Conversation started Apr 13, 2020 at 17:49.
Martin Sleziak
Martin Sleziak
Apr 13, 2020 17:49
I have posted a few SEDE queries here: Does the number of answers really drop over years?
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Q: Does the number of answers really drop over years?

მამუკა ჯიბლაძეThis was caused by an answer of mine to the question Slight downward trend in Q & A. I was adding another update to that answer when I noticed that the query I was using there now can be run for more extended periods of time. So I tried it and would like to share the resulting graph here since I ...

discussion answers statistics
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A: Does the number of answers really drop over years?

Martin SleziakI do not really have an answer, but let me at least provide some further SEDE queries, so that we have more data. (I only know very basics of SQL, but I hope that somebody more knowledgeable might have a look and spot if I made some mistakes in the queries.) I have linked to queries for MO below...

Just to check whether they work correctly I might also check numbers I get by searching on the site.
I can find number of posts in a given month by searching for "created:2019-01-01..2019-01-31". Adding is:q gives only questions, and is:a returns answers.
For example, I get 802 answer, 907 questions in January 2019, the ratio is 802/907=0.88423.
849/892=0.95179 in January 2020.
839/858=0.97786 in January 2018
I wrote it the other way round - January 2018 is 858/839=1.02265
This query returns correct number of questions/answers in those month.
This query returns correct ratios in those months.
Let us have a look at CW/nonCW posts.
is:q wiki:1 created:2019-01-01..2019-01-31 returns 9 questions and is:a wiki:1 created:2019-01-01..2019-01-31 returns 64 answers.
7 q and 114 a in January 2018
7 q and 87 a in January 2020
This query returns correct numbers for those three months.
For non-CW posts we have:
762/885=0.861 in January 2020
738/898=0.822 in January 2019
771/832=0.927 in January 2018
The query returns 744 and 832 in January 2018.
Maybe I looked at wrong numbers, in January 2018 I have 114 CW answers and 858 total answers, 858-114=744 answers.
So it's 744/832=0.894 in January.
This query returns the correct ratios for those montsh.
I have also looked an questions in some specific tags.
First, let use try the queries used for a single tag.
In the tag set-theory I get 27 answers and 41 questions in January 2020, 27/41=0.65853658536.
33 answers and 45 questions in January 2019, 33/45=0.73333333333
34 answers and 33 questions in January 2020, 34/33=1.0303030303.
This query returns correct numbers in those months, this query returns correct ratios.
Now we have questions tagged (big-list) or (soft-question)
Using search I get 86 answers and 10 questions in January 2020.
The query only returns 9 questions.
39 answers and 22 questions in January 2019.
101 answers and 12 questions in January 2018.
The query only returns 6 question in January 2018.
I see, there was a typo in the query, I have (q.Tags Like '%<##tag1>%') and it should be (q.Tags Like '%<##tag1##>%') .
After the correction, the query returns the same numbers as about for those three months.
I also want a query which returns questions without those tags.
Let us try this query.
It returns 763 answers, 882 questions in January 2020, 763+86=849 and 882+10=892. ok
763 answers and 885 questions in January 2019, 763+39=802, 885+22=907. ok
757 answers and 827 questions in January 2018, 757+101=858 and 827+12=839. ok
The ratios are 0.86507936507, 0.86214689265 and 0.915356711.
This query returns correct numbers and this query returns correct ratios.
 
Conversation ended Apr 13, 2020 at 18:45.