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I'm assuming that the reputation points have some other value than personal gratification.

I believe a person whose reputation is built by primarily by asking questions only is not an expert in philosophy.

I judge expertise by the ability to answer questions or solve problems.

It would be nice to see what percentage of reputation points are from answers without bouncing around with a calculator.

Also it would be nice to see what percentage of a users asked questions have been marked as answered. This tells me how sincere that user is and whether they are acquiring knowledge from their questions. Also, the number of questions closed.

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  • Wow, the very idea that people would ask questions on philosophy stackexchange despite not being "experts in philosophy": is probably exactly what the site is for. Call me old fashioned.
    – user67675
    Commented Sep 27, 2023 at 17:58
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    I don't expect that Stack Exchange would provide that functionality. In 2019, they gave asking questions more (not less) weight by making question votes give the same amount of reputation as answer votes. You'll probably have a hard time doing this with a userscript too, given that this information isn't readily available. It wouldn't be too hard to mess around with Stack Exchange Data Explorer to get this for some set of users, though (which could then potentially be used in a userscript).
    – NotThatGuy
    Commented Sep 28, 2023 at 14:11

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I judge expertise by the ability to answer questions or solve problems.

The statistics you request are altogether useless for that purpose, since they are mere aggregates of how others (mostly random and unknown voters) perceive a contributor's answers. In order to evaluate a contributors' expertise, you need to (1) have a good understanding of the answers, and (2) compare them with reliable sources you either know already or are capable of ascertaining. Sheer numbers are not an adequate substitute for what it takes to be able to conduct that evaluation.

I believe a person whose reputation is built by primarily by asking questions only is not an expert in philosophy.

That assumption is unreliable. It fails to distinguish between questions where asker's research & knowledge are evident, and those which happened to make it to the Hot Network Questions or were otherwise about something trendy at some point in time. Furthermore, a user's question could be so advanced or profound that very few (if any) users might be able to grasp it, let alone match or top the asker's expertise.

what percentage of a users asked questions have been marked as answered. This tells me how sincere that user is and whether they are acquiring knowledge from their questions.

That percentage is not indicative of asker's learning. It fails to distinguish between genuine learners, and biased askers who accept the answer --whether accurate or not-- that matches their preconceived notions. The latter approach is the opposite of sincerity.

Moreover, you implicitly assume that if an asker learned from an answer, that answer inevitably will be marked as Accepted. That presumption ignores the very likely scenario that an asker might learn from multiple answers, in part because answers hardly ever are mutually exclusive.

The usage of statistics as a tool for evaluating users' expertise entails too many flaws.

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  • You are wrong. Using statistics to evaluate performance has been part of sports for decades. The best way to determine someone's expertise is with a resume or vita. All I have is pseudonyms and blank profiles. So despite the flaws you have mentioned, I have successfully used these statistics to weed out dilettantes and posers in the past. Commented Sep 27, 2023 at 15:09
  • Please see : philosophy.meta.stackexchange.com/q/5547/67687 Commented Sep 27, 2023 at 15:52
  • I really just want a way to filter out individuals but I was told it's not possible philosophy.meta.stackexchange.com/q/5540/67687 ( I could write a script) The stats are a way for me to easily filter (whether you agree or not) individuals who have a low utility value. Commented Sep 27, 2023 at 16:03
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    @IdiosyncraticSoul "Using statistics to evaluate performance has been part of sports for decades." That is a poor analogy. Sports statistics are premised on very specific, largely objective events such as hits, home runs, losing the ball to the opponent, etc. with no equivalents in philosophy. "All I have is pseudonyms and blank profiles." Not really. You got full access to the contents of their posts, oftentimes with links to sources, written in your language. Unless you are adamant that sports and philosophy work the same way, you should be able to bypass certain authors judiciously. Commented Sep 27, 2023 at 17:16
  • Ok, I get it. You don't believe that statistics on this site have any tangible value and to add additional statistics is superfluous and unnecessary. Thanks. Commented Sep 27, 2023 at 17:26
  • @IdiosyncraticSoul Exactly. Votes and statistics might be good to SE from a business/marketing perspective (hence ideas such as lowering the reputation required to vote on posts and SE's recurrent requests for us to vote), but they are otherwise meaningless. Commented Sep 27, 2023 at 19:17

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