Some interesting stats about WP Questions:
168 people have asked a question.
196 people have posted an attempt at an answer.
84 people have received money for their answers.
1,351 people have joined the site.
So, about 1 in 8 (12.4%) of the members ask questions, and about 1 in 7 (14.5%) post answers (there is some overlap, as some members both ask questions and answer
questions).
Of those who have posted an attempt at an answer, 42.9% have received money for their answers.
For me, the big surprise is that there are more people asking questions than there are people getting paid for answers. On a site where prize money can be split among multiple experts, and on average 1.2 people receive money for every question, I would expect the number of experts receiving money to be greater than the number of people asking questions. But apparently that is not the way it works. Clay Shirky long ago noted that freedom of choice will lead to an inequality of results as people’s previous choices effect other people’s future choices, but I assume that is not what is happening here. I’m guessing there is a small core of advanced experts who just happen to have the best answers to most people’s questions, most of the time. Though I am keeping an open mind about this.
I’m also very curious about the 73% of the membership that has neither asked a question nor attempted an answer. Perhaps they are simply fascinated with the posts, and so they’ve signed up so they can read along. That would make sense to me, since one can learn a lot about WordPress, simply by reading the questions and answers on WP Questions. I know that I, personally, have learned a lot.