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I posted a question 2 days ago, which I think is reasonably well worded and clear to understand, but it has no response:

Transformers: relation between their current, voltage and resistance

Generally when I post a question, I get an answer within a few hours. If not an answer, I at least get a response of some sort: a comment, upvote or downvote. What I want to know:

1) How long does someone generally need to wait before getting a response?

2) What should you do to get your question noticed if you get no response at all?

(I assumed two days is enough to take care of the time zone differences. Also, I think after a longer period of time, the question will be drowned with all the newer ones and may never be seen.)

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  • $\begingroup$ Probably, there is no specific amount of time-interval within which you can get your answer; whether one answers your question solely depends on what sort of question it is. They can be answered within a day, week, month, year or never. $\endgroup$
    – user36790
    Feb 14, 2016 at 3:30
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    $\begingroup$ Also, you don't seem to understand the site; yes, the question might be drowned with all the newer ones but this is simply on the main active site page, you are talking about. However, one generally first check questions specifically on that topic and then check the newest ones and then he answers those new queries if he wills . Questions never get suppressed; if unanswered, they are listed in unanswered page. So, don't worry; if your query deserves answer, you would get it. $\endgroup$
    – user36790
    Feb 14, 2016 at 3:38
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    $\begingroup$ And lastly, if you are in dire need to have an answer, then there is always bounty to allure the users here. $\endgroup$
    – user36790
    Feb 14, 2016 at 3:40
  • $\begingroup$ Since I don't have enough reputation to give out bounties, all I can do is wait and hope for the best? $\endgroup$
    – Mahathi Vempati
    Feb 14, 2016 at 5:22
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    $\begingroup$ You can go to the chat and unofficially can promote your question there : chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/71/the-h-bar . You can ask and present your predicament; any willing one would help. But try to do this, when the room is active as for now, the room is empty. $\endgroup$
    – user36790
    Feb 14, 2016 at 5:37
  • $\begingroup$ You seem to be under the impression that you are somehow entitled to get an answer. You are not. You are dependent on the answerers on this site who spend their free time answering questions, and there is no guarantee whatsoever that someone wants to answer your question. What you should do to get your question noticed is simply to ask a well-structured, interesting question. If you don't get an answer, that's bad luck, and you can try to put a bounty on it, but other than that, you really should let go of the assumption that you have to get an answer. $\endgroup$
    – ACuriousMind Mod
    Feb 14, 2016 at 19:53
  • $\begingroup$ Logarithmical distribution of the time delay until the first answer. $\endgroup$
    – peterh
    Sep 23, 2017 at 14:54

1 Answer 1

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1) How long does someone generally need to wait before getting a response?

To properly answer this would take some data on the answering times of past questions, which might be available at the SE data explorer, but off the top of my head I think 24 hours is a reasonable time to wait. After 24 hours, it's likely that most of the people who are going to look at your question have already done so. Of course, you might still get answers later; some questions take a long time to answer.

2) What should you do to get your question noticed if you get no response at all?

You can bring it up in chat and/or put a bounty on it to attract attention.

Editing also bumps it to the top of the active questions list, but you shouldn't overuse this. If there is a good edit to be made that significantly improves or clarifies the question, it's fine to strategically choose when you make that edit so that it brings extra attention to the question. But it's not okay to make a bad or trivial edit just to bump the question, and it's not okay to make an excessive number of edits to keep it at the top of the list. (A rough rule of thumb is that any more than 3-4 edits is excessive, but this has a lot to do with how significant and useful the edits are.)

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