Low upvote rate and number of answers?

Question

I've been wondering for a while wether the upvote rate and the number of answers per question is low compared to other SE.

I recall seeing in the Area51 site, when the Bitcoin SE was in beta, that the number of answers was just Okay (bellow 2 per question). Is this still the case?

Regarding number of upvotes per question, am I the only one who thinks so? Even top 3 year contributors (Andrew Chow, Pieter Wuille and Murch) have 0-3 upvotes in their answers for the last couple of months, most of them not even accepted (with Pieter performing slightly better).

Answer 1

Accepting the answer is the job of the asker. It seems anecdotally that many askers have little reputations and perhaps do not appreciate the subtle benefit to the community in accepting answers or, perhaps do not realise that this is their responsibility or maybe even how to do so.

As for upvotes, there seems to be some evidence that it depends on how broadly appreciable or relatable a question is to the reader, not just how well written an answer is. Personally, I have been on Bitcoin.SE for only a few months and am surprised at how much reputation I have picked up in that time, this represents in part upvotes on answers.

Often, if I do not find myself well versed in the particulars of some specific answer, I will avoid upvoting it if it is complex to my understanding. This is because I only believe in giving genuine upvotes where I can fully validate an answer myself.

This is, of course, only my experience and cannot be applied as a guide to the experience of others. It is, at best, an anecdote.