I say "5 days" because it has been 5 24-hour periods after I received notification from SE to join the private Beta.
I have no experience from other private Betas, and certainly Q&A subjects differ in popularity (which affects also their private Beta experience). But as in Public Beta, there must be some accumulated experience as to whether the statistics of the Private Beta indicate a site that has better or worse options for a successful Public Beta and then on to eternity.
If there are users here that have participated in other private betas (and even better, in the private Beta of the previous failed attempt for the Economics site), or also, SE community managers that have a wider picture, it would be useful to share some thoughts: I am not asking for an oracle ("you will/you will not succeed"), just an indication as to where we stand at the moment.
Just please, marketing-speak to the effect "it is too early to tell", "keep on trying" etc is not suitable here -we are economists. I am specifically asking "is it satisfactory up to know", without saying that the fate has been sealed.
Me, I will provide the data, and some comments related to benchmarks for Public Beta (of course by the time you will read this, the running data may be a bit different).
A) Number of questions asked (using the time stamp of the site) \begin{array}{| r | r | } \hline \text {day}& \text {Q's} \\ \hline \hline \text {Nov-18} & \text {13} \\ \hline \text {Nov-19} & \text {38} \\ \hline \text {Nov-20} & \text {11} \\ \hline \text {Nov-21} & \text {16} \\ \hline \text {Nov-22} & \text {7} \\ \hline \text {Nov-23} & \text {11} \\ \hline \text {Total Q} & \text {96} \\ \hline \hline \end{array}
"Healthy Public Beta" is "15 questions per day".
B) Answers \begin{array}{| r | r | } \hline \text {# of A's}& \text {# of Q's} \\ \hline \hline \text {Unanswered on Hold} & \text {8} \\ \hline \text {Unanswered active} & \text {14} \\ \hline \text {1} & \text {36} \\ \hline \text {2} & \text {19} \\ \hline \text {3} & \text {11} \\ \hline \text {4} & \text {4} \\ \hline \text {5} & \text {2} \\ \hline \text {6} & \text {1} \\ \hline \text {10} & \text {1} \\ \hline \text {Total Q} & \text {96} \\ \hline \hline \end{array}
Two statistics here:
a) Questions Answered (excluding the "On hold Unanswered") is $74/88 = 84$%. Public Beta benchmark is $90$%.
b) Weighted "Answer ratio" = $149/96 = 1.55$. The benchmark for Public Beta is $2.5$.
C) Accepted Answers (Green checks) \begin{array}{| r | r | r| r|} \hline \text {# of A's}& \text {with Green} & \text {Without Green}& \text {Totals}\\ \hline \hline \text {1 answer} & \text {8} & \text {28} & \text {36} \\ \hline \text {2+ answer} & \text {16} & \text {22} & \text {38}\\ \hline \hline \text {Totals } & \text {24} & \text {48} & \text {74}\\ \hline \hline \end{array}
There is no relevant benchmark value for Public Beta. It is obvious that having 2 or more answers increases the chance of the OP finding something useful. Still, 22 questions with $2+$ answers remain without an accepted answer. Just in case OPs are neglecting to act on the matter, please do.
D) Users
In "No rep points earned" are those users with rep $101$ or $1$.
\begin{array}{| r | r | } \hline \text {rep points Status}& \text {# of Users} \\ \hline \hline \text {rep points earned} & \text {64} \\ \hline \text {NO rep points earned} & \text {154} \\ \hline \text {Total Users} & \text {218} \\ \hline \hline \end{array}
This is an indication of how many people are... "actively active" on the site. Of course from the 154 users with no rep earned here, there may be those that silently browse the site. Still, the "actively active" users are the engine of growth -let's just not put our hopes in the existence of a Solow residual.
