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No answers - is this question too hard? I don't think that this question is too hard actually. There must be some way to solve this and I know there are plenty of people here with a solid background in physics and the mathematics thereof.

What else further can I do to encourage someone to have a go?

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    $\begingroup$ It seems partially a programming problem, I will think on it soon :-) $\endgroup$
    – peterh
    Commented Oct 9, 2016 at 11:11
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    $\begingroup$ Related: meta.physics.stackexchange.com/q/6586/2451 and links therein. $\endgroup$
    – Qmechanic Mod
    Commented Oct 9, 2016 at 11:12
  • $\begingroup$ @Qmechanic thanks - indeed there is good discussion therein. $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Commented Oct 9, 2016 at 11:19
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    $\begingroup$ Asking here in meta about it is certainly one step since, for example, I did not know the question existed until I read about here. Also, you might consider visiting the h-bar to ask if someone knows someone (who might know someone etc.) that might be interested in checking the question out and perhaps writing an answer. $\endgroup$
    – Alfred Centauri
    Commented Oct 9, 2016 at 22:15

1 Answer 1

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That a question gets no answer does not necessarily mean it is "too hard". It could mean that, but it could also mean that no one knowing the answer found the question interesting enough to spend the time writing up the answer or that no one knowing the answer saw the question (your question has 78 view, which is not that many). Or the people knowing the answer didn't have time to write an answer and then later forgot to come back. You often can't know the reason a question stays unanswered.

If you want to migitate some of the possibilities I said, then the "standard" way to increase the visibility of a question is to place a bounty. This additionally offers additional incentive in the form of reputation points to the people knowing the answer to actually spend the time writing it down.

Furthermore, you could edit your question to make it more easily answerable and more easily readable. The longer a question, the better your writing must be so that people actually read through it instead of finding something faster to read (it's debatable whether this behaviour is a good thing, but that's how it is). Ask yourself: Do you explain why this question is interesting at the beginning to get reader interested and read on? Are all those pictures really necessary? If "the question is short", then why is the question so long?

If you do edit your question, then that will put it on the top of the "active" questions list again. Please do not use this feature by making trivial edits (e.g. adding whitespace, correcting one typo every ten minutes, etc...).

Also, posts shouldn't look like revision histories. A new reader doesn't care why you added the second part historically. They care what it has to do with the question, and how it's supposed to make answering it easier.

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  • $\begingroup$ Thanks for the suggestions. Why a question might be interesting is pretty subjective - I'd think that would be different for every reader. In this case the question is indeed short; about 10 lines and one drawing. The rest of the the material is clearly labeled (in bold there) "The rest was added in order to "show some effort" in order to remove the previous hold:" The reason I labeled it is for the benefit of the old readers - the ones who put my question on hold. I've edited a few times for bumping but as you mentioned I'm not going to keep doing it. $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Commented Oct 9, 2016 at 11:38
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    $\begingroup$ I fully understand the temptation to structure post as part of a conversation, but users with the power to vote to close or re-open know how to look at revision histories, and they know that questions that end up in the re-open queue have often been edited. $\endgroup$
    – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten Mod
    Commented Oct 9, 2016 at 15:01
  • $\begingroup$ what if I do not want to place a bounty? $\endgroup$
    – Little Bowsette
    Commented Jan 31, 2019 at 19:23
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    $\begingroup$ @Luna Then you don't place a bounty. $\endgroup$
    – ACuriousMind Mod
    Commented Jan 31, 2019 at 19:26
  • $\begingroup$ would a higher vote value improve how many people see said question $\endgroup$
    – Little Bowsette
    Commented Jan 31, 2019 at 19:27
  • $\begingroup$ @Luna That depends on many factors, but in general, yes, upvotes do improve the likelihood that any given user will read your question. Please note that you should not explicitly ask other users to vote on your posts and that it is also forbidden to upvote yourself with other accounts you may own. $\endgroup$
    – ACuriousMind Mod
    Commented Jan 31, 2019 at 19:31
  • $\begingroup$ I am able to ask someone to take a look at a question right? - able as in allowed $\endgroup$
    – Little Bowsette
    Commented Jan 31, 2019 at 19:32
  • $\begingroup$ @Luna No, that is not a proper use of comments. On meta we are rather lenient about this, but on the main site, any comments that do not relate to the post that is being commented on will be deleted. If we notice a pattern of you using comments for something other than their intended purpose - which is improving or criticizing the post being commented on - then you will soon find yourself at the center of more attention from moderators than you would like. $\endgroup$
    – ACuriousMind Mod
    Commented Jan 31, 2019 at 19:36
  • $\begingroup$ how many questions do mods read more than once? I have seen some mods come back to a question in the review history from the link I was given from a flag $\endgroup$
    – Little Bowsette
    Commented Jan 31, 2019 at 19:42
  • $\begingroup$ @Luna Impossible to say. Apart from visiting questions simply because we browse the site like normal users do, we may also visit questions because a user we are taking a closer look at was involved with it, because someone raised a flag on it, because the system automatically raised a flag on it (e.g. for too many comments), etc... $\endgroup$
    – ACuriousMind Mod
    Commented Jan 31, 2019 at 19:44
  • $\begingroup$ oh, that makes sense $\endgroup$
    – Little Bowsette
    Commented Jan 31, 2019 at 19:46
  • $\begingroup$ one of my questions has one answer but I don't want to start a bounty is there anything else I can do to get more, possibly better answers? $\endgroup$
    – Little Bowsette
    Commented Jan 31, 2019 at 19:50
  • $\begingroup$ @Luna I'm afraid not (if you have clarified the question as far as you could already), you'll just have to wait (until someone answers or you want to offer a bounty). $\endgroup$
    – ACuriousMind Mod
    Commented Jan 31, 2019 at 20:01
  • $\begingroup$ I wish a bounty could be as low as 10 $\endgroup$
    – Little Bowsette
    Commented Jan 31, 2019 at 20:03

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