One problem at Perlmonks is that sometimes SOPW's questions do not generate any replies. This can be due to poorly formed questions or questions outside the expertise of monks online at the time. But sometimes questions just fall through the cracks; everyone thinks that the other monks must have answered it. Such a situaton is disappointing for both the SOPW, who was not enlightened and experiences Warnock's Dilemma , and the the monk community, who are a helpful lot that don't like the thought of ignoring people.

One way to ptach those cracks is to indicate in Newest Nodes the number of replies to a question, or at least whether there has been no reply to a question. That way I and other monks could direct our sometimes limited energies to those questions that need it most.

This idea is not a panacea, as the existence of replies doesn't imply useful replies. But it may help to mitigate the worst effects of Warnock's dilemma for hopeful supplicants.

What do you think?

-Mark

In reply to Avoiding Warnock's dilemma by kvale

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