Expert: Katie - 3/14/2007

Question
Hi Katie,
I've been working on my response time trying to reduce it as much as possible and there appears to be a discrepancy in what the site lists my average response time to be and what I would believe it to be based upon my previously answered questions log. So I have a couple of possible explanations that I would like you to consider/comment upon.
First is the case where I choose to add a follow-up answer to one that I recently posted, even before the questioner reads it. When I do that follow-up I notice that the log only shows there to be one q and a but the response clock time now reflects the time I posted the voluntary follow-up. That seems reasonable. My only question then is in the calculation of the average response time how are these two responses treated: one response with the times as shown on the log, or two responses with the initial posting time identical but with the two different answer clock times. If it were the former, that would be reasonable. If it were the latter, then I would suggest that the system is unduly weighting against the average response time when I was merely adding additional information to my original answer. It would discourage me from adding additional information on my own initiative. Can you clarify that for me?
Second is the question of those questions that I reject, which are rare. They don't appear on the answered questions log, but my question is are they still counted in the calculation of the average response time?
Other than those two wrinkles I assume the calculation would be very straight forward when there is one question and one answer given. When the questioner sends a follow up the time that the follow up was posted should become the starting time for the follow-up answers' response time to be calculated against, correct?
Thanks for dealing with my questions and providing the answers. The site is very "expert-friendly" and I enjoy the time that I spend on it.
Roland  

Answer
Hi, Roland.

1) The time you post the follow-up is used in the response time calculation. If we kept the first response time,  it would be too easy for people to send a quick note saying "I will respond to this later", then make the questioner wait longer for the actual answer without incurring any penalty.

2) Only answered questions are averaged to calculate the times in  the Awards list. Rejected questions do not count. Questions answered from the question pool are also excluded from the calculation.

3) Correct. When the questioner sends a follow up, the time that the follow up was posted becomes the starting time for the response time calculation.