How do I see the first GA questions - say, those with the first hundred ID numbers?

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Request for Question Clarification by errol-ga on 17 Apr 2003 11:02 PDT

Hi there, Apteryx!


That is certainly a interesting question.

I have discovered a way to find the first questions, however, it is a
very tedious task to list all of the questions which haven't been
removed or expired.
In light of this, I feel that the question is rather low priced for
the amount of work involved.
You may wish to email Google Answers instead.

The questions I found date back to April 2002.

Regards,
errol-ga.

Hello apteryx-ga,

Errol-ga suggests that the question is low-priced if you wanted a
Researcher to list all of the first questions that haven't been
removed.  However, you asked, "How do I see the first GA questions". 
I can certainly show you how you can see them.

It is a straightforward method: just substitute the ID number in which
you are interested in the following address:

http://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=threadview&id=2

I have used ID number 2 as an example, because ID number 1 has
apparently been removed.  (It is possible that some of these early
questions were test questions for the service.  I am just a
Researcher, and don't have any inside knowledge about how Google
Answers began.)

You should note that not all ID numbers are currently associated with
questions.  For some ID numbers, the question has been removed.  Other
ID numbers were never associated with questions -- my understanding
(again, just as a Researcher with no inside information) is that the
numbering system takes account of material posted to questions, so
that if comments were posted on questions in between the time that one
question was asked and another question was asked, these two questions
will not have consecutive ID numbers.

I hope that this information is helpful.

- justaskscott-ga

Thank you, justaskscott - you correctly understood that all I wanted
to know was how to do it for myself, and I figured it for a quickie. 
I tried searching by number, but you can imagine how well that worked.
 There is no separate search box just for question IDs (hint to the
Google Answers gods?).  So you have given me a full and perfect
response, and I thank you.

Apteryx

If you would like to view blocks of questions simply, this may help:

Here's a link that will take you to all questions, in blocks of 100,
both answered and unanswered, sorted in ascending order (starting
April 2, 2002):

http://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=search&q=-&qtype=all&num=100&sort=qestartts:A:R:d1&start=0

If you want to see only the answered questions, this link will show
them, 100 per page, in ascending order:

http://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=search&q=-&qtype=answered&num=100&sort=qestartts:A:R:d1&start=0

For only the unanswered questions, use this link:

http://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=search&q=-&qtype=unanswered&num=100&sort=qestartts:A:R:d1&start=0

Just click for the next page of 100 to continue. There's some
interesting reading back there!

Many thanks for the extra help, Pink.  I take it that April 2, 2002,
was the launch date of this brilliant creation.  I hope whoever
thought it up got a really nice bonus.  The only change in format that
I'd undo if I could is the loss of ability to specify our own deadline
for a reply.