The only way I know of to have insight into whether a question posted to this sub has been answered is to look at the comment count - normally, a topic with no interaction would have 0 comments. However, because of the AutoModerator comment that's posted and stickied to every single post, even questions that have no community engagement will show at least '1 Comment.' Already that's asking me to treat posts in this sub differently than others - to remember that there needs to be at least two comments to clue me in that someone has actually already left a response to the topic...
But even that method isn't reliable, because I'll frequently come across posts that have 2, 3, even 7 or so comments counted... but when I click in to the post itself, there's nothing there, it's barren, but for the ever-present AutoMod comment. ( I assume this is due to having multiple rule-breaking posts already removed / hidden? )
Is there anything we can do to address what I see as a failing of UX? The best part about /r/AskHistorian posts is the quality and depth of answers that are posted in the comments - but it's getting to the point now where I can't tell whether clicking on a post here will lead to that kind of quality content, or if I'll just be wasting my time.
Could we add a flair to posts that don't have any mod-approved answers yet? Or do something to adjust the comment count so questions don't have the appearance of being answered from the outside, only to prove unanswered once you click through? Does this annoy anyone else? Is it just me?
If you use Firefox, there's the "Ask Historians Comment Helper" extension: it has the actual comment count in brackets.
Honestly the best thing you can do is subscribe to the weekly digest/roundup and just click through them then, that’s the usual answer to this Q
It's not just you; I second everything you have said.
Oftentimes I go to a thread with 20+ comments and find they've all been deleted for not being good enough answers. I wish subs wouldn't record them.
This doesn't completely solve your problem, but you can save and then hide posts you'd like to check back on for an answer. Your feed won't be cluttered with posts that you know don't have an answer but will be available to follow up on in the future. I generally check my saved posts every few weeks. If there's an answer, great. If not, check again later. Anything older than a month that hasn't been answered I will unsave and it's gone. It works well for posts that are answered but I don't have the time/will to read at the moment, too
Does anyone want to create a /r/BestOfAskHistory that just reposts questions once they have answers?
Hello, it appears you have posted a META thread. While there are always new questions or suggestions which can be made, there are many which have been previously addressed. As a rule, we allow META threads to stand even if they are repeats, but we would nevertheless encourage you to check out the META Section of our FAQ, as it is possible that your query is addressed there. Frequent META questions include:
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This isn't intended to be the last and final word, and we encourage you to bring up any further questions you might have which are not addressed there as well, but we hope that this will at least provide you some additional information until a moderator is able to show up and respond further!