Skip to main content
1 of 3
Felix
  • 1.5k
  • 10
  • 15

Don't include answers in question lists by default

Right now, question list API queries (such as /questions, /questions/unanswered, /user/{id}/questions and so on) also return at most 30 answers (apparently) for each question. While this might be useful under certain conditions, I think in most cases it's not. Most applications will only want to display a list of questions without any answer. Having to download 30- answers (well, sans their body) for each question seems like a waste of bandwidth and stackexchange computing power, especially when fetching answer-heavy question lists (such as /questions?sort=votes -- that query would be greatly reduced if there were no answers included).

This especially affects mobile devices where bandwidth is precious and processing power is both sparse and battery-consuming.

In conclusion, I think the answers should be taken away from question lists (maybe a parameter to bring them back if they're really needed). Or, at the very least, include a parameter that specifies no answers should be included.

Felix
  • 1.5k
  • 10
  • 15