Answer-first page openings

Hypothesis

Direct answers at the top serve extraction without harming reading; the cost of burying the answer is higher than the cost of stating it plainly.

Method

1. All system and thesis pages on this site open with a direct answer, scope and last-reviewed date.
2. Track scroll depth and time-on-page for answer-first pages.
3. Record citation phrasing when these pages appear in answer engines: does the cited text come from the direct answer block?

Environment: This website in production

Variables: Opening structure; Answer length

Result and current observation

Not started. Begins once baseline traffic exists post-launch.

Limitations

• No control pages at launch; comparison requires adding conventional openings to matched pages later.

Replication notes

Requires matched pages with and without answer-first openings and patience for citation volume.