[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"sanity-jRiqjgPtZfH69QDp8z8grksoxJmZfd8xoqiP1Sx6s84":3,"sanity-4cqxhFikTHXUDjYiUKelugBRiwCUna5iwCEewHq_3FM":697},{"data":4,"sourceMap":-1},{"latestPodcast":5,"latestReleases":14,"post":39,"recent":672},[6],{"_id":7,"publishedAt":8,"slug":9,"sponsored":12,"title":13},"f83eb5f0-1237-487f-84d8-f7abf2318c39","2026-06-25T07:40:00.000Z",{"_type":10,"current":11},"slug","code-isnt-causing-your-production-failures",null,"Code isn’t the only thing causing your production failures",[15,21,27,33],{"_id":16,"publishedAt":17,"slug":18,"title":20},"eb5b66eb-9410-4329-83bb-22bbff39402a","2026-04-28T13:00:00.000Z",{"_type":10,"current":19},"turn-scattered-knowledge-into-trusted-intelligence","Turning scattered knowledge into trusted intelligence: Stack Internal 2026.3",{"_id":22,"publishedAt":23,"slug":24,"title":26},"369c2401-b62e-4a37-8ff8-bf603023ecad","2026-03-02T15:03:00.988Z",{"_type":10,"current":25},"what-s-new-at-stack-overflow-march-2026","What’s new at Stack Overflow: March 2026",{"_id":28,"publishedAt":29,"slug":30,"title":32},"5e9053a4-07ea-447c-91ea-29e0b6228537","2026-02-02T15:00:00.000Z",{"_type":10,"current":31},"what-s-new-at-stack-overflow-february-2026","What’s new at Stack Overflow: February 2026",{"_id":34,"publishedAt":35,"slug":36,"title":38},"a1b538eb-a8a6-46d0-80a1-ac70ec9bb935","2026-01-05T10:00:00.000-05:00",{"_type":10,"current":37},"what-s-new-at-stack-overflow-january-2026","What’s new at Stack Overflow: January 2026",{"_createdAt":40,"_id":41,"_rev":42,"_type":43,"_updatedAt":44,"author":45,"body":62,"comments":636,"dateUrl":637,"excerpt":252,"legacyBody":638,"product":12,"publishedAt":641,"slug":642,"sponsored":12,"tags":644,"title":97,"visible":636},"2023-05-25T09:37:01Z","wp-post-4341","07ZbrKPSUrjrV4wQ6fIGdA","blogPost","2023-07-13T14:54:45Z",[46],{"_createdAt":47,"_id":48,"_rev":49,"_type":50,"_updatedAt":51,"avatar":52,"employee":57,"name":58,"role":59,"slug":60},"2023-05-23T16:27:18Z","wp-author-143","dgl3SCUzppW3U2LvCpwE8S","blogAuthor","2023-08-30T11:53:37Z",{"_type":53,"asset":54},"image",{"_ref":55,"_type":56},"image-23171d00b529b2fd376b3ea5a7ac47e3250b60f0-1024x1024-png","reference","former","Robert Cartaino","Director of Community Development",{"current":61},"rcartaino",[63,74,82,90,104,115,126,137,148,159,170,211,219,227,246,254,258,266,274,294,303,311,320,339,374,391,413,421,429,437,465,473,492,507,515,531,535,543,559,567,583,602,617],{"_key":64,"_type":65,"children":66,"markDefs":72,"style":73},"f2ac4f957a4f","block",[67],{"_key":68,"_type":69,"marks":70,"text":71},"f2ac4f957a4f0","span",[],"Anytime you find yourself answering the same question over and over and over and over … blog post time.",[],"normal",{"_key":75,"_type":65,"children":76,"markDefs":81,"style":73},"2a454a2a5f76",[77],{"_key":78,"_type":69,"marks":79,"text":80},"2a454a2a5f760",[],"This is that blog post.",[],{"_key":83,"_type":65,"children":84,"markDefs":89,"style":73},"29b982b35a80",[85],{"_key":86,"_type":69,"marks":87,"text":88},"29b982b35a800",[],"This cycle has repeated itself on more sites than I can remember — When a new community approaches the end of their beta period, users start looking forward to graduation. So when that 90th day looms, anticipation starts to turn into speculation about whether the site is going to survive.",[],{"_key":91,"_type":65,"children":92,"level":98,"listItem":99,"markDefs":100,"style":73},"6b1b15135d53",[93],{"_key":94,"_type":69,"marks":95,"text":97},"6b1b15135d530",[96],"176eed9a2f96","Does this site have a chance of succeeding?",1,"bullet",[101],{"_key":96,"_type":102,"href":103,"reference":12},"link","http://meta.drupal.stackexchange.com/questions/158/does-this-site-have-a-chance-of-succeeding",{"_key":105,"_type":65,"children":106,"level":98,"listItem":99,"markDefs":112,"style":73},"4c0d5716238a",[107],{"_key":108,"_type":69,"marks":109,"text":111},"4c0d5716238a0",[110],"1545046e3caf","Is this site viable?",[113],{"_key":110,"_type":102,"href":114,"reference":12},"http://meta.codereview.stackexchange.com/questions/247/is-code-review-viable",{"_key":116,"_type":65,"children":117,"level":98,"listItem":99,"markDefs":123,"style":73},"51657a277717",[118],{"_key":119,"_type":69,"marks":120,"text":122},"51657a2777170",[121],"d9e78a253bd9","Visits per day — should we be worried?",[124],{"_key":121,"_type":102,"href":125,"reference":12},"http://meta.german.stackexchange.com/questions/227/visits-per-day-should-we-be-worried",{"_key":127,"_type":65,"children":128,"level":98,"listItem":99,"markDefs":134,"style":73},"d89c616c890f",[129],{"_key":130,"_type":69,"marks":131,"text":133},"d89c616c890f0",[132],"f087cc3e8e05","At what point will this site grow out of the beta stage?",[135],{"_key":132,"_type":102,"href":136,"reference":12},"http://meta.bicycles.stackexchange.com/questions/314/at-what-point-will-bicycles-se-grow-out-of-the-beta-stage",{"_key":138,"_type":65,"children":139,"level":98,"listItem":99,"markDefs":145,"style":73},"35448f21664b",[140],{"_key":141,"_type":69,"marks":142,"text":144},"35448f21664b0",[143],"69da565a4148","What are the criteria for getting site out of “perpetual beta?”",[146],{"_key":143,"_type":102,"href":147,"reference":12},"http://meta.money.stackexchange.com/questions/289/what-are-the-criteria-for-getting-money-se-out-of-perpetual-beta",{"_key":149,"_type":65,"children":150,"level":98,"listItem":99,"markDefs":156,"style":73},"3a329d0a1c31",[151],{"_key":152,"_type":69,"marks":153,"text":155},"3a329d0a1c310",[154],"b0d7b8ce891c","Site Not On Track to Survive Public Beta",[157],{"_key":154,"_type":102,"href":158,"reference":12},"http://meta.pm.stackexchange.com/questions/94/site-not-on-track-to-survive-public-beta",{"_key":160,"_type":65,"children":161,"level":98,"listItem":99,"markDefs":167,"style":73},"66489c56d1e8",[162],{"_key":163,"_type":69,"marks":164,"text":166},"66489c56d1e80",[165],"b30aeaebff5f","What happens now?",[168],{"_key":165,"_type":102,"href":169,"reference":12},"http://meta.writers.stackexchange.com/questions/221/what-happens-now",{"_key":171,"_type":65,"children":172,"markDefs":208,"style":73},"6a288fab9c3f",[173,177,182,186,191,195,200,204],{"_key":174,"_type":69,"marks":175,"text":176},"6a288fab9c3f0",[],"In reality, 90 days is a ",{"_key":178,"_type":69,"marks":179,"text":181},"6a288fab9c3f1",[180],"em","minimum",{"_key":183,"_type":69,"marks":184,"text":185},"6a288fab9c3f2",[]," length a site is expected to to remain in beta. The blog post, ",{"_key":187,"_type":69,"marks":188,"text":190},"6a288fab9c3f3",[189,180],"a418d369b0b2","When will my site graduate?",{"_key":192,"_type":69,"marks":193,"text":194},"6a288fab9c3f4",[],", explains that ",{"_key":196,"_type":69,"marks":197,"text":199},"6a288fab9c3f5",[198],"strong","a site can stay in beta as long as necessary to reach critical mass.",{"_key":201,"_type":69,"marks":202,"text":203},"6a288fab9c3f6",[]," As long as the questions represent real problems and consistently receive great answers, the site isn't going to get closed down. ",{"_key":205,"_type":69,"marks":206,"text":207},"6a288fab9c3f7",[180],"\"It takes as long as it takes.\"",[209],{"_key":189,"_type":102,"href":210,"reference":12},"http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/10/when-will-my-site-graduate/",{"_key":212,"_type":65,"children":213,"markDefs":218,"style":73},"f03e4e71d34d",[214],{"_key":215,"_type":69,"marks":216,"text":217},"f03e4e71d34d0",[],"So why all the angst?",[],{"_key":220,"_type":65,"children":221,"markDefs":226,"style":73},"758414ba0440",[222],{"_key":223,"_type":69,"marks":224,"text":225},"758414ba04400",[],"Communities should generally know when the site is failing. Questions don't get answered, quality declines, community up-keep wanes; In short, the site stops providing a good experience. But that doesn't satisfy the inquisitive analyst in all of us.",[],{"_key":228,"_type":65,"children":229,"markDefs":243,"style":73},"1759ac014130",[230,234,239],{"_key":231,"_type":69,"marks":232,"text":233},"1759ac0141300",[],"When users seek out a report on their performance, they turn to the analytics of ",{"_key":235,"_type":69,"marks":236,"text":238},"1759ac0141301",[237],"c29a3e2ddbef","Area 51",{"_key":240,"_type":69,"marks":241,"text":242},"1759ac0141302",[],".",[244],{"_key":237,"_type":102,"href":245,"reference":12},"http://area51.stackexchange.com",{"_key":247,"_type":65,"children":248,"markDefs":253,"style":73},"6b23b02d2d6f",[249],{"_key":250,"_type":69,"marks":251,"text":252},"6b23b02d2d6f0",[],"",[],{"_key":255,"_type":53,"alt":12,"asset":256,"markDefs":12},"cde30991fbeb",{"_ref":257,"_type":56},"image-806af9f379c8f3c23b1c15e7944d1a0938304345-517x452-png",{"_key":259,"_type":65,"children":260,"markDefs":265,"style":73},"3b12caa69218",[261],{"_key":262,"_type":69,"marks":263,"text":264},"3b12caa692180",[],"Wow, pretty scary. Right? With big, red letters and \"Worrying\" stamped all over the place, the angst is understandable.",[],{"_key":267,"_type":65,"children":268,"markDefs":273,"style":73},"84207a50f52f",[269],{"_key":270,"_type":69,"marks":271,"text":272},"84207a50f52f0",[],"Let me dispel a widely-held misconception…",[],{"_key":275,"_type":65,"children":276,"markDefs":293,"style":73},"b010c48564c5",[277,281,285,289],{"_key":278,"_type":69,"marks":279,"text":280},"b010c48564c50",[198],"The Area 51 summary does ",{"_key":282,"_type":69,"marks":283,"text":284},"b010c48564c51",[198,180],"not",{"_key":286,"_type":69,"marks":287,"text":288},"b010c48564c52",[198]," represent some sort of \"report card\"",{"_key":290,"_type":69,"marks":291,"text":292},"b010c48564c53",[]," filled with pass/fail grades. If you're expecting someone to show up on the 90th days and say \"Sorry, times up. It's time to go home,\" it doesn't really work that way.",[],{"_key":295,"_type":65,"children":296,"markDefs":301,"style":302},"fc6403cb327c",[297],{"_key":298,"_type":69,"marks":299,"text":300},"fc6403cb327c0",[],"So what do these statistics mean?",[],"h2",{"_key":304,"_type":65,"children":305,"markDefs":310,"style":73},"df92b11302f7",[306],{"_key":307,"_type":69,"marks":308,"text":309},"df92b11302f70",[],"The Area 51 statistics provide an opportunity to see where your site can improve. \"Worrying\" and \"Okay\" ratings tell you where to focus efforts to push a site closer to graduation.",[],{"_key":312,"_type":65,"children":313,"markDefs":318,"style":319},"ca44726e516a",[314],{"_key":315,"_type":69,"marks":316,"text":317},"ca44726e516a0",[],"Questions per day",[],"h3",{"_key":321,"_type":65,"children":322,"markDefs":336,"style":73},"22782a3d363d",[323,327,332],{"_key":324,"_type":69,"marks":325,"text":326},"22782a3d363d0",[],"A steady influx of questions is a natural side effect of a growing, healthy site. But when the number of new questions becomes \"worrying,\" some folks might exhort to ",{"_key":328,"_type":69,"marks":329,"text":331},"22782a3d363d1",[330],"02708945bd1d","\"seed\" the site",{"_key":333,"_type":69,"marks":334,"text":335},"22782a3d363d2",[]," to push those numbers higher.",[337],{"_key":330,"_type":102,"href":338,"reference":12},"http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/07/area-51-asking-the-first-questions/",{"_key":340,"_type":65,"children":341,"markDefs":371,"style":73},"3654b0800b96",[342,346,350,354,358,362,367],{"_key":343,"_type":69,"marks":344,"text":345},"3654b0800b960",[],"Joel suggested a ",{"_key":347,"_type":69,"marks":348,"text":349},"3654b0800b961",[180],"healthier",{"_key":351,"_type":69,"marks":352,"text":353},"3654b0800b962",[]," alternative by rallying users around specific ",{"_key":355,"_type":69,"marks":356,"text":357},"3654b0800b963",[180],"events",{"_key":359,"_type":69,"marks":360,"text":361},"3654b0800b964",[]," as a catalyst for asking interesting questions you come across in your day to day work. Any event that gets your community going — a hot new release, an upcoming convention, any news-worthy event — ",{"_key":363,"_type":69,"marks":364,"text":366},"3654b0800b965",[365],"49d2a65b8d35","Here’s how he did it on Ask Different",{"_key":368,"_type":69,"marks":369,"text":370},"3654b0800b966",[],":",[372],{"_key":365,"_type":102,"href":373,"reference":12},"http://meta.apple.stackexchange.com/questions/589/now-that-lion-is-out-help-promote-ask-different",{"_key":375,"_type":65,"children":376,"markDefs":389,"style":390},"ec1eed37a841",[377,381,385],{"_key":378,"_type":69,"marks":379,"text":380},"ec1eed37a8410",[],"Now that OS X Lion is shipping, there will be zillions of Mac users upgrading, and they'll have lots of questions. And since all those questions will be new, Ask Different will have as good a shot at having the best answer than any of those, you know, competitive sites. Essentially, this is a great time to recruit new members!\n\n\n\nAs you install and learn Lion, whenever you have questions, no matter how silly, ",{"_key":382,"_type":69,"marks":383,"text":384},"ec1eed37a8411",[180],"ask them here",{"_key":386,"_type":69,"marks":387,"text":388},"ec1eed37a8412",[],". You're not the only one having that question. Millions of other people will, too. Ask them even if you think you're going to be able to find the answer yourself... and if you do find the answer, go ahead and answer it yourself …",[],"blockquote",{"_key":392,"_type":65,"children":393,"markDefs":411,"style":73},"dda46b16725b",[394,399,403,407],{"_key":395,"_type":69,"marks":396,"text":398},"dda46b16725b0",[397],"727b48f7c263","Read the post",{"_key":400,"_type":69,"marks":401,"text":402},"dda46b16725b1",[]," and issue a call for questions around interesting events that will be super-popular in",{"_key":404,"_type":69,"marks":405,"text":406},"dda46b16725b2",[180]," your",{"_key":408,"_type":69,"marks":409,"text":410},"dda46b16725b3",[]," community. Those questions will bring in lots of traffic from search engines and will attract some great new users who will add value for years to come.",[412],{"_key":397,"_type":102,"href":373,"reference":12},{"_key":414,"_type":65,"children":415,"markDefs":420,"style":319},"4f1ec382c368",[416],{"_key":417,"_type":69,"marks":418,"text":419},"4f1ec382c3680",[],"% Answered",[],{"_key":422,"_type":65,"children":423,"markDefs":428,"style":73},"d22fe8bd3004",[424],{"_key":425,"_type":69,"marks":426,"text":427},"d22fe8bd30040",[],"The saving grace of the statistics above is having 98% of their questions answered. That's fantastic. \"Excellent\" means visitors have a high confidence their questions will get great answers quickly.",[],{"_key":430,"_type":65,"children":431,"markDefs":436,"style":73},"f3fb13293e74",[432],{"_key":433,"_type":69,"marks":434,"text":435},"f3fb13293e740",[],"If your site is teetering near 90% or lower, you can probably do better. A concerted effort to get those hardest-to-answer questions answered should help. If you have a lot of questions not worth answering (i.e. \"unanswerable\" as asked, or low quality), it might be time for a site-wide cleanup effort. That's best initiated and organized through a meta post. Go for it.",[],{"_key":438,"_type":65,"children":439,"markDefs":464,"style":73},"c16055021c4a",[440,444,448,452,456,460],{"_key":441,"_type":69,"marks":442,"text":443},"c16055021c4a0",[],"The % answered provides a great \"pulse\" of the site. The most important criteria of a site should be whether ",{"_key":445,"_type":69,"marks":446,"text":447},"c16055021c4a1",[180],"experts",{"_key":449,"_type":69,"marks":450,"text":451},"c16055021c4a2",[]," enjoy answering the questions. If experts think the questions are stupid, then they'll lose interest in the site and questions won't get good answers anymore. This whole thing is about about providing a ",{"_key":453,"_type":69,"marks":454,"text":455},"c16055021c4a3",[180],"good",{"_key":457,"_type":69,"marks":458,"text":459},"c16055021c4a4",[]," experience for the people looking for expert answers to their questions, and the ",{"_key":461,"_type":69,"marks":462,"text":463},"c16055021c4a5",[198],"% answered is a good metric to watch.",[],{"_key":466,"_type":65,"children":467,"markDefs":472,"style":319},"57826e822c25",[468],{"_key":469,"_type":69,"marks":470,"text":471},"57826e822c250",[],"Avid Users",[],{"_key":474,"_type":65,"children":475,"markDefs":489,"style":73},"497dcb2d1261",[476,480,485],{"_key":477,"_type":69,"marks":478,"text":479},"497dcb2d12610",[],"Another area you can work on is participation. Having a strong base of 'avid users' comes from ",{"_key":481,"_type":69,"marks":482,"text":484},"497dcb2d12611",[483],"2045a3a8fb01","voting up good content",{"_key":486,"_type":69,"marks":487,"text":488},"497dcb2d12612",[],". If you're not voting regularly, you're not building up a class of leaders that can help run and maintain the quality of the site.",[490],{"_key":483,"_type":102,"href":491,"reference":12},"http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/10/vote-early-vote-often/",{"_key":493,"_type":65,"children":494,"markDefs":506,"style":73},"2c132f205cfd",[495,499,502],{"_key":496,"_type":69,"marks":497,"text":498},"2c132f205cfd0",[],"All those other statistics will come in time. Don't worry about the actual numbers. I get nervous when users start quoting numbers and propose ways to artificially drive them higher. Calls to lower the bar on quality or close less questions are focusing on the wrong thing. There’s more to a healthy Stack Exchange site than having a lot of questions and traffic. It's about providing a ",{"_key":500,"_type":69,"marks":501,"text":455},"2c132f205cfd1",[180],{"_key":503,"_type":69,"marks":504,"text":505},"2c132f205cfd2",[]," experience for the people looking for expert answers to their questions.",[],{"_key":508,"_type":65,"children":509,"markDefs":514,"style":302},"c8b2f7b50b93",[510],{"_key":511,"_type":69,"marks":512,"text":513},"c8b2f7b50b930",[],"So why is my site so \"worrying\"?",[],{"_key":516,"_type":65,"children":517,"markDefs":530,"style":73},"5082541124bd",[518,522,526],{"_key":519,"_type":69,"marks":520,"text":521},"5082541124bd0",[],"As far as the \"worrying\" statistics above, it's not really all that unexpected. Most Stack Exchange sites are not ",{"_key":523,"_type":69,"marks":524,"text":525},"5082541124bd1",[180],"expected",{"_key":527,"_type":69,"marks":528,"text":529},"5082541124bd2",[]," to be an overnight success. Most go through a steady period of building up content before reaching critical mass.",[],{"_key":532,"_type":53,"alt":12,"asset":533,"caption":252,"markDefs":12},"ddaccb7e7791",{"_ref":534,"_type":56},"image-f0850821ed5174ba9579fc8e27aca9b4f798d4b5-600x302-png",{"_key":536,"_type":65,"children":537,"markDefs":542,"style":73},"235e0cd39b5e",[538],{"_key":539,"_type":69,"marks":540,"text":541},"235e0cd39b5e0",[],"What we generally see with Stack Exchange sites is nice, steady traffic going kind of horizontally for a while; then, at some unpredictable point, we hit critical mass and POW all the indicators start climbing inexorably. This is the right point for a site to come out of public beta.",[],{"_key":544,"_type":65,"children":545,"markDefs":558,"style":302},"62d40ac87ed3",[546,550,554],{"_key":547,"_type":69,"marks":548,"text":549},"62d40ac87ed30",[],"Can you tell us ",{"_key":551,"_type":69,"marks":552,"text":553},"62d40ac87ed31",[180],"when",{"_key":555,"_type":69,"marks":556,"text":557},"62d40ac87ed32",[]," we'll graduate?",[],{"_key":560,"_type":65,"children":561,"markDefs":566,"style":73},"596314026cef",[562],{"_key":563,"_type":69,"marks":564,"text":565},"596314026cef0",[],"Unfortunately, we are not yet able to predict when a site will reach critical mass. A large part of this summer will be spent looking at the traffic data we've accumulated over the last three years to make sense of it all.",[],{"_key":568,"_type":65,"children":569,"markDefs":582,"style":73},"9c301878f24d",[570,574,578],{"_key":571,"_type":69,"marks":572,"text":573},"9c301878f24d0",[],"If your traffic indicators aren't dropping precipitously, that's a good sign. If your traffic ",{"_key":575,"_type":69,"marks":576,"text":577},"9c301878f24d1",[180],"is",{"_key":579,"_type":69,"marks":580,"text":581},"9c301878f24d2",[]," falling, we'll let you know through meta initiatives.",[],{"_key":584,"_type":65,"children":585,"markDefs":599,"style":73},"a3f0deac9ad6",[586,590,595],{"_key":587,"_type":69,"marks":588,"text":589},"a3f0deac9ad60",[],"When your site finally reaches that tipping point, ",{"_key":591,"_type":69,"marks":592,"text":594},"a3f0deac9ad61",[593],"ea6de67173d3","Jin",{"_key":596,"_type":69,"marks":597,"text":598},"a3f0deac9ad62",[]," will start posting some concepts for the final design. Watch your meta site to provide feedback.",[600],{"_key":593,"_type":102,"href":601,"reference":12},"http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/07/our-designer-in-residence-jin-yang/",{"_key":603,"_type":65,"children":604,"markDefs":616,"style":73},"4877467f2784",[605,609,612],{"_key":606,"_type":69,"marks":607,"text":608},"4877467f27840",[],"As for ",{"_key":610,"_type":69,"marks":611,"text":553},"4877467f27841",[180],{"_key":613,"_type":69,"marks":614,"text":615},"4877467f27842",[]," that will happen — as soon as we know, you'll know.",[],{"_key":618,"_type":65,"children":619,"markDefs":633,"style":73},"907c850d49d0",[620,624,629],{"_key":621,"_type":69,"marks":622,"text":623},"907c850d49d00",[],"In the meantime, focus on keeping your quality high, and ",{"_key":625,"_type":69,"marks":626,"text":628},"907c850d49d01",[627],"9d346a4e803c","use the share links",{"_key":630,"_type":69,"marks":631,"text":632},"907c850d49d02",[]," to promote your most intriguing content.",[634],{"_key":627,"_type":102,"href":635,"reference":12},"http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/08/a-recipe-to-promote-your-site/",true,"2011/07/27",{"code":639,"language":640},"\u003Cp>Anytime you find yourself answering the same question over and over and over and over … blog post time.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>This is that blog post.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>This cycle has repeated itself on more sites than I can remember — When a new community approaches the end of their beta period, users start looking forward to graduation. So when that 90th day looms, anticipation starts to turn into speculation about whether the site is going to survive.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cul>\u003Cli>\n\u003Cp>\u003Ca href=\"http://meta.drupal.stackexchange.com/questions/158/does-this-site-have-a-chance-of-succeeding\">Does this site have a chance of succeeding?\u003C/a>\u003C/p>\n\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>\n\u003Cp>\u003Ca href=\"http://meta.codereview.stackexchange.com/questions/247/is-code-review-viable\">Is this site viable?\u003C/a>\u003C/p>\n\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>\n\u003Cp>\u003Ca href=\"http://meta.german.stackexchange.com/questions/227/visits-per-day-should-we-be-worried\">Visits per day — should we be worried?\u003C/a>\u003C/p>\n\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>\n\u003Cp>\u003Ca href=\"http://meta.bicycles.stackexchange.com/questions/314/at-what-point-will-bicycles-se-grow-out-of-the-beta-stage\">At what point will this site grow out of the beta stage?\u003C/a>\u003C/p>\n\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>\n\u003Cp>\u003Ca href=\"http://meta.money.stackexchange.com/questions/289/what-are-the-criteria-for-getting-money-se-out-of-perpetual-beta\">What are the criteria for getting site out of “perpetual beta?”\u003C/a>\u003C/p>\n\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>\n\u003Cp>\u003Ca href=\"http://meta.pm.stackexchange.com/questions/94/site-not-on-track-to-survive-public-beta\">Site Not On Track to Survive Public Beta\u003C/a>\u003C/p>\n\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>\u003Ca href=\"http://meta.writers.stackexchange.com/questions/221/what-happens-now\">What happens now?\u003C/a>\u003C/li>\n\u003C/ul>\u003Cp>In reality, 90 days is a \u003Cem>minimum\u003C/em> length a site is expected to to remain in beta. The blog post, \u003Ca href=\"http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/10/when-will-my-site-graduate/\">\u003Cem>When will my site graduate?\u003C/em>\u003C/a>, explains that \u003Cstrong>a site can stay in beta as long as necessary to reach critical mass.\u003C/strong> As long as the questions represent real problems and consistently receive great answers, the site isn't going to get closed down. \u003Cem>\"It takes as long as it takes.\"\u003C/em>\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>So why all the angst?\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>Communities should generally know when the site is failing. Questions don't get answered, quality declines, community up-keep wanes; In short, the site stops providing a good experience. But that doesn't satisfy the inquisitive analyst in all of us.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>When users seek out a report on their performance, they turn to the analytics of \u003Ca href=\"http://area51.stackexchange.com\">Area 51\u003C/a>.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>\u003Ca href=\"http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/4059/musical-practice-and-performance\">\u003Cimg src=\"http://stackoverflow.blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/TSATW.png\" alt=\"\">\u003C/a>\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>Wow, pretty scary. Right? With big, red letters and \"Worrying\" stamped all over the place, the angst is understandable.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>Let me dispel a widely-held misconception…\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>The Area 51 summary does \u003Cem>not\u003C/em> represent some sort of \"report card\"\u003C/strong> filled with pass/fail grades. If you're expecting someone to show up on the 90th days and say \"Sorry, times up. It's time to go home,\" it doesn't really work that way.\u003C/p>\n\u003Ch2>So what do these statistics mean?\u003C/h2>\n\u003Cp>The Area 51 statistics provide an opportunity to see where your site can improve. \"Worrying\" and \"Okay\" ratings tell you where to focus efforts to push a site closer to graduation.\u003C/p>\n\u003Ch3>Questions per day\u003C/h3>\n\u003Cp>A steady influx of questions is a natural side effect of a growing, healthy site. But when the number of new questions becomes \"worrying,\" some folks might exhort to \u003Ca href=\"http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/07/area-51-asking-the-first-questions/\">\"seed\" the site\u003C/a> to push those numbers higher.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>Joel suggested a \u003Cem>healthier\u003C/em> alternative by rallying users around specific \u003Cem>events\u003C/em> as a catalyst for asking interesting questions you come across in your day to day work. Any event that gets your community going — a hot new release, an upcoming convention, any news-worthy event — \u003Ca href=\"http://meta.apple.stackexchange.com/questions/589/now-that-lion-is-out-help-promote-ask-different\">Here’s how he did it on Ask Different\u003C/a>:\u003C/p>\n\u003Cblockquote>\n\u003Cp>Now that OS X Lion is shipping, there will be zillions of Mac users upgrading, and they'll have lots of questions. And since all those questions will be new, Ask Different will have as good a shot at having the best answer than any of those, you know, competitive sites. Essentially, this is a great time to recruit new members!\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>As you install and learn Lion, whenever you have questions, no matter how silly, \u003Cem>ask them here\u003C/em>. You're not the only one having that question. Millions of other people will, too. Ask them even if you think you're going to be able to find the answer yourself... and if you do find the answer, go ahead and answer it yourself …\u003C/p>\n\u003C/blockquote>\n\u003Cp>\u003Ca href=\"http://meta.apple.stackexchange.com/questions/589/now-that-lion-is-out-help-promote-ask-different\">Read the post\u003C/a> and issue a call for questions around interesting events that will be super-popular in\u003Cem> your\u003C/em> community. Those questions will bring in lots of traffic from search engines and will attract some great new users who will add value for years to come.\u003C/p>\n\u003Ch3>% Answered\u003C/h3>\n\u003Cp>The saving grace of the statistics above is having 98% of their questions answered. That's fantastic. \"Excellent\" means visitors have a high confidence their questions will get great answers quickly.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>If your site is teetering near 90% or lower, you can probably do better. A concerted effort to get those hardest-to-answer questions answered should help. If you have a lot of questions not worth answering (i.e. \"unanswerable\" as asked, or low quality), it might be time for a site-wide cleanup effort. That's best initiated and organized through a meta post. Go for it.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>The % answered provides a great \"pulse\" of the site. The most important criteria of a site should be whether \u003Cem>experts\u003C/em> enjoy answering the questions. If experts think the questions are stupid, then they'll lose interest in the site and questions won't get good answers anymore. This whole thing is about about providing a \u003Cem>good\u003C/em> experience for the people looking for expert answers to their questions, and the \u003Cstrong>% answered is a good metric to watch.\u003C/strong>\u003C/p>\n\u003Ch3>Avid Users\u003C/h3>\n\u003Cp>Another area you can work on is participation. Having a strong base of 'avid users' comes from \u003Ca href=\"http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/10/vote-early-vote-often/\">voting up good content\u003C/a>. If you're not voting regularly, you're not building up a class of leaders that can help run and maintain the quality of the site.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>All those other statistics will come in time. Don't worry about the actual numbers. I get nervous when users start quoting numbers and propose ways to artificially drive them higher. Calls to lower the bar on quality or close less questions are focusing on the wrong thing. There’s more to a healthy Stack Exchange site than having a lot of questions and traffic. It's about providing a \u003Cem>good\u003C/em> experience for the people looking for expert answers to their questions.\u003C/p>\n\u003Ch2>So why is my site so \"worrying\"?\u003C/h2>\n\u003Cp>As far as the \"worrying\" statistics above, it's not really all that unexpected. Most Stack Exchange sites are not \u003Cem>expected\u003C/em> to be an overnight success. Most go through a steady period of building up content before reaching critical mass.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cimg src=\"http://stackoverflow.blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/number-of-visits-graph.png\" alt=\"\">\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>What we generally see with Stack Exchange sites is nice, steady traffic going kind of horizontally for a while; then, at some unpredictable point, we hit critical mass and POW all the indicators start climbing inexorably. This is the right point for a site to come out of public beta.\u003C/p>\n\u003Ch2>Can you tell us \u003Cem>when\u003C/em> we'll graduate?\u003C/h2>\n\u003Cp>Unfortunately, we are not yet able to predict when a site will reach critical mass. A large part of this summer will be spent looking at the traffic data we've accumulated over the last three years to make sense of it all.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>If your traffic indicators aren't dropping precipitously, that's a good sign. If your traffic \u003Cem>is\u003C/em> falling, we'll let you know through meta initiatives.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>When your site finally reaches that tipping point, \u003Ca href=\"http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/07/our-designer-in-residence-jin-yang/\">Jin\u003C/a> will start posting some concepts for the final design. Watch your meta site to provide feedback.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>As for \u003Cem>when\u003C/em> that will happen — as soon as we know, you'll know.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>In the meantime, focus on keeping your quality high, and \u003Ca href=\"http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/08/a-recipe-to-promote-your-site/\">use the share links\u003C/a> to promote your most intriguing content.\u003C/p>","html","2011-07-27T12:00:00.000Z",{"current":643},"does-this-site-have-a-chance-of-succeeding",[645,653,658,663,667],{"_createdAt":646,"_id":647,"_rev":648,"_type":649,"_updatedAt":646,"slug":650,"title":652},"2023-05-23T16:43:21Z","wp-tagcat-area51","9HpbCsT2tq0xwozQfkc4ih","blogTag",{"current":651},"area51","Area51",{"_createdAt":646,"_id":654,"_rev":648,"_type":649,"_updatedAt":646,"slug":655,"title":657},"wp-tagcat-community",{"current":656},"community","Community",{"_createdAt":646,"_id":659,"_rev":648,"_type":649,"_updatedAt":646,"slug":660,"title":662},"wp-tagcat-company",{"current":661},"company","Company",{"_createdAt":646,"_id":664,"_rev":648,"_type":649,"_updatedAt":646,"slug":665,"title":666},"wp-tagcat-reference",{"current":56},"Reference",{"_createdAt":646,"_id":668,"_rev":648,"_type":649,"_updatedAt":646,"slug":669,"title":671},"wp-tagcat-stackexchange",{"current":670},"stackexchange","Stackexchange",[673,679,685,691],{"_id":674,"publishedAt":675,"slug":676,"sponsored":12,"title":678},"28e560af-f0aa-4d46-bd90-f435ad604aa7","2026-06-26T14:00:27.102Z",{"_type":10,"current":677},"paging-charity-how-can-engineering-leaders-avoid-becoming-bond-villains","Paging Charity! How can engineering leaders avoid becoming Bond villains?",{"_id":680,"publishedAt":681,"slug":682,"sponsored":12,"title":684},"4b22c2a3-3779-4966-93eb-5230391dbdce","2026-06-23T14:08:58.595Z",{"_type":10,"current":683},"your-ai-shipped-a-backend-that-boots-that-is-the-whole-problem","Your AI shipped a backend that boots. That is the whole problem.",{"_id":686,"publishedAt":687,"slug":688,"sponsored":12,"title":690},"5cf362e1-fe7b-45af-b69c-914731c6a052","2026-06-23T14:00:00.000Z",{"_type":10,"current":689},"the-2026-developer-survey-is-now-open-for-human-developers-only","The 2026 Developer Survey is now open (for human developers only)!",{"_id":692,"publishedAt":693,"slug":694,"sponsored":12,"title":696},"30b995f7-7cb9-4dd8-bf71-d0685940a32b","2026-06-19T14:00:00.000Z",{"_type":10,"current":695},"dispatches-from-o-reilly-from-capabilities-to-responsibilities","Dispatches from O'Reilly: From capabilities to responsibilities",{"data":698,"sourceMap":-1},{"count":699,"lastTimestamp":12},0]