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I wondered if anyone made any statistics on this.

When is the best time (usually) to ask a question?

(with this I mean that it maximises the views the answer receives).

I figure that most of the contributors of this site are in the US, so the best time to do that should be during daytime according to the US.

Maybe some sort of index like $\frac {\text{Active user}}{\text{Questions asked per second}} $ can be used..

Do you have any data on this?

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  • $\begingroup$ One could look at the data at data.stackexchange.com and figure something out. $\endgroup$
    – robjohn Mod
    Commented Jul 10, 2014 at 23:11
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    $\begingroup$ This might also depend on the topic you're asking, and the level of question/answer. $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Commented Jul 11, 2014 at 0:13
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    $\begingroup$ See also meta.math.stackexchange.com/questions/2133/… $\endgroup$
    – Gerry Myerson
    Commented Jul 11, 2014 at 1:59
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    $\begingroup$ Another related question: meta.math.stackexchange.com/questions/3865/… $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    Commented Jul 11, 2014 at 4:41
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    $\begingroup$ Best time is when you have the inspiration to write a great question. $\endgroup$
    – Kasper
    Commented Jul 15, 2014 at 9:57
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    $\begingroup$ As a master of procrastination, I must say that the best time is always later. Perhaps at some point I'll flesh that into an answer... $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Commented Jul 17, 2014 at 23:53

2 Answers 2

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I suggest a better metrics: the probability of getting an answer.

These are graphs by a small tool I made to measure this probability:

Probabilities of getting an answer on Mathematics.SE by time

Please, refer to the original post for how to read these graphs.

With-day

With-day probabilities for Mathematics.SE

With-week probabilities for Mathematics.SE

With-week probabilities for Mathematics.SE

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    $\begingroup$ Is it as per GMT or your countrie's local time $\endgroup$
    – ManishKumar Singh
    Commented Feb 1, 2018 at 1:46
  • $\begingroup$ @ManishKumarSingh I believe it is GMT. See the question Anton Tarasenko asked in stackexchange meta. $\endgroup$
    – Tony Ma
    Commented Jul 2, 2018 at 13:33
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There is no data available for anything like "users currently online". The request Displaying Users Online has (for reasons that are better articulated in View approximate number of users online). The philosophical reason is that SE is not for disposable quick questions; there are other sites for those. SE is for collecting reusable content of high quality.

The best time to ask a question is when

Then it's a good time to ask, regardless of what time is on your clock.

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    $\begingroup$ Hmm,.. it's rather idealistic approach not pragmatic... $\endgroup$
    – Widawensen
    Commented Nov 29, 2016 at 11:04

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