1. A method, in a data processing system comprising a processor and a memory configured to implement a question and answer (QA) system, for effectively ingesting data for answering questions in the QA system, the method comprising: parsing, by a processor in the QA system, a received input question having a set of question characteristics; comparing, by the processor, the set of question characteristics found in the received input question to question characteristics associated with a set of previous questions; responsive to the set of question characteristics found in the received input question matching the question characteristics associated with one or more previous questions in the set of previous questions above a related-question predetermined threshold, identifying, by the processor, whether answers to the one or more previous questions were obtained from static information sources or real-time information sources; and responsive to the answers to the one or more previous questions being obtained from the real-time information sources above the predetermined real-time threshold, initially utilizing, by the processor, real-time information sources related to the characteristics of the input question to answer the input question.