In response to this question, is there a way in which we can work out the positive effects on traffic and questions following this?
I've noticed a few good questions from users with referral bonuses but otherwise new to workplace, and assume they've been directed as that question came under the 'hot questions' tab in the stackexchange dropdown, but is there a way of confirming what I think?
Beta sites aren't part of Data.SE, however if this site wasn't a beta site you could track user participation in the site through there. I even have some queries saved in an answer of mine on Programmers that I often re-use to check out a site's user participation trends.
However since this is a beta site, the only stats we have access to are the ones on Area51. I know some users are actually tracking those stats on a regular basis and graphing the trends, so perhaps ask in chat if anyone has links to these trends. normalocity is regularly tracking the site's stats, you can see the latest stats on his site.
There's also Quantcast data, but that only measures visitors and views, not necessarily site participation.
It should be noted that none of this is really tied to a specific question. You can make assumptions that the traffic changes were the result of a really popular question, however its not something that I think we can actually prove.
(As a side note, I think the question you linked is on-topic after the latest edits)
Ever heard the phrase "a flash in the pan"? According to my mom, my grandfather and grandmother allegedly used this phrase to talk about Elvis Presley when he made his first break. The idea was that he would have a brief "flash" of popularity and then evaporate into nothingness; he wouldn't even be a one-hit wonder. They were of course wrong about Elvis Presley, as he eventually became known as the King of Rock and Roll, but the idea of the flash in the pan is really true on the Workplace SE.
In my experience, popular questions have a very minimal impact on the site in the long term. While I can't give you specifics on actual traffic numbers, I can tell you that there's basically a spike in views for that day, then things go back to normal, as if nothing ever happened. However, these questions, while interesting, do tend to create a lot of work, as many of the visitors are new or drive by users who don't understand how our site works, and many of our high rep users and moderators must step in to edit, comment on, and flag material that doesn't belong.
The best strategy for making positive gains is to focus on quality material, and then share that quality material with people whom you think would be interested in the site. Over time, the site will build up enough quality content to where a trend starts happening where the site growth begins to take off exponentially. In short, one question alone will never make the Workplace SE a great site, as it's the combination of all of the great content that will help move us forward as a community of experts.
