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In general, I think you should not answer a question unless the following are both true:
* You personally have some familiarity with the subject of inquiry
* You can either fully answer the question or at least significantly help inquirer
I see too many answers that look like somebody spend 10 seconds Googling for an answer and either copy/pasted or slightly reworded answers from the first source that popped up. For example, "does anyone know a good recipe for XXX" often gets random copy/paste results from the web instead of something that has actually been prepared or eaten by the person responding. How can they offer it as a "good" recipe if they've never tried it?
If the inquirer had sufficient access to the internet to ask a question via Mahalo or twitter, they could probably have done quick Google search and grabbed the first random result without help. I assume that if people ask something here they are hoping for a bit of personal experience or insight and not just rapid regurgitation.
The exceptions I would make to the above are:
*simple objective questions seeking verifiable facts, such as names, dates, places, etc.
*if the answerer finds an unfamiliar question intriguing enough to actually do some significant research and gain a personal opinion on the matter before providing the answer
I especially hate it when I see an irrelevant answers and quickly vote them as “Unhelpful” or “No Best Answer”.
Example: "What time zone is England in?"
Bad Response: "I don't know, but England is a great country with good beer and here's a link where you can buy a watch that supports multiple time zones".
Example: "Has anyone seen TV Show X?"
Bad Response: "No, I have never seen TV Show X."
To me, these types of answers insult the inquirer and Mahalo readers because they clearly aren't helping and likely just want some attention or are hoping for a shot at a carelessly voted "Best Answer". In both of these cases the question is being answered without conveying any helpful information.
It might be appropriate to answer a question that you don't know the answer to if the question is clearly lacking vital information.
Example: Which is the best shoe to buy?
Although I personally would ignore this question, it doesn't seem amiss to answer it with a request for more information, as the question could be about anything from brake shoes to horse shoes to running shoes.
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I think it is OK to say, "I did a little looking around and found sites that answer your question 'here' and 'here'."
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Unless Mahalo introduces a 'time-out' for questions to remain unanswered, SOMEONE has to answer it, especially as there are only a few ways we can sort questions.
So, for these old questions, ANY answer is probably better than no answer, even though I think just letting them fade away would be even better. (This especially counts for Twittersearched questions, where the asker often doesn't even want an answer anyway!)
That said, an answerer should always make an effort to answer, even if (s)he doesn't have a full answer.
I think your question is wrong to start with. The REAL question is, what is the proper way to get rid of backlog in unanswered questions?
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jeffhoard
I think another reason for this is that people like to be first. Being the first to answer a question is like placing first in a race. Some people will even write the word 'first' and follow up with absolutely nothing else. What they gain by doing this is far beyond me unless their goal is to annoy.
I am on board with you Jeff. This is a very annoying issue but one that will probably never go away, unfortunately.
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Or if I misinterpret a question, and get a clarifying response, then I will expand my answer in the comment section. I did this in my second response in the source section. I also asked a question on whether the comment section is included in the "Best Answer" and the apparent answer is yes, but I have not checked this out fully.
Source(s):
http://www.mahalo.com/answers/conservation/how-much-energy-does-it-take-to-...
http://www.mahalo.com/answers/meditation/what-is-the-physiological-effect-o...
http://www.mahalo.com/answers/mahalo-answers-community/i-answered-a-questio...
Tags: answer, question, information, when, insufficient
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I think it's acceptable to respond when you don't know the answer if the answer is unclear and you need clarification on the question.
I also think it's okay to answer to give additional information that you do know about something very closely related, even if it's not the exact question being asked, as long as it's over value.
what I'm disliking is seeing one I saw the other day - the entire answer was:
IDK
That's just... asinine. Clearly only for the points.
ETA: Do you think though it's possible some people go to the old questions and put in just any answer, hoping that the system will default them to the 'best answer' chosen by votes, JUST so they can get the money?
think about it - if you go to a ton of old questions, answer them, no one else answers at all, these people are going to get a quarter to 35 cents or so for questions they really didn't answer. That could add up pretty fast.
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What say you?
Source(s):
personal experience
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There might be a few occasions when it might be helpful to reply even though you don't have what might be considered an actual answer. Such things as...
- The question is posed in such a way that there is no answer. It's probably fair enough to reply and explain why what they want is impossible.
- You put in a lot of work to find an answer, but couldn't nail it. It might help the asker and other people trying to answer if you explained what you looked at, and that you came up empty. Esp if you got some partial answers but not the whole thing.
- Giving feedback on the question. For example "if you clarify X & Y I'm sure people will be able to help you" or "this is a lot of work, and it probably needs a bigger tip to get people to put in the effort".
Mostly though there's no good reason to answer at all unless you actually have a good answer to give!
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I have always been taught that a person leads by example.
Both the asker and answerer should ponder on this.
Mahalo gives plenty of space for an asker to fully express their question, that is providing they take the time to think their question worthy of asking in the first place.If they are honest with themself and really are interested in obtaining quality answers to a question that they wish to post, then they should take the time to express that question so that it is clear and percise.
This also holds true for the answerer.If a person is being honest with themself and truely wishes to answer a question because its either something that they know or it is something that they wish to research in order to further enlighten theirself, then any reward for answering that question should not be concidered as criteria for answering.
The satisfaction of doing the best that you can do should in itself be reward enough.
Any additional reward should be concidered icing on the answer.
Personally when I take on the responsibility of answering a question, or for that matter asking a question, the first thing I ask myself is, "Can I come back a year from now and be proud of what I have contributed".
If a question is not worthy of an answer then in my opinion it should not be answered at all, allow it to just drop off the edge of Mahalo within a reasonable amount of time.
If a question isn't worthy of being asked, then don't ask it.
We do have the power as individuals to lead by example, I suggest that is what we all should concider doing.
http://images.teamsugar.com/files/users/1/15259/39_2007/question.jpg
Source(s):
personal opinion
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1. The asker is notified when it's time to vote on his question, which allows time to look over the answers and if there is no best answer, vote it as no best answer and decide if the question should be re-asked. Or, let it go to the crowd and re-ask it. Perhaps the question is no longer timely or can be rephrased. While this situation is troublesome, it is not nearly so aggravating as the next...
2. It seems that many of our answers have been influenced by other question and answer sites on the internet, where two sentences stating your opinion and maybe giving a reason is considered a good answer. People need to read How mahalo answers work and How to get a best answer, and then they need to start researching and sourcing their answers. We can make Mahalo a much better place if we will put forth the effort. We need to quit adding three or more answers without any of them having a source, and we need to quit voting those as Best Answer.
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If, upon submission, I see that others have provided answers too... well... frankly I generally don't read them... I just move on see what someone else is asking about, to see if there's something else I might feel like I have an answer to.
But this attitude might have something to do with how I use the site.
For me, this is coffee-break time to give my head a chance to take a break and think about something else if I'm getting too drawn-out with something else, and it's mostly a sort of personal-puzzle time to see what I might know or can remember or might have a valid opinion on, and the issue of whether or not the answer is "best" is something I leave up to others to decide.
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1. The point system encourages “quick answering”:
Answer a question within one hour of when the question was asked: 4 points
Answer a question: 2 points
Some may do that to gain the easy 4 points.
Some may put an answer early, then try to find an answer and edit within time limit. But may exceed the time limit and not be able to do so.
2. For doubts on question, no way to “comment” on question without “answering”, especially if there isn’t any answer yet
Sometimes question is not clear.
I suggest 4W1H on question as much as possible.
Many times question doesn’t state where but it’s safe to assume “US”. But as more non-US users on board, it may not be a good assumption.
3. Some question is on opinion. Everybody is entitled to opinion and no right or wrong answer.
Asker is looking for opinion of the community, not for an answer.
**********************************************
“why you should not answer a question you don't know the answer to”
1. lower Mahalo Answer quality
2. waste peoples time reading, makes people want to leave
3. spreading wrong info, losing credibility
all these give a bad name to Mahalo and may affect traffic/earnings to your page eventually.
*************************************************
“When it might be appropriate to you answer a question you don't know the answer to?”
1. able to provide quality answer partially
Sometimes a partial quality answer is better than none, especially true for difficult question or question with many parts.
2. seeking clarification on question without other means available
current system cannot comment on question.
No other means especially when no other answer you can comment on.
******************************************************
Changes to system to consider but each has its own pro-and-cons too:
1.able to comment to question
2. character min limit
3. point system to discourage or at least not encourage quick answering
4. number of answers for question to be pushed to undecided voting
5. expiry of unanswered question
6. system to housekeep old unanswered question for e.g. delete old question after expiry, alert asker of the deletion, ask asker to ask again if he wishes.
Tags: mahalo, answers
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M$2.90
September 21, 2009 08:07 PM
To answer: or not to answer: that is the question:
One of the most common pet peeves on Mahalo Answers is when users are the first to answer a question and they don't actually provide an answer. I personally don't like this because after a question receives 1 answer it can be pushed to undecided voting and if the 1 answerer doesn't actually answer the question it leaves the Asker with no answer.
Let's discuss other reasons why you should not answer a question you don't know the answer to? and...
When it might be appropriate to you answer a question you don't know the answer to?
Let's discuss other reasons why you should not answer a question you don't know the answer to? and...
When it might be appropriate to you answer a question you don't know the answer to?
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Interesting: michelleldevon M$0.05, doubleminaz M$0.05, shadowbear M$0.25, keepontryin M$0.05, spoon M$0.25, jasoncalacanis M$0.25
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Best Answer Decided by Votes
| September 22, 2009 08:54 AM |
* You personally have some familiarity with the subject of inquiry
* You can either fully answer the question or at least significantly help inquirer
I see too many answers that look like somebody spend 10 seconds Googling for an answer and either copy/pasted or slightly reworded answers from the first source that popped up. For example, "does anyone know a good recipe for XXX" often gets random copy/paste results from the web instead of something that has actually been prepared or eaten by the person responding. How can they offer it as a "good" recipe if they've never tried it?
If the inquirer had sufficient access to the internet to ask a question via Mahalo or twitter, they could probably have done quick Google search and grabbed the first random result without help. I assume that if people ask something here they are hoping for a bit of personal experience or insight and not just rapid regurgitation.
The exceptions I would make to the above are:
*simple objective questions seeking verifiable facts, such as names, dates, places, etc.
*if the answerer finds an unfamiliar question intriguing enough to actually do some significant research and gain a personal opinion on the matter before providing the answer
I especially hate it when I see an irrelevant answers and quickly vote them as “Unhelpful” or “No Best Answer”.
Example: "What time zone is England in?"
Bad Response: "I don't know, but England is a great country with good beer and here's a link where you can buy a watch that supports multiple time zones".
Example: "Has anyone seen TV Show X?"
Bad Response: "No, I have never seen TV Show X."
To me, these types of answers insult the inquirer and Mahalo readers because they clearly aren't helping and likely just want some attention or are hoping for a shot at a carelessly voted "Best Answer". In both of these cases the question is being answered without conveying any helpful information.
It might be appropriate to answer a question that you don't know the answer to if the question is clearly lacking vital information.
Example: Which is the best shoe to buy?
Although I personally would ignore this question, it doesn't seem amiss to answer it with a request for more information, as the question could be about anything from brake shoes to horse shoes to running shoes.
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Voted as best: buddawiggi, psionandy
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Other Answers (12)
September 21, 2009 08:15 PM
Well I think an answerer should make an effort. If I find a question intresting enough to answer it, but I don't know the answer I enjoy doing the footwork to research a question. I think it is OK to say, "I did a little looking around and found sites that answer your question 'here' and 'here'."
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September 21, 2009 08:32 PM
Well, if I look at http://www.mahalo.com/answers?sortby=sort unanswered&filter=open unanswered questions, I see many questions that I don't think will ever get an answer. There are over 500 pages of those, and I see the list increasing, not decreasing. Unless Mahalo introduces a 'time-out' for questions to remain unanswered, SOMEONE has to answer it, especially as there are only a few ways we can sort questions.
So, for these old questions, ANY answer is probably better than no answer, even though I think just letting them fade away would be even better. (This especially counts for Twittersearched questions, where the asker often doesn't even want an answer anyway!)
That said, an answerer should always make an effort to answer, even if (s)he doesn't have a full answer.
I think your question is wrong to start with. The REAL question is, what is the proper way to get rid of backlog in unanswered questions?
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Voted as best: ematlosz
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jeffhoard
September 21, 2009 09:08 PM
There was a period last spring when TwitterSearch was very unregulated and quantity was pushed, we literally had people working around the clock simply importing questions. The strategy was later scrapped but it did leave us with a lot of unanswered questions, some of them rhetorical and many of them timely which are pointless to have in the system now. I've spent some time going through the month of May and removing those, so that month, for the most part should only have actual answerable questions. If you see any that don't belong on Mahalo click the "report" button and I will be more then willing to vanish them from the system.
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September 21, 2009 09:08 PM
I agree with you on the time out for old questions, but you're wrong about what the 'real' question should be... he asked a good question, two actually, and neither of them have anything to do with the old questions that have no answers.
I also agree with the issue about not being able to sort questions well enough to find questions we might know the answers to instead of having to go through hundreds of pages of questions that might mean absolutely nothing to us.
However, neither of those things requires SOMEONE has to answer it. I would prefer no answer at all to an answer that doesn't answer the question asked.
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I also agree with the issue about not being able to sort questions well enough to find questions we might know the answers to instead of having to go through hundreds of pages of questions that might mean absolutely nothing to us.
However, neither of those things requires SOMEONE has to answer it. I would prefer no answer at all to an answer that doesn't answer the question asked.
September 21, 2009 10:58 PM
Hey @michelledevon one option would be clicking on categories you are familiar with, this way, you can view available questions filtered under categories you enjoy.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33749589@N07/3725714382/
If that fails you can use the TwitterSearch option to import questions you can answer.
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If that fails you can use the TwitterSearch option to import questions you can answer.
September 22, 2009 03:07 AM
- New Source
Unanswered questions past a certain point that have no answer should time out and be purged with a note sent to the asker to "Try asking your question again and provide more information!".
Questions with answers that haven't been voted on should automatically result in "No Best Answer" and be closed.
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Questions with answers that haven't been voted on should automatically result in "No Best Answer" and be closed.
September 22, 2009 04:29 AM
Agreed, I realize I didn't fully answer the question. I got on a train of thought, and answered in that thought.
As for answering recent questions: Answers like 'I don't know' or 'first' are of course horrible, and should be voted 'unhelpful' and possibly should get a warning from staff. People who answer in that fashion are usually new here anyway.
Community pressure is pretty high here anyway, and those 'bogus' answerers get replies out of the community quickly.
It's more difficult with questions that are unclear/incomplete. There is no option to ask for elaboration apart from either a DM, or through the 'answer' field. Problem is, Staff have used the Q&A method to communicate before, and I realize I've gotten used to see Q&A as a 'message board', instead of purely Q&A myself.
So, if a question is unclear, I'll 'answer' with 'What are you talking about, would you like to elaborate?' This triggers the questionner (he gets a mail about a new 'answer', and if (s)he posts a reply, ('comment'), I get a message about that too. I can then return to my previous 'answer', and (hopefully) elaborate. I don't see much wrong in that.
As far as I'm concerned, if a genuine effort is made to answer the question at hand, I'm fine with that. It might not be a 'best answer', but it could still add up to providing an answer to the question. It could inspire other Mahaloians to look at the question (if they are following 'Spy'), and with that lead to a complete answer. That's community spirit, right?
So, I see a lot of reasons to answer a question, and a few not to. Still, most questions I don't answer. Simply because they still land in that second category (questions I know absolutely nothing about..)
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As for answering recent questions: Answers like 'I don't know' or 'first' are of course horrible, and should be voted 'unhelpful' and possibly should get a warning from staff. People who answer in that fashion are usually new here anyway.
Community pressure is pretty high here anyway, and those 'bogus' answerers get replies out of the community quickly.
It's more difficult with questions that are unclear/incomplete. There is no option to ask for elaboration apart from either a DM, or through the 'answer' field. Problem is, Staff have used the Q&A method to communicate before, and I realize I've gotten used to see Q&A as a 'message board', instead of purely Q&A myself.
So, if a question is unclear, I'll 'answer' with 'What are you talking about, would you like to elaborate?' This triggers the questionner (he gets a mail about a new 'answer', and if (s)he posts a reply, ('comment'), I get a message about that too. I can then return to my previous 'answer', and (hopefully) elaborate. I don't see much wrong in that.
As far as I'm concerned, if a genuine effort is made to answer the question at hand, I'm fine with that. It might not be a 'best answer', but it could still add up to providing an answer to the question. It could inspire other Mahaloians to look at the question (if they are following 'Spy'), and with that lead to a complete answer. That's community spirit, right?
So, I see a lot of reasons to answer a question, and a few not to. Still, most questions I don't answer. Simply because they still land in that second category (questions I know absolutely nothing about..)
September 21, 2009 08:39 PM
When people make a comment rather than an answer to a question I think it's a clear attempt to gain cheap points. You see it all the time in Yahoo Answers. People will say things like "that was a dumb question" or "I don't know". Clearly they want the points. Not that there is anything to gain from the points but rather the competitive nature of having more points than the others. I think another reason for this is that people like to be first. Being the first to answer a question is like placing first in a race. Some people will even write the word 'first' and follow up with absolutely nothing else. What they gain by doing this is far beyond me unless their goal is to annoy.
I am on board with you Jeff. This is a very annoying issue but one that will probably never go away, unfortunately.
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Helpful: ssmacd, fallen_angel21, bunnyphuphu, buttonpusher, jasoncalacanis
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September 21, 2009 08:55 PM
I think you're right about the being first thing too - because they think that will drive more traffic back to their profile page and perhaps their managed pages or something.
But I've noticed that when the votes get tallied, the answers change position, don't they?
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But I've noticed that when the votes get tallied, the answers change position, don't they?
September 21, 2009 08:58 PM
You're right... it's not really good having those folks who just answers for points. Mahalo's suppose to provide great answers and not senseless answers. I hope others would do their work well and if they need to research, then they must research.
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September 21, 2009 09:00 PM
I wonder if setting a minimum word/character requirement for comments would stop some of that stuff?
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September 22, 2009 04:34 AM
A minimum word count wouldn't help. That would have them change
"I don't know" to
"I don't know the answer to that question, maybe someone else will be able to answer it for you. I hope you will get an answer soon".
They can copy/paste that easily.
Also, it would make a Perfectly good answer to
Q: "Is James Brown still alive?"
A: No.
Source: "http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6208615.stm"
Short, no Best Answer, but correctly answered.
The only way to stop that is peer pressure. Vote an answer like that 'unhelpful'. If that happens often enough, I am sure staff will step in.
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"I don't know" to
"I don't know the answer to that question, maybe someone else will be able to answer it for you. I hope you will get an answer soon".
They can copy/paste that easily.
Also, it would make a Perfectly good answer to
Q: "Is James Brown still alive?"
A: No.
Source: "http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6208615.stm"
Short, no Best Answer, but correctly answered.
The only way to stop that is peer pressure. Vote an answer like that 'unhelpful'. If that happens often enough, I am sure staff will step in.
September 23, 2009 06:10 PM
Jeff: I have to agree with this. If we see someone doing this we should give them a warning and if they do it a second time they should have their account suspended.
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September 24, 2009 09:47 PM
We have been doing that pretty much since day one, if you ever see it, it will always bee a White or at the most a Yellow belt user, we never let them get too far with these unhelpful answers
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September 21, 2009 08:40 PM
Often the question does not provide enough information to give a correct answer. I was wondering whether or not to ask a question as a first response to get that additional information, but then I am hesitant, since it is not really an answer. On the other hand, the strategy I now take is to say that the question does not have enough information for me to answer, but I make some reasonable assumptions and state those and then continue with my answer. For example, I took this path when answering the first question you see in my sources. Or if I misinterpret a question, and get a clarifying response, then I will expand my answer in the comment section. I did this in my second response in the source section. I also asked a question on whether the comment section is included in the "Best Answer" and the apparent answer is yes, but I have not checked this out fully.
Source(s):
http://www.mahalo.com/answers/conservation/how-much-energy-does-it-take-to-...
http://www.mahalo.com/answers/meditation/what-is-the-physiological-effect-o...
http://www.mahalo.com/answers/mahalo-answers-community/i-answered-a-questio...
Tags: answer, question, information, when, insufficient
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Helpful: krysstel
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September 21, 2009 09:33 PM
Being able to comment on a question for clarification has been brought up before. I think that feature would be very helpful.
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September 21, 2009 08:53 PM
I think part of it is that people are rushing to get answers in to get points for the bonus points eligible for new questions. They don't want to research it first, because that might take too long to get the bonus points. I think offering additional incentive for answering 'quickly' doesn't do anything but cause some people to rush to get an answer in to get the extra points whether or not they know the answer. I think it's acceptable to respond when you don't know the answer if the answer is unclear and you need clarification on the question.
I also think it's okay to answer to give additional information that you do know about something very closely related, even if it's not the exact question being asked, as long as it's over value.
what I'm disliking is seeing one I saw the other day - the entire answer was:
IDK
That's just... asinine. Clearly only for the points.
ETA: Do you think though it's possible some people go to the old questions and put in just any answer, hoping that the system will default them to the 'best answer' chosen by votes, JUST so they can get the money?
think about it - if you go to a ton of old questions, answer them, no one else answers at all, these people are going to get a quarter to 35 cents or so for questions they really didn't answer. That could add up pretty fast.
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September 21, 2009 10:59 PM
yes, naturally we don't want users to think they can get away with just throwing up any answer and getting the tip for it, which is why we encourage users to vote "no best answer" where it applies. I brought this up recently and there was a fairly good discussion about it.
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September 21, 2009 09:05 PM
I had an interaction the other day which led to an idea that may be worthwhile. I read three good answers. I wanted to thank the three who provided them, and thought that it was inefficient to "reply" to each of them. Being a newbie here, I didn't see any other good option other than to "answer this question". I was (civilly) chastised, I explained my thought process and suggested that maybe there should be a "reply" button to the question, separate from the "answer" button. At least one other answerer thought that might be a worthwhile addition. What say you?
Source(s):
personal experience
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September 21, 2009 09:12 PM
There is a reply button though. You can answer the main question with the 'answer' button, and then on each person's response, there is a 'reply' button that responds specifically to that person, and indents the response under their answer.
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September 21, 2009 10:08 PM
Thanks, Michelle. I wanted to make a general comment to all of the answerers, so I didn't want to pick/choose. Maybe not many others try to do that, but sometimes it might be nice to be able to comment on the question without having to "answer" it.
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September 21, 2009 10:33 PM
If you can't say anything to help the asker or other people interested in the question then you shouldn't answer. There might be a few occasions when it might be helpful to reply even though you don't have what might be considered an actual answer. Such things as...
- The question is posed in such a way that there is no answer. It's probably fair enough to reply and explain why what they want is impossible.
- You put in a lot of work to find an answer, but couldn't nail it. It might help the asker and other people trying to answer if you explained what you looked at, and that you came up empty. Esp if you got some partial answers but not the whole thing.
- Giving feedback on the question. For example "if you clarify X & Y I'm sure people will be able to help you" or "this is a lot of work, and it probably needs a bigger tip to get people to put in the effort".
Mostly though there's no good reason to answer at all unless you actually have a good answer to give!
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September 22, 2009 07:26 PM
"If you can't say anything to help the asker or other people interested in the question then you shouldn't answer"
There will always be newbies looking for points and there will always be this situation until "commenting on the feature" and some other mechanism to prevent this.
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There will always be newbies looking for points and there will always be this situation until "commenting on the feature" and some other mechanism to prevent this.
September 21, 2009 10:34 PM
My answer to this question may be simplistic but I do believe it has merit. I have always been taught that a person leads by example.
Both the asker and answerer should ponder on this.
Mahalo gives plenty of space for an asker to fully express their question, that is providing they take the time to think their question worthy of asking in the first place.If they are honest with themself and really are interested in obtaining quality answers to a question that they wish to post, then they should take the time to express that question so that it is clear and percise.
This also holds true for the answerer.If a person is being honest with themself and truely wishes to answer a question because its either something that they know or it is something that they wish to research in order to further enlighten theirself, then any reward for answering that question should not be concidered as criteria for answering.
The satisfaction of doing the best that you can do should in itself be reward enough.
Any additional reward should be concidered icing on the answer.
Personally when I take on the responsibility of answering a question, or for that matter asking a question, the first thing I ask myself is, "Can I come back a year from now and be proud of what I have contributed".
If a question is not worthy of an answer then in my opinion it should not be answered at all, allow it to just drop off the edge of Mahalo within a reasonable amount of time.
If a question isn't worthy of being asked, then don't ask it.
We do have the power as individuals to lead by example, I suggest that is what we all should concider doing.
Source(s):
personal opinion
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September 21, 2009 11:06 PM
I guess I will put in my .05 cents worth (I tipped the question .05). Giving one bad answer does indeed cause problems when the question gets bumped to the undecided que with no possibility of a subsequent good answer being added, but is it really any better than if there were three poor answers attached? I'd rather get one good answer than 13 poor ones. I have two thoughts on this. 1. The asker is notified when it's time to vote on his question, which allows time to look over the answers and if there is no best answer, vote it as no best answer and decide if the question should be re-asked. Or, let it go to the crowd and re-ask it. Perhaps the question is no longer timely or can be rephrased. While this situation is troublesome, it is not nearly so aggravating as the next...
2. It seems that many of our answers have been influenced by other question and answer sites on the internet, where two sentences stating your opinion and maybe giving a reason is considered a good answer. People need to read How mahalo answers work and How to get a best answer, and then they need to start researching and sourcing their answers. We can make Mahalo a much better place if we will put forth the effort. We need to quit adding three or more answers without any of them having a source, and we need to quit voting those as Best Answer.
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September 22, 2009 03:41 AM
1. There already is a notification to Askers that is sent out when questions are close to expiring.
2. Those are two great sources of information, the more those links are shared with new users, the better Mahalo Answers will get.
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2. Those are two great sources of information, the more those links are shared with new users, the better Mahalo Answers will get.
September 21, 2009 11:13 PM
Hmm... I tend to answer questions I think I know a valid answer to without noticing if anyone else has already answered it, by clicking on the Answer button in the lower right hand corner, although I suppose if I'd read more carefully I'd see that little number saying how many answeres had been posted to the question already. If, upon submission, I see that others have provided answers too... well... frankly I generally don't read them... I just move on see what someone else is asking about, to see if there's something else I might feel like I have an answer to.
But this attitude might have something to do with how I use the site.
For me, this is coffee-break time to give my head a chance to take a break and think about something else if I'm getting too drawn-out with something else, and it's mostly a sort of personal-puzzle time to see what I might know or can remember or might have a valid opinion on, and the issue of whether or not the answer is "best" is something I leave up to others to decide.
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September 22, 2009 03:44 AM
Possible reasons why peoples answer a question they don’t know the answer to: 1. The point system encourages “quick answering”:
Answer a question within one hour of when the question was asked: 4 points
Answer a question: 2 points
Some may do that to gain the easy 4 points.
Some may put an answer early, then try to find an answer and edit within time limit. But may exceed the time limit and not be able to do so.
2. For doubts on question, no way to “comment” on question without “answering”, especially if there isn’t any answer yet
Sometimes question is not clear.
I suggest 4W1H on question as much as possible.
Many times question doesn’t state where but it’s safe to assume “US”. But as more non-US users on board, it may not be a good assumption.
3. Some question is on opinion. Everybody is entitled to opinion and no right or wrong answer.
Asker is looking for opinion of the community, not for an answer.
**********************************************
“why you should not answer a question you don't know the answer to”
1. lower Mahalo Answer quality
2. waste peoples time reading, makes people want to leave
3. spreading wrong info, losing credibility
all these give a bad name to Mahalo and may affect traffic/earnings to your page eventually.
*************************************************
“When it might be appropriate to you answer a question you don't know the answer to?”
1. able to provide quality answer partially
Sometimes a partial quality answer is better than none, especially true for difficult question or question with many parts.
2. seeking clarification on question without other means available
current system cannot comment on question.
No other means especially when no other answer you can comment on.
******************************************************
Changes to system to consider but each has its own pro-and-cons too:
1.able to comment to question
2. character min limit
3. point system to discourage or at least not encourage quick answering
4. number of answers for question to be pushed to undecided voting
5. expiry of unanswered question
6. system to housekeep old unanswered question for e.g. delete old question after expiry, alert asker of the deletion, ask asker to ask again if he wishes.
Tags: mahalo, answers
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Helpful: jeffhoard, bunnyphuphu, spoon, stanar
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September 22, 2009 07:22 PM
We have been asking for this feature and you nailed it:
2. For doubts on question, no way to “comment” on question without “answering”, especially if there isn’t any answer yet
Sometimes question is not clear.
I suggest 4W1H on question as much as possible.
Many times question doesn’t state where but it’s safe to assume “US”. But as more non-US users on board, it may not be a good assumption.
Report
2. For doubts on question, no way to “comment” on question without “answering”, especially if there isn’t any answer yet
Sometimes question is not clear.
I suggest 4W1H on question as much as possible.
Many times question doesn’t state where but it’s safe to assume “US”. But as more non-US users on board, it may not be a good assumption.
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