How can I improve upon content in my question?

Question

Normally, I'd ask a question the following way: write up a short little intro, then actually ask the focus of the question.

However, that usually doesn't seem to A) attract visitors or B) attract upvotes/downvotes I understand my titles also might not be the best of titles, or the fact that the question doesn't fit the FAQ, but I try to word these questions to reflect the question being asked.

Now what I'm confused is about what constitutes a "great" question. You know, the questions that appear occasionally on the super drop-down collider, or questions that seem to garner a considerable amount of votes. I've seen questions that have brilliantly written poems in the beginning; questions that have quirky, thought provoking titles; questions that have a great deal invested into them. I'm not sure if that's going over the top, but that's definitely a surefire way to attract more attention.

If anything, I'd like to simply write a title, then simply ask the question out there, instead of posting any titles beforehand. I don't know if this seems like a no effort question, but what constitutes a great question? I know there's a difference between just "meh" questions and "amazing" questions, but I'm constantly stuck in between the easy route and the hard route. Should I be short and concise? Or should I add elaborate intros to improve the question?

Answer 1

The stuff that shows up in the "hot" questions collider is determined by a formula that takes into account views, votes, and age.

Views are a measure of how many people on the site were interested in the question, plus how many people were searching for the same issue.

Votes are a measure of how many regular users (or at least have enough rep to vote) thought the question was upvote worthy. Note that the votes on answers count as well, so a very good set of answers to a good question can make it "hot" as well.

Age as a factor keeps the hot questions feed cycling, but it also means that you've got to get your votes/answers/views in a short period, lest your question get overlooked in the long term.

There's also the community's opinion and the constantly shifting meta rules to consider. If you're baiting the community with your title or question, they may react positively or negatively, as the mood strikes them. Or they might try to even outlaw the type of question altogether if it annoys them.

It's a difficult tightrope to walk. You essentially need to ask a very popular question about a very popular game, or catch the interest of the internet at large in some other form or fashion. Social media can play a role in getting a lot of votes/views. (ie, there's at least one of my "hot" answers that got that way due to the intervention of someone with a massive twitter following).

I'd suggest on the whole that you not give it too much thought. Ask good questions, give good answers, and let the rest just fall where it may.

Answer 2

The best way to earn rep from questions is to ask questions that are likely to affect lots of people. Obviously asking about a popular game helps. It also helps to ask the questions shortly after the game is released, so that you catch all the other new users that have just purchased the game. Looking at my top-voted questions, they aren't particularly complex, but they're general questions that lots of other people have wondered about too. The trick is to realize that something you're wondering about might apply to others as well.

Questions with funny titles or things like that might gain a lot of upvotes, but a large majority of those probably come in a short time frame and are thus eliminated by the daily rep cap, so if you're goal is to earn reputation, that isn't the best way anyway. You want to create questions that will continue to earn upvotes over a longer period as more people search for the answer.