---
title: "What makes answers trustworthy — Community data 2026"
url: https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/community/data/answers-trust
year: 2026
chapter: "community"
question: "AnswersTrust"
section: "Finding and trusting answers"
licence: "ODbL 1.0 (https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/1-0/)"
---

# What makes answers trustworthy

Trust is driven by presentation quality and social proof, not authority. Well-organized content (59%) and high engagement metrics — upvotes, likes, views (48%) — top the list, ahead of personal referral from a trusted human (47%) and citability/trackable origin (40%).

Asked as: What makes you trust the information you find when you are searching for answers? Select your top 3 choices. (`AnswersTrust`, multi select, optional, v2026.1)

## Options offered

1. The information was referred to me by a human I trust directly
2. The format and content of the information is well-organized and logical
3. The format and content of the information is creative and thought-provoking
4. The information has many citations, sources themselves don't matter as much as the ability to track down the origin
5. I can see user activity associated with the human that posts the information I find
6. There are many upvotes/likes/shares/views associated with the content
7. I heard about the source of information before from another trusted source, such as a news site, a social feed, or a podcast interview

## Results

### All Respondents

n = 15,355

|  | Respondents | Percent |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| The format and content of the information is well-organized and logical | 9,071 | 59.1% |
| There are many upvotes/likes/shares/views associated with the content | 7,377 | 48.0% |
| The information was referred to me by a human I trust directly | 7,159 | 46.6% |
| The information has many citations, sources themselves don't matter as much as the ability to track down the origin | 6,111 | 39.8% |
| I can see user activity associated with the human that posts the information I find | 3,890 | 25.3% |
| I heard about the source of information before from another trusted source, such as a news site, a social feed, or a podcast interview | 3,730 | 24.3% |
| The format and content of the information is creative and thought-provoking | 1,628 | 10.6% |

In context: https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/community/data.md