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How to get the best answer on Mahalo? (now a Mahalo page)
Recently I've been working on a series of helpful pages, specifically for Mahalo Answers. Not too long ago we had a great discussion about what makes a "Best Answer" on Mahalo, I thought i would take those ideas and build a helpful How-to.
Now street team, whenever you see a user struggling on Mahalo Answers, I recommend commenting on their answer sending them a link to this How-To, simply inlink the word ''Best Answer'' and they will have access to this page.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33749589@N07/3725573998/
Discuss amongst yourselves and let me know if there is anything else that needs to be added.
Now street team, whenever you see a user struggling on Mahalo Answers, I recommend commenting on their answer sending them a link to this How-To, simply inlink the word ''Best Answer'' and they will have access to this page.
Discuss amongst yourselves and let me know if there is anything else that needs to be added.
tags:
bestanswers
,
mahalo
voted interesting: nyssa, dannyjohnson, kalane, buddawiggi, bunnyphuphu, spoon, irishstephen1974, sysaaron, sunshine09, darknessfalls, christhomson, krysstel, badaspie
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This is my first day as a member in mahalo. To obtain best result in any situation is first creating the right atmosphere to stimulate and motivate the expected producer of the said answer. any person who is motivated correctly would certainly deliver the best results, with more thorough and accurate research. Motivation can come in many forms,
- If the question truly interest the researcher,
- If the question has also some importance to the researcher,
- If the researcher is properly compensated for doing a good work,
- If the question is clear, understandable, and precise.
- If the question is challenging.
Some possible scenario that could create motivation; therefore could produce best answer. A motivated researcher.
- If the question truly interest the researcher,
- If the question has also some importance to the researcher,
- If the researcher is properly compensated for doing a good work,
- If the question is clear, understandable, and precise.
- If the question is challenging.
Some possible scenario that could create motivation; therefore could produce best answer. A motivated researcher.
source(s):
My personal experience as a researcher,,,,,,,,,,,
My personal experience as a researcher,,,,,,,,,,,
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Thanks for the feedback, welcome to Mahalo
voted helpful: darknessfalls, jeffhoard, badaspie, derosajohanna
Welcome to Mahalo!
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Awesome. I never actually considered the usefulness of movies (unless someone specifically asked a question that required them). I will definitely work at throwing those into my answers from now on. Definitely a very helpful page, thanks for posting it! :-)
voted helpful: jeffhoard
Some good information you have compiled here. I have answered just shy of 200 questions and have not not once thought to use the category tabs to find questions I might be interested in. I have always stuck with whatever was on the front page, but now I know.
Only suggestion I can think to add to the page would be a reminder about not using protected images and perhaps a reminder about how to use double brackets for internal links.
This is off topic & probably not the right place to ask, .... yet it might help those interested in improving their answers too, ... but could we get a big clock on the front page with a count down until the next Mahalo training session. I keep forgetting about them and could use some sort of reminder that those are going on.
Only suggestion I can think to add to the page would be a reminder about not using protected images and perhaps a reminder about how to use double brackets for internal links.
This is off topic & probably not the right place to ask, .... yet it might help those interested in improving their answers too, ... but could we get a big clock on the front page with a count down until the next Mahalo training session. I keep forgetting about them and could use some sort of reminder that those are going on.
voted helpful: soundboy, dannyjohnson, derosajohanna
That would be a great idea, especially for those of us (like me) not familiar with US timezones.
Great suggestions krush, I'll add those ideas
I'd like the clock thing too-- I can never remember when have only caught one session this far..
Actually I was hoping to ask opinions from the staff of how to answer a question with the best explanation. But I think I get everything from this page. Thanks for saving my time Jeff :)
Some tips I would suggest for getting a best answer include:
Answer questions that are unanswered or have few answers already. You have a much higher chance of being selected best answer on these compared to questions that already have a lot of answers.
Put a lot of effort onto your answers. It will pay off especially when people are voting. An answer that is well written and lengthy looks better than a 1 sentence answer, even if they state the same thing.
Make sure to read the question carefully and answer all parts of the question.
Links are good, but make sure to summarize exactly what the link will contain. For twitter questions, it is better to summarize in text as opposed to providing a link.
Be friendly, funny, and make it personal. Provide real life examples and try to relate to the person who asked the question. Show that you care and that you truly want to help.
Answer questions that are unanswered or have few answers already. You have a much higher chance of being selected best answer on these compared to questions that already have a lot of answers.
Put a lot of effort onto your answers. It will pay off especially when people are voting. An answer that is well written and lengthy looks better than a 1 sentence answer, even if they state the same thing.
Make sure to read the question carefully and answer all parts of the question.
Links are good, but make sure to summarize exactly what the link will contain. For twitter questions, it is better to summarize in text as opposed to providing a link.
Be friendly, funny, and make it personal. Provide real life examples and try to relate to the person who asked the question. Show that you care and that you truly want to help.
voted helpful: derosajohanna
Nice page.
I think it would be useful to show how what makes a Best Answer can vary with the type of question. The page does lean heavily towards one type of question, which is not even perhaps the most common type we see here.
Case in point. my answer to the "What makes a Best Answer?" question! It has no references, no media etc.
Maybe some of those things could be wrapped up under the heading "Understand what the asker wants". For example I often ask questions that are asking for answers from personal experience not from research. For example, my recent one about the value of social bookmarking. The reason why I ask questions like that is I probably already know what the supposed theoretical benefits of the thing are, but I want to hear how that panned out in practice. Maybe I want to compare other people's experiences to mine, and see if I'm missing a trick, or check if maybe something is over-hyped.
Overall, it's great to see these pages building up about "the Mahalo way" - if we can call it that!
I think it would be useful to show how what makes a Best Answer can vary with the type of question. The page does lean heavily towards one type of question, which is not even perhaps the most common type we see here.
Case in point. my answer to the "What makes a Best Answer?" question! It has no references, no media etc.
Maybe some of those things could be wrapped up under the heading "Understand what the asker wants". For example I often ask questions that are asking for answers from personal experience not from research. For example, my recent one about the value of social bookmarking. The reason why I ask questions like that is I probably already know what the supposed theoretical benefits of the thing are, but I want to hear how that panned out in practice. Maybe I want to compare other people's experiences to mine, and see if I'm missing a trick, or check if maybe something is over-hyped.
Overall, it's great to see these pages building up about "the Mahalo way" - if we can call it that!
voted helpful: derosajohanna
I am completely with you on this! Due to a bad habit I have of sometimes scanning webpages too quickly, I only recently noticed the actual page for Answers Etiquette. Now that i've looked at it properly, I've discovered that a couple of my answers were basically "no-nos", because I did not cite any webpages, or show a whole entire researched picture of the topic. They were situations where I only had time to very briefly gave my experience of my answer to the particular question. (They were questions where this wouldn't be so inappropriate - like a yes or no question about something in ordinary everyday life.) The questions did not specifically say "what is your opinion", but... well, there are millions of questions that I won't answer now, even if I know something useful about them and want to help or inform the person, Sometimes I know a couple of helpful things for a question with no answers, but I really don't have the time or inclination to go webhunting and create a work of art.
I can't help thinking that, although the things that are being looked for for a "Best Answer" are very important for a lot of questions, there are a lot of other questions where people are basically using a lot of time and energy finding webpages, media etc when it isn't wanted? Like for the type of question philipy is talking about here, it is really not necessary and is not what the asker is looking for?.....
I wonder if in a future generation of Mahalo there could be an option so that, when you ask a question, you can specify whether you want or need webpages cited, media etc etc or not? Or maybe at times you could specify whether in your answers, you're looking for quality (eg someone basically goes and researches the whole topic for you) or quantity (eg you're happy to get a large numbers of short, unsourced answers)....?
There's nothing more annoying than using time and energy to do something that in the end is really not necessary....
Although I do understand that by having a basic policy of no short unsourced answers, you will probably end up with much better looking webpages. (That is if anyone can summon the willpower to do magnum opus answers for that particular question, and you don't end up with nothing at all...) Also, it's true that by not having many of this type of short, unsourced answers around Mahalo, I guess it makes it clearer to new people that they are generally not the kind of answers that Mahalo wants to be full of.
I can't help thinking that, although the things that are being looked for for a "Best Answer" are very important for a lot of questions, there are a lot of other questions where people are basically using a lot of time and energy finding webpages, media etc when it isn't wanted? Like for the type of question philipy is talking about here, it is really not necessary and is not what the asker is looking for?.....
I wonder if in a future generation of Mahalo there could be an option so that, when you ask a question, you can specify whether you want or need webpages cited, media etc etc or not? Or maybe at times you could specify whether in your answers, you're looking for quality (eg someone basically goes and researches the whole topic for you) or quantity (eg you're happy to get a large numbers of short, unsourced answers)....?
There's nothing more annoying than using time and energy to do something that in the end is really not necessary....
Although I do understand that by having a basic policy of no short unsourced answers, you will probably end up with much better looking webpages. (That is if anyone can summon the willpower to do magnum opus answers for that particular question, and you don't end up with nothing at all...) Also, it's true that by not having many of this type of short, unsourced answers around Mahalo, I guess it makes it clearer to new people that they are generally not the kind of answers that Mahalo wants to be full of.
This is great information, thanks! I wanted to add something in, not sure if this is the appropriate place, but I've noticed on questions coming from twitter, that some people answer with very long responses. I think because of the nature of twitter I think we should really endeavor to make the responses fit in the character allotment. Many twitter users access their twitter accounts via mobile and some of them cannot open links on their phones. therefore in reality, they may not be getting an answer to their question that is comprehensible in the format they are viewing it in.
just a thought!
just a thought!
source(s):
avid twitter user
avid twitter user
With twitter questions it is suggested to try to answer within the first 90 characters, because that's what the Twitterer will see, BUT we provide a link to the answer so anything after 90 characters is not a lost cause.
I recommend you get the answer out within the first 90 characters but continue on adding the resources you need to win best answer on Mahalo.
This is what our Twitter responses look like...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33749589@N07/3726608683/
I recommend you get the answer out within the first 90 characters but continue on adding the resources you need to win best answer on Mahalo.
This is what our Twitter responses look like...
I am fairly new to the site and I love it !! I have had several best answers so far. I make sure that I have some kind of knowledge or interest in the question and I always do a search on whatever subject I am answering. If at all possible I add at least two links in my answers as well. As soon as I figure out how to add a photo, those will be included too.
source(s):
personal experience
personal experience
I'm not so sure about the bit about images, you say "embedding media, such as audio or video into your answer not only makes your response more aesthetically pleasing, but can also provide additional information," which usually isn't the case. For example in the picture you provide in that section a picture of a clock doesn't add anything to the answer other then making it more aesthetically pleasing (which shouldn't be a criteria for best answer), people should be encouraged to add pictures or video only when it adds information to the answer (like a diagram of a skeleton in a question about anatomy) and not just for fun.
voted helpful: derosajohanna
Just from experience though, if you and I answered a question the exact same same way with the exact same information, and I threw in a picture, it would get the votes almost 90% of the time.
But you are right the more appropriate the image the better.
But you are right the more appropriate the image the better.
Again I agree thoroughly....
I think adding images just for the sake of adding images (when they are not necessary or useful in answering the question ) is a bit of a silly thing to encourage, and a bit of a silly thing to cause one answer to be voted on over another, everything else being equal.......
However, yes I SPOSE we must keep in mind the need to attract visitors by providing pictures to look at... :)
I think adding images just for the sake of adding images (when they are not necessary or useful in answering the question ) is a bit of a silly thing to encourage, and a bit of a silly thing to cause one answer to be voted on over another, everything else being equal.......
However, yes I SPOSE we must keep in mind the need to attract visitors by providing pictures to look at... :)
This looks like a very informative page! I believe you should add tips on being careful not to offend people when answering questions on some certain topics. That way they won't end upsetting the wrong person and getting their entire profile wiped out!
Respectfully,
Darron
Respectfully,
Darron
It depends on the question (and the first thing to do is make sure you understand the focus of the question, then direct your answer to that point). If the asker wants personal experience or opinion, research and references will be less important than if facts are needed. However, appropriate references can't hurt and are often essential. Conversely, personal experience can sometimes be a useful part of an answer to a more objective question.
Direct questions asking for simple facts deserve direct answers with credible sources. Some background information may be helpful, but a cut-and-paste of the first few paragraphs of a Wikipedia article may be completely irrelevant if the asker wants detailed information about a particular subtopic.
Sometimes a more thorough answer is needed, possibly including multiple sources, and some of these sources may contradict each other. If possible, check the dates on the sources; there's a lot of obsolete data out there. If reliable and up-to-date sources give varying answers, the best thing to do is mention this in your answer and link to the different sources. If the discrepancy is significant, an explanation would be helpful.
It's almost always better to answer in your own words than to cut and paste, even if the essential facts are the same (worst of all is simply providing a link or two with no explanation). If possible, describe any connections between the facts you've presented rather than leaving the facts as isolated chunks of data. Images and videos can be very useful in illustrating your answer and can make a good answer better, but they can't make a poor answer into a good one by themselves.
Direct questions asking for simple facts deserve direct answers with credible sources. Some background information may be helpful, but a cut-and-paste of the first few paragraphs of a Wikipedia article may be completely irrelevant if the asker wants detailed information about a particular subtopic.
Sometimes a more thorough answer is needed, possibly including multiple sources, and some of these sources may contradict each other. If possible, check the dates on the sources; there's a lot of obsolete data out there. If reliable and up-to-date sources give varying answers, the best thing to do is mention this in your answer and link to the different sources. If the discrepancy is significant, an explanation would be helpful.
It's almost always better to answer in your own words than to cut and paste, even if the essential facts are the same (worst of all is simply providing a link or two with no explanation). If possible, describe any connections between the facts you've presented rather than leaving the facts as isolated chunks of data. Images and videos can be very useful in illustrating your answer and can make a good answer better, but they can't make a poor answer into a good one by themselves.
source(s):
personal experience on Mahalo
personal experience on Mahalo
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