12

I have seen this a lot but i ran into this question today:

What is the best way to add options to a select from an array with jQuery?

And the answer (while good) has 83 upvotes which seemed a little over the top. I see dozens of answers of this caliber every week that only seem to get a few upvotes.

Was there some sort of SO policy that encouraged people to upvote more during this period? Am I just imagining that answers from this period received more votes than comparable ones now?

Improve this question
4
  • Go back and check the answers of this caliber you saw this week in two and a half years.
    – Shog9
    Apr 21, 2011 at 2:13
  • Will do. Expect an email regarding this post 2.5 years from now.
    – Abe Miessler
    Apr 21, 2011 at 4:17
  • 1
    There better be an e-mail in @Shog9's inbox right now, I've been waiting for this day a long time
    – Michael Mrozek
    Oct 22, 2013 at 5:45
  • This is hilarious
    – Abe Miessler
    Oct 22, 2013 at 15:04

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
14

Not only have those post been around for a while, but early on there was not as many new questions to the site so the original questions got more views. If you look at the view count (almost 60,000), then you realize that is a only a little more than 1 vote per 1000 views, you might ask instead why it doesn't have more votes.

Also, some of the core questions got asked early on in the life of the site. Great questions still come around from time to time, but many have already been asked.

Improve this answer
1
  • 3
    Good point about comparing votes per 1000 views
    – ChrisF Mod
    Apr 21, 2011 at 11:21
10

It didn't have 83 votes then, it has 83 votes now. The site started in 2008, so you're looking at one of the oldest posts -- the longer a post has been around, the more time it has to collect upvotes

Improve this answer
4
  • 2
    Seems like most questions get relegated to the bowels of SO after a few weeks. I know from my personal experience that when I get an upvote 1 month after I've answered a question it is a big surprise. Has your experience been different?
    – Abe Miessler
    Apr 21, 2011 at 4:24
  • 5
    Back then it was possible for some people to read ALL the questions/answers posted and vote accordingly. That's certainly not possible now.
    – ale
    Apr 21, 2011 at 4:28
  • 1
    When I have a problem, I search in my favourite search engine. When that leads me to an SO answer that helps me, I vote up the answer. I also vote up the question - thanks to that person asking, I got the answer immediately. Over time, these votes from search engine traffic can really pile up. Nothing wrong with that.
    – Kate Gregory
    Jul 11, 2013 at 16:16
  • 1
    @KateGregory: You should probably up-vote the question even if you didn't find a helpful answer, assuming that the question is relevant and well-written. (IMHO of course)
    – einpoklum
    Jul 13, 2013 at 16:18

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .