4

It seems like the volume of questions is very low for this stage of the beta. At first it was attributed to the holidays. But they have been over for about a month now.

What level of questions do we need to maintain to keep the site from being closed? If we stay at the same levels how long will it take for the site to be closed?

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  • FWIW, one data point. As a person interested in ebooks, I note that there are questions about a) tech support for proprietary devices and shops (mostly Kindle) and b) legal advice, but little else. Both a) and b) questions are problematic on any site, imho. For me (using a device that is not locked in, shopping only non-DRM books), there's just too little interesting material. – Raphael Feb 7 '14 at 11:01
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Anytime you find yourself answering the same question over and over and over and over … it's blog post time.

Please read: Does this site have a chance of succeeding?

I hate to sound so trite, but please stop watching (and interpreting) these numbers so literally. Watching numbers is our job. Your job right now is to host and encourage the best possible end-user experience by posting great questions and great answers. That is the task at hand.

I'd like to share the history (and meaning) behind the numbers (below) for benefit of all the "number watchers" out there. Watching numbers can be counter-productive in driving behavior. This is why we are very hesitant in sharing raw numbers at all.

enter image description here

Honestly, your numbers are just fine — pretty much what you would expect from a site in this stage of development. In terms of your prospects of success, where you are (right now) is completely normal. All. is. well.

Really.

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  • 5
    Thanks for this info Robert. – Jason Down♦ Jan 22 '14 at 21:20
  • Very helpful feedback; nice to hear from someone in the know that we are on track. – elixenide Feb 27 '14 at 17:18
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Looking on Area51, there are many Beta sites that have been open for 2-3 years because they have not reached the necessary stats to move beyond the public Beta. I think we are safe, so long as some activity is occurring. The Personal Finance and Money site has been in Beta for 1266 days (nearly 3.5 years).

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  • Incidentally, "Personal Finance" has already graduated, but there's been an unforgivable delay in getting its custom design up. But point taken. – Robert Cartaino Jan 22 '14 at 21:13
  • @RobertCartaino Thanks for the mention. Would be nice for Money to get that design soon. Tax time will be upon us in about, uh, 6 to 8 weeks. Oh shit. :) Please, we can't wait that long. – Chris W. Rea Jan 29 '14 at 3:10

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