When interaction is valuable: Feedback, churn and survival on community question and answer sites: The case of stack exchange

Benny Bornfeld, Sheizaf Rafaeli

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

Does feedback contribute to collaboration? As in most open participation and contribution platforms, churn is an issue. The highest churn and dropout rates follow the initial posting of a single answer. According to feedback theories, contributors are sensitive to feedback. Votes and comments are common feedback mechanisms in such platforms. Prior studies on the effect of these mechanisms in different platforms have produced conflicting results. This study reports a longitudinal analysis of the feedback effect on newcomer answer provider retention in five Stack Exchange communities, including over a million users and their answers. We find that feedback in the form of votes and comments provided to the first answer is strongly correlated with newcomer retention. Thus, interaction is valuable. The findings have implications for the design of Q&A websites and for testing the theory of feedback arrangements' impact on persistence.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 52nd Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS 2019
EditorsTung X. Bui
PublisherIEEE Computer Society
Pages789-799
Number of pages11
ISBN (Electronic)9780998133126
StatePublished - 2019
Event52nd Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS 2019 - Maui, United States
Duration: 8 Jan 201911 Jan 2019

Publication series

NameProceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
Volume2019-January
ISSN (Print)1530-1605

Conference

Conference52nd Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS 2019
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityMaui
Period8/01/1911/01/19

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 IEEE Computer Society. All rights reserved.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Engineering

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