[![enter image description here][1]][1]

Almost all of us Stack Overflow users want to earn more reputation. However, we don't have all the time in the world to answer questions. RepAdvisor is a bookmarklet that predicts how much reputation you'll gain from answering any particular question, and calculates how hard the competition is.

> # How to Install RepAdvisor
>
> Add a new bookmark in your browser, and copy and paste the following code into the URL field.
>
>     !function(){function t(t,n){return t>n?n:t}function n(n){return.01485*t(n,15)}function e(n){return 2664e-8*t(n,750)}function o(n){return 405.8*t(n,.01)}function i(n){return Math.pow(.025*t(n,5e3),.5)}function u(t,n){$("#question-summary-"+t).append("<div style='clear: both;'><strong>"+n+"</strong></div>")}function s(t,n,e){var o=(t-n)/(e-n);return o>1?o=1:o<0&&(o=0),100*o}function r(t){var n=0;return $.each(t.answers,function(t,e){n+=e.score}),n<=0?0:n}function a(t){var n=r(t),e=p-t.question.creation_date,o=p-t.question.last_activity_date,i=t.question.answer_count,a=t.question.view_count,c=(s(-e,-3e5,0)+s(-o,-1e5,0)+s(-i,-2.35,0)+s(-n,-4,0)+s(a/e,0,5e-4))/5;u(t.question.question_id,"Competition Rating: "+Math.round(c))}function c(s){var a=s.question.score,c=s.question.owner.reputation,f=s.question.view_count,q=p-s.question.creation_date,d=r(s)/s.question.answer_count,h=(n(a)+e(c)+o(f/q)+i(f)+t(d,20))/4*10;h+=(s.question.owner.hasOwnProperty("accept_rate")?s.question.owner.accept_rate:50)/100*15,u(s.question.question_id,"Estimated Reputation Profit: "+Math.round(h)+(h>=90?" or more":""))}function f(t,n){v.push({question:t,answers:n})}function q(t,n){$.each(w,function(e,o){var i=[];$.each(n.items,function(t,n){n.question_id==o&&i.push(n)}),$.each(t.items,function(t,n){n.question_id==o&&f(n,i)})})}function d(){$.each(v,function(t,n){c(n),a(n)})}var h=new Date,p=Math.round(h.getTime()/1e3),v=[],w=[];$(".question-summary").each(function(t){var n=$(this).attr("id");n=n.substr(n.lastIndexOf("-")+1),w.push(n)}),$.get("https://api.stackexchange.com/2.2/questions/"+w.join(";"),{order:"desc",sort:"activity",site:"stackoverflow"},function(t){$.get("https://api.stackexchange.com/2.2/questions/"+w.join(";")+"/answers",{order:"desc",sort:"activity",site:"stackoverflow"},function(n){q(t,n),d()},"json")},"json")}();
>
> Save the bookmarklet in the bookmarks bar. Now, whenever you visit a Stack Overflow "browse questions" page, just click on the bookmarklet and RepAdvisor will run!

 - Estimated Reputation Profit is a rough estimate of how much reputation you'll get by answering a question, given that your answer succeeds.

 - Competition Rating is a score from 0-100 (higher is better) that shows how hard it is to get your answer to the top.

[![enter image description here][2]][2]

With RepAdvisor, you just have to click on the bookmarklet, and you'll be able to see at a glance if answering some questions is a good deal.

# How It Works

I used the Stack Exchange Data Explorer to collect data from a random sample of answered questions. I used a program to analyze and calculate the correlation between answer scores and question metadata. It's not a very strong correlation, but it should give a rough estimate. I calculated linear regressions for the data and put it into RepAdvisor's code as functions. In goes the question metadata, and out comes a prediction of how much reputation you'll earn if you answer it and how hard the competition is with other answers.

# Future Updates

RepAdvisor is still in development, so I may add these features later on:

 - Fastest Gun In The West Score: the script will calculate the "time remaining" in seconds to be the first person to answer the question.

 - Personalized Reputation Formulas: the script will look into users' answers and use their answering history to modify how it calculates the "estimated reputation profit." For example, if a user has a history of good-quality answers, RepAdvisor will predict higher reputation profits.

 - Edit Rep Farm Detection: the script will scan the body text of questions to look for spelling errors. It will display messages so users will know if they can quickly farm +2 reputation through editing.

If you experience any bugs, feel free to report it in the comments below. Thanks for checking out RepAdvisor!


  [1]: https://i.sstatic.net/43wc0.png
  [2]: https://i.sstatic.net/lXZ4Q.png