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As you all are aware, the very nature of puzzling is different from other SE sites, I know this is a fundamental question, but asking a good question that isnt a well known puzzle takes a lot of effort which makes people think. Answering is equally difficult, but asking is important for this site's survival and growth.

As someone interested in contributing both sides, I think answers are generally rewarded higher than questions simply because the inherent assumption in every other SE site is that a good question gets "An Answer" as the first reward, but here in most cases the askers know the answer.

Given the above situation, would it be worth, or even possible to reward questions with more "Reputation" than presently is. I know it feels like do I deserve more question, but I sincerely think this is more about keeping the site growing and taking the special situation of this site into consideration.

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    $\begingroup$ We have a similar situation at PPCG, and a highly upvoted meta post about it. Unfortunately, it's been 3+ years and it hasn't happened yet. I'm not sure what needs to be done to make it a reality, but it may not be as simple as flipping a switch :( $\endgroup$
    – Set Big O
    Commented Oct 27, 2014 at 19:24
  • $\begingroup$ @Geobits actually after reading that question (and the answer) it seems it should not be very difficult to do because meta.stackexchange does exactly that, not sure if that would require some kind of voting or something? I don't know who would be able to do that, surely not moderators I guess $\endgroup$
    – skv
    Commented Oct 28, 2014 at 13:57
  • $\begingroup$ Well, that was some time ago when they had separate rep, before meta.SO flipped to meta.SE. Right now, meta.SE gets the standard 5 rep for questions and meta.SO is just a regular meta (so no rep). I don't know if that functionality is still there, or when it was changed. It would be a good question for the big meta, I guess. $\endgroup$
    – Set Big O
    Commented Oct 28, 2014 at 14:02
  • $\begingroup$ Why dont you ask that :) being someone participating in two such sites, I am sure you are "more" eligible to ask for not just for these two sites, but in any site where asking is both selfless and tougher than regular SE sites $\endgroup$
    – skv
    Commented Oct 28, 2014 at 14:07
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    $\begingroup$ No problem! I asked it more from a PPCG perspective, since I only have one post here and the vote here doesn't seem as one-sided in support of the change, but I'm sure the meat of any answers would apply to both sites. $\endgroup$
    – Set Big O
    Commented Oct 28, 2014 at 14:21
  • $\begingroup$ I've tagged this as status-declined for now, because of the response on MSE. $\endgroup$
    – user20
    Commented Nov 1, 2014 at 22:21

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I understand your reasoning that answers here earn many more points than in other places because solutions are plentiful. However, I feel it would probably fuel variation (repeat) or already-known questions more than it has lately. Some questions lately are starting to feel like they're just putting a question without that thinking background.

I would love for unique puzzles to be regarded higher, but I suppose the only solution is voting up to encourage this style. The problem, however, is voting down the lower-quality questions doesn't really stop them as it seems like quantity over quality is what has been taking place. I'd be for some type of system that would encourage creativity, but I don't think the framework is there.

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  • $\begingroup$ Agree wit the quality problem $\endgroup$
    – skv
    Commented Oct 23, 2014 at 7:41
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    $\begingroup$ I don't know the mechanics of SE well enough, but is it possible to provide a non-linear reward for questions that are voted up - for example, double points if the question gets more than n up-votes? $\endgroup$
    – Penguino
    Commented Oct 24, 2014 at 0:53
  • $\begingroup$ Thats an excellent thought @Penguino I think it would be even better if the voters' popularity is taken into account as well (some form of Weighted Democracy?) $\endgroup$
    – skv
    Commented Oct 24, 2014 at 6:45
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    $\begingroup$ @Penguino I think that happens to a lesser degree already; it seems people are more likely to vote for something others have voted for. High-scoring questions/answers get attention, which gets more votes. I've also heard the idea that people are more likely to upvote if other people like it, as if they're taking other people's approval as evidence that it really is good. $\endgroup$
    – TheRubberDuck
    Commented Nov 3, 2014 at 13:50
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Is there any way to grant the Asker rep when an answer gets upvoted? I believe this already happens if you edit an answer which is then upvoted, you get +2 rep instead of +10, but if we could apply maybe a +3 rep to the Asker for each upvote an answer gets, the asker should benefit greatly for questions with a lot of activity.

This would discourage spammy questions because they wouldn't get any upvoted answers, but a question with a +10 answer would award +30 bonus rep to the asker.

I can't trawl through questions for examples right now, but something like the Alaskan Dream has 50 native rep for the Asker, then a +9, +3, +3 and +0 which would tot up to +15 upvotes for a bonus +45 rep, totalling almost 100 rep for the question.

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  • $\begingroup$ I like the concept, but there would probably need to be a cap on that bonus, whether it be per question or per up-voted person. Also asker's upvotes would have to be ignored too. $\endgroup$
    – Xrylite
    Commented Oct 29, 2014 at 20:13
  • $\begingroup$ Why would you need a cap? I agree with the asker's up-votes not giving themself rep but I don't see why a question with a lot of activity and quality answers should cap out a question $\endgroup$
    – Joe
    Commented Oct 30, 2014 at 10:58
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    $\begingroup$ I just think there'd need to be more restrictions to prevent rep from growing too quickly. Questions like this would generate positive rep from largely down-voted questions (Exclude questions with less than 5 up-votes?). Similarly, would this be worth a 327 bonus despite it being a simplistic puzzle that just happened to have reasonable answers? Maybe after 10 up-votes on an answer, you don't generate more on that one? $\endgroup$
    – Xrylite
    Commented Oct 30, 2014 at 15:17
  • $\begingroup$ "I believe this already happens if you edit an answer which is then upvoted, you get +2 rep instead of +10" No, under no circumstances does the Asker ever gain rep when an answer is upvoted. $\endgroup$
    – pacoverflow
    Commented Apr 5, 2015 at 16:57
  • $\begingroup$ Yes, the only time the asker gains reputation is when they accept an answer (+2.) $\endgroup$
    – Tzu Li
    Commented May 5, 2019 at 18:50
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This appears to be a moot point, at least for the time being. Asked on Meta, the response is that it would change the core functionality too much. This may change down the road, but it seems unlikely to me.

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  • $\begingroup$ if it ever happens, our baby steps would be all useful, and yeah someone somewhere down the road will see the merit, lets see $\endgroup$
    – skv
    Commented Oct 28, 2014 at 18:18
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Suppose we require some expenditure of reputation to post a puzzle, but then give the poster the sum of all reputation anyone who answers gains in addition to the regular rep gain (aside from any rep that comes directly from the asker).

This should reduce the number of low quality questions.

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