What happens to questions after they are asked and answered?
Many old jellies here don’t like to go back to old questions and answer them, right?
And old questions only pop up as “related questions” to similar newer questions, or (with a lot of luck) appear on the tag sections or Fluther search. So unless a new jelly (who mostly has the tendency to answer old questions) clicks on tags or stumbles upon those old questions through “related questions”, the old questions will go unnoticed and buried forever, given how “reliable” Fluther search is and how “popular” this site is to Google.
Not to mention that some old questions have few tags, or “unpopular” tags, giving them a higer chance of going unnoticed.
So, a question’s lifetime is: asked, answered until everyone gets bored, and… what else? Die?
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9 Answers
The questions stay here as long as you do, unless they are edited or abandoned. Go to your profile, click on questions and keep looking back for the oldest ones. I looked up my first question a few weeks ago.
They go to Fluther heaven and play with all the doggies and kitties there.
Boring but more truthful answer: Yes, they hang around in perpetuity but unnoticed unless someone decides to answer them from a related questions sidebar.
They kinda just sit. It’s not bad form to answer an old question, but most people just don’t for whatever reason. I kinda wish we were more in the habit of reviving old questions, especially because it’s frowned upon to ask the same questions over and over and so we miss out on input from newer members.
Keep in mind that when the site started it was pretty much for problem solving. So after a week you had probably called a plumber if we couldn’t help.
There is the forum model where the last comment bumps up the thread to the top of the list. That wouldn’t have worked here. It might work in Social but would be a disaster in General since most questions are time-sensitive. And mixing the two approaches would just be a confusing nightmare.
(When I do see old questions, it brings back memories of all the Jellies gone.)
People can frown away. I am not intimidated. If I ask an old question again I just simply do.
If someone wants to refer me a similar question they can link it. Or choose not to comment if they are personally offended.
I know @gailcalled is quite good at this. I view her as our unofficial historian. She used to intimidate me with her references. But I now view them as interesting adding to the discussion, not shutting it down.
gailcalled I do hope you don’t mind me talking about you.
Well, you know what Oscar Wilde said about that.
—No I don’t what did he say?—
There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.
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