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Our stats on Area 51 are getting better. 96% of questions are answered, which is excellent, but none of the other stats are better than OK. Here are the values as they stand along with what the StackExchange interpretation is and some thoughts.

Questions per day - 5.8 (was 6.2 earlier today)

15 questions per day on average is a healthy beta, 5 questions or fewer per day is worrying. A healthy site generates lots of good content to make sure users keep coming back.

We are far too close to worrying. This is probably our most important stat and we really need to do better here.

Avid users - 123 Total users - 1,914

Every site needs a solid group of core users to assist in moderating the site. We recommend:

  • 150 users with 200+ rep (currently > 123 users with 200+ rep)
  • 10 users with 2,000+ rep (currently 10 users > with 2,000+ rep)
  • 5 users with > 3,000+ rep (currently 3 users with > 3,000+ rep)

We are getting close on these. More questions will help.

Answer ratio - 2.3

2.5 answers per question is good, only 1 answer per question is worrying.

We are close on this point wise, but to get to 2.5 we would need to add over 250 answers to existing questions. It might be beneficial to review old questions to see where an additional answer could best the accepted one or at least add useful information to the question.

Visits/day - 1,416

1,500 visits per day is good, 500 visits per day is worrying.

We are very close on this one. As the number of questions and answers has grown, so has traffic. By focusing on adding good questions and answers I think this metric will automatically be solved.


Anyone have conflicting interpretations or other ideas about approving our stats?

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  • I wonder if our low QpD is because we are still fairly new. I imagine that, given a little more time and some ways to increase traffic, that we will see that number go up. So far a lot of the questions have seemed to be really good.
    – jcolebrand Mod
    May 26, 2011 at 14:45

4 Answers 4

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Excellent question! A few stats:

(bear in mind it's only been 142 days, and we always let betas go on indefinitely if they are producing great content. Quality is, as they say, Job One.)

Also refer to Robert's post here:

https://writers.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/221/what-happens-now

But if that's TL;DR, in general help us grow your site!

  1. Share great questions and answers
    http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/09/announcer-booster-and-publicist-badges/

  2. Vote, vote, vote
    http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/10/vote-early-vote-often/
    https://dba.stackexchange.com/users?tab=voters

  3. Love and reward your new users for being awesome!
    https://dba.stackexchange.com/review
    https://dba.stackexchange.com/users

  4. Try to attract experts to the site by helping them get answers, too:
    http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2011/04/helping-the-experts-get-answers/

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  • Yup, and do like me and reach out to bloggers and experts directly and evangelize the site, asking if they've heard of us, and if they're interested in helping to build a better network of experts.
    – jcolebrand Mod
    May 26, 2011 at 14:44
  • 1
    I didn't dawn on me until reading one of these links that the avid users stat is something we can solve ourselves simply by voting. May 26, 2011 at 15:31
  • 1
    @Leigh ~ Yep, vote early, vote often!
    – jcolebrand Mod
    May 26, 2011 at 19:06
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This is probably our most important stat and we really need to do better here.

I think you are right that this is currently the area the site could most improve. If we do start getting more questions of course it would good if they are "real" question rather than the discussion/opinion type - I'm sure this will all come with time as drachenstern said in a comment.

Is it worth noting that with a few exceptions, most of the highest rated contributors have asked very few questions? Quite a few have asked zero.

I've recently started posting real questions I come up against in my job, motivated by the idea that it would be good to improve this stat. To my surprise (and it is surprising that I was surprised!), I've found this really useful and can see it becoming a valuable asset in future when I come up against problems a quick Google doesn't help with.

If some people don't want to ask questions that is fine but it would be a shame if some, like me, don't ask because they don't realise how much others on the site have to contribute to them

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  • 2
    Indeed, sometimes even when you know an answer, asking the question gives you other answers or some additional insight into the problem. May 27, 2011 at 12:19
  • Since the number of questions asked is so important is there a way to see this stat in a list of users? May 27, 2011 at 15:01
  • 1
    I went through them one by one, but perhaps it is easier to look here :) May 27, 2011 at 15:09
  • 1
    Thanks. Too bad it isn't on the site it self in the users section. May 27, 2011 at 15:12
  • Wow! You are so right. Of the 15 people with over 2K rep only three have more than 6 questions and only two with more than 12. May 27, 2011 at 15:17
  • You're right too: it seems odd that 'Asked/Answered' it is not one of the tabs in there. Perhaps we could suggest that to @Jeff or the moderators? May 27, 2011 at 15:18
  • @Jack consider it noted. meta.dba.stackexchange.com/questions/246/…
    – jcolebrand Mod
    May 27, 2011 at 20:15
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I'm a regular on webmasters.stackexchange.com and I noticed a number of hosting questions coming up on SO. After checking it was OK on meta I edited the tag wiki for hosting to point people at webmasters or serverfault. You could do a similar thing with the SQL and related tags on SO, pointing people to dba for their SQL related questions.

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This is just a shout out for all to advertise this Site on LinkedIn and Twitter. I have done so two times using LinkedIn to 4 Groups with automatic updates to Twitter. I need to so more often. I am just a little leary of being viewed as a Spammer. Other voices would help !!!

There are some really great minds in the DBA SE, spanning Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, and MySQL, developers and DBAs alike !!! So, make your ads sound like invitations, and appeal for questions as well as answers !!!

Cheers

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