoting. I think all users start at a point where they just ask questions, then some of them become knowledgeable enough to ...
- 18.3k
7
votes
Accepted
How should I flag (or otherwise deal with) questions that have not been clarified after comments were left?
As a non-moderator, I think it's sufficient to write a comment asking for clarification & register a close vote at the same time. If a comment already asks for clarification, and you agree with it,...
SycoraxMod
- 92.6k
7
votes
Unanswered questions
I sometimes find old "unanswered" questions that are actually answered in the comments to the question. When I find such questions I often create an answer from the comments (crediting the ...
- 63.7k
5
votes
Are new answerers feeling like they "speak into the void"? And can we help?
As a reader looking to better my practice, I welcome answers that are clear and broken down in detail.
As a learner that will eventually look to help others I would welcome some guidance of what a ...
- 31
5
votes
How do I find oldest unanswered question
You can you use the StackExchange Data Explorer to write an SQL query that does exactly what you want. Below a query that returns what you are looking for. That is, unanswered posts, sorted from ...
- 101
5
votes
Are new answerers feeling like they "speak into the void"? And can we help?
To what extent is this a common experience of new answerers? Do we lose noticeable number of potentially active participants this way?
Probably. I certainly answer less because of it (not that I'm ...
- 2,244
5
votes
Is there a polite /accepted way of "bumping" up questions?
When you place a bounty on a question then this will also bump up the question (and in addition it will be featured in the bounty list).
But note that a bounty for unclear questions is not gonna work ...
- 82.8k
5
votes
Unanswered questions
Perhaps some stupid answers, but ones that come to the top of my head:
I don't know how this generally works across the Stack Exchange, but I'm wondering if there can simply be an "old questions&...
- 16.2k
4
votes
Accepted
How to find all unanswered questions in a particular tag asked within the last year?
(edited to incorporate amoeba's suggested improvement of my answer)
Within CV you can pretty much get what you seek, for example
i. you can easily get all but one of the things you seek, for example ...
- 287k
4
votes
How can I save a search?
I'm not aware of any way to save a general search within the SE system. You can of course save a browser page and reload that, so that it has your favourite query.
However, one thing you can do is ...
- 287k
4
votes
Accepted
How can I save a search?
I don't really know of a way to do that, although there may be one. I personally don't do anything like what you are describing. You might post a comment under an answer from someone who is ...
3
votes
How do I find oldest unanswered question
As a comment to the answer by @gung, some more examples of the advanced search features, modify, mix & match at will. The first is my standard starting point:
...
- 81.7k
3
votes
Why do time series questions get such a low response rate?
Maybe the following analogy/viewpoint may help. Comparing with StackOverflow you could see questions as 'bug-reports'.
On SO those bugs are specific and concrete. If some bug or other type of ...
- 82.8k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible