> this is indeed a real problem for "askers" trying to get heard in all the noise, and there's diminishing returns for the "answerer" who has less fun questions to tackle
To address this issue, I put together a "deep-cuts" algorithm that uses the API to tries to find overlooked higher quality questions that have yet to be answered.
It's not perfect. But if you're looking to engage with Stack Overflow, I've found it much more useful than the rat-race to answer (or close) new questions.
Actually, they do. It's less obvious with the latest redesign, but if you click on "Questions" next to the logo in the header, it takes you to the list of questions that have been asked. At the top of that list is a set of tabs, and the last one is "unanswered." If you click on it, you see the highest ranked, not yet answered questions. I'm not sure if there's anything more to it than just the rank, but it's a good place to start.
To address this issue, I put together a "deep-cuts" algorithm that uses the API to tries to find overlooked higher quality questions that have yet to be answered.
The code is available here:
https://github.com/klenwell/stack-overflow-deep-cuts/blob/ma...
It's not perfect. But if you're looking to engage with Stack Overflow, I've found it much more useful than the rat-race to answer (or close) new questions.