This study using text mining techniques is based on the Zhihu platform’s 2022 Annual Hundred Questions dataset to explore the impact mechanisms of user-generated content recognition in Q&A communities, focusing on the intrinsic and extrinsic characteristics of the answers. The research finds that both the internal characteristics-information quality and source credibility-and the external characteristic-content uniqueness-significantly influence the content recognition. The time interval has a significant negative effect on content recognition. Additionally, the time interval exhibits significant moderating effects on both the internal and external characteristics of the answers. Specifically, it produces negative moderating effects on the relationship between information quality, source credibility, and content recognition, while having positive moderating effects on the relationship between content uniqueness and content recognition.