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I have a question about my Mathematics Stack Exchange post: Trying to prove a proposition about the nth order derivative of a polynomial by induction - is this correct?

I tried to add the proof-verification tag to my post linked above, but every time I try to add it in an edit, nothing happens. I even tried to add it by editing other parts of the post simultaneously, but those parts just ended up changing without the tags remaining the same.

I'm not sure if this is a bug or something, but it is a bit frustrating. I did put a bounty on the post before trying to add the proof-verification tag, which brought me down to just a reputation of 1, but as far as I'm aware, there isn't any privileges related to editing your own post, so I don't think that's the issue.

Now, my other question is concerned with how my post has performed overall.

It's been having trouble getting much attention, despite having a decent amount of views and upvotes, as well as a bounty. I apologize if this seems rude or entitled of me to ask, but I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice on how to improve my posts in the future so that they don't go unanswered like this? Of course if I'm just being impatient, then I apologize- I haven't posted on MSE before, and I'm not too familiar with how long it typically takes to get answers to your question.

Regardless, here's an example of what's making me feel this way- here's a screenshot of its current position amongst every question that currently has a bounty on MSE:

It's the third last out of all 68 of them. Just a few hours ago, it was at the very bottom, although I didn't have the foresight to take a screenshot. Again, I'm really sorry if this comes across as me just whining and complaining about people not looking at my post, it's really not my intention- I just would really like to know where I can improve for future posts, that's all.

Is there something about the way I've written the post, or the subject matter, that's severely hurting its long-term popularity? I did very recently change a large portion of it after realizing that it's not typically appreciated when posts contain a lot of preamble/introductions, and thinking over how much of it was unnecessary information contributing to its length. Perhaps that will help and my inquiry here is going to be met with what I already realized and acted upon with that edit, but I think it's still a good idea to get confirmation from some more knowledgeable community members.

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    $\begingroup$ "solution-verification" which you already have a tag is the same (it's a 'synonym' in SE terms) as "proof-verification" which is why you think you can't add it $\endgroup$
    – postmortes
    May 10 at 5:31
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    $\begingroup$ @postmortes Ohhh okay, thank you so much, that makes sense! $\endgroup$
    – callum bates
    May 10 at 5:34

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It seems that you're asking several questions which are unrelated to each other.

Retagging and synonyms

You asked why you cannot add to the question. This tag is a synonym of solution-verification, so when it is entered in the tags field, it is automatically converted to . And the question is already tagged with . (Of course, if the synonym is cancelled at some point, this behavior will change.) You can have a look at older posts about the same issue: Why does the tag "(solution-verification)" show as "(proof-verification)"? and Cannot add tag "conditional-probability".

Position on the bountied tab

Another question is about the position of your question on the bountied (featured) tab. On this tab, the questions at the top are the ones which had the bounty for the longest time - so when you get to 6 or 7 days from the bounty start, it will be closer to the top. I will quote from the FAQ post about bounties: How does the bounty system work? (the section "How can I find questions that have a bounty attached?"):

Questions with an active bounty appear with a special icon in all question lists, and are also visible on the home page's "Bountied" tab. Questions in that tab are sorted by the amount of time left on their bounties. The closer a bounty is to expiring, the higher it will be on the list

This older posts is a bit related, too: Bountied question didn't pop up. As mentioned there the bountied tab on the frontpage only shows the top 48 questions - at the moment there are 67 bountied questions on Mathematics, it might take a bit of time until this question gets into the top 48.

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    $\begingroup$ Thank you so much for the info, all of that makes sense! I can't believe I didn't realize that the bountied tab orders questions based on how long they've had an active bounty, that's embarrassing. Also the tag synonyms system makes a lot of sense- I kept looking up stuff about why I can't edit the tags on my post, so I just didn't end up getting results about it. Regardless, thank you so much for taking the time to write out this very informative answer, I really appreciate it! $\endgroup$
    – callum bates
    May 10 at 7:18
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The reason I didn't engage with your question is because it was very long. Some people might be attracted to that, but there are a lot of questions on this site, and it takes me a bunch of sifting to find ones that appeal to me, so a question being long and discursive is a big minus for me. But hopefully you'll find some people who like that, who you can math with.

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    $\begingroup$ Ah okay, that's completely understandable! Through my experience posting here, I've realized that I tend to ramble a lot when it comes to math and end up making things way longer than they actually need to be, so that's definitely something I'm going to try and work on in the future- hopefully my posts will benefit from it! Regardless, thank you so much for your input, I really appreciate it! $\endgroup$
    – callum bates
    May 10 at 7:25
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    $\begingroup$ Glad it was helpful. I've used participation in other Internet forums to refine my writing skills (at least I think so :-) ), and while i enjoy rambliness when reading fiction, getting to the point quickly and clearly seems to work best in places where the readers attention is at at premium. $\endgroup$
    – JonathanZ supports MonicaC
    May 10 at 14:29

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