New Answers Features

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   Ari Lamsteinposted 13 years ago

   We recently added two new features to the Answers section that we hope will improve your experience.
   
   The first new feature is a Recommended tab.  Many users have given us feedback that it is hard to find new Questions in topics that they are interested in.  The Recommended tab is designed for just that situation.  It will show you questions asked in the last 24 hours that are in topics that you follow, have written Hubs in, or have asked and answered question in.  Please take a look at this feature and let us know what you think!
   
   The second new feature is a redesign of the unanswered tab.  When someone asks a question on HubPages, we try to give them an answer as quickly as possible.  However, that isn't always possible.  The Unanswered section now focuses on questions that were asked at least 8 hours ago.  Hopefully this will help us to maximize the number of questions that get answered within a day of them being asked.  If you have a momenet and feel like helping a fellow Hubber, please check out that section!

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      LillyGrillzitposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you HubPages for all of the "extra little things" and big things you do to provide tools to aspiring and serious writers! :0)
      
      
      

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      hillriderposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I enjoy scanning the unanswered Questions thread because many of the unanswered questions really seem a bit over the top at times. Also I have seen some decent questions get ignored as well. Gives a good second chance for these to receive attention,

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   Hauntyposted 13 years ago

   Thank you for the new features. I hope they accelerate the pace at which the questions get answers. 

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      Mikeydoesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Cool, know I'm going to be using those.

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   Aficionadaposted 13 years ago

   These are definitely improvements!  When I first checked the "unanswered" tab a couple of minutes ago, my heart sank because there were 16,000 questions in it.  But I found that by clicking on one of the categories in the list on the right side of the screen, I could further narrow the list of the "unanswered" - and I could find latest / hot / recommended / unanswered (etc.) questions within that category.  Great! 
   
   It's still slightly more unwieldy than I would like - my narrowing still resulted in 4900 questions in the category I had chosen, but that is clearly better than 16,000!  In my recommended section, on the other hand, there were only five questions.
   
   I do think these tabs will be very helpful for the Answers section.  At the same time, I also like the idea that has been suggested previously of voting down questions.  That might not be workable, but it seems like something worth at least brainstorming about.  Thanks for the improvements!

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      Ari Lamsteinposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Aficionada,
      
      Thank you for your feedback!  Yes, many people have expressed an interest in the ability to vote up and down questions.  I also think that this would be a great feature!  However, I'm not sure if we'll get to work on it in the immediate future. 
      
      The recommended tab focuses on questions that were asked in the last 24 hours, and it updates periodically throughout the day.  It will currently find a maximum of 8 questions (the maximum amount that will fit on one "page" in the Answers section).
      
      If you have any other features that you would like to see in the Answers section, please let us know!

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         Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Several Hubbers have previously posted to suggest the Answers section should be revamped to go back to its roots, i.e. it should go back to being a "Hub Requests" section and the only way to answer the question is by writing a Hub.
         
         However as no HubPages staffer has ever responded to this idea, I am resigned to the fact that HP maintains the Answers section to create activity regardless of its quality or usefulness to members.  So I will continue to ignore the section altogether.

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         Pcunixposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Quite honestly, it is an embarrassment.   Most of the questions are ridiculous and, in my opinion, degrade the site and could cause intelligent visitors to leave immediately.

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         Aficionadaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         
         
         Since the other tabs (hot / best / latest / unanswered) are not limited to the last 24 hours, it seems (to me) that it would be even more useful for the recommended section also not to be limited to the last 24 hours.  That is, if I - for whatever reason - were to look at "hot" questions, I could narrow it by category, but I would still probably have a whole lot of scrolling to do from page to page, and even then I might not find any questions that I like.  Whereas, with the recommended section, those questions should be the ones that I might automatically be more interested in - so, why wouldn't I want a larger selection in that category than in the other four?  And, if I am willing to do a lot of scrolling in the other tab sections, wouldn't I also be willing to scroll through the recommended questions?  - Just a thought....
         
         Also, to other Hubbers, my thoughts about "stupid questions":  I also find quite a few questions that I think are pretty idiotic; but it amazes me that there are some questions and some hubs that I have absolutely no interest in - and can't see why anyone else would - and yet they are read very widely and are rated highly and probably generate a lot of income for someone!  And some other Hubbers probably think the topics I write on are pretty idiotic and stupid - in their opinion.  So, I tend to echo Pamela99 (to a degree anyway). I think that what one person considers to be a stupid question can simply be ignored, to allow another one of the thousands of Hubbers to answer it, if they find it in their recommended list.  Or let it die a quiet death among the gigabytes of the thousands of unanswered questions.

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            Aficionadaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            A little edit/rewrite of my post for succinctness and clarity:
            
            Am I not likely to be more willing to invest the time and energy for scrolling through several pages in the tab section that has the most value to me or that is likely to yield the best results for my purposes?

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            1. 0

               Ari Lamsteinposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               Aficionada,
               
               Thanks for this thoughtful feedback.  We incorporated it into our latest changes to the Answers section: http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/59848.
               
               Ari

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            DzyMsLizzyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Yes, I agree about 'stupid questions.' There are a lot of them "out here" in cyberspace.  I think many of them can be attributed to juveniles!
            
            I also write for Demand Studios, and some of the topics they present requesting articles ("how-to's"--minimum of 3 steps), are positively ludicrous.  ... such as one I saw--"how to find repairman for xxx brand washing machine."  ... Seriously???!!!  One step:  "look in the yellow pages!"
            
            I fear the Internet, in addition to its many benefits, has also given us a large picture window on humankind's potential for stupidity and idiocy.  Rather frightening, when you think about it!
            
            So, no, I probably won't be scrolling much through the questions in the interest of controlling my blood pressure..... ....   ...

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   saleheensblogposted 13 years ago

   good job.

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      bluetiger1520posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      super  great work

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   K9keystrokesposted 13 years ago

   Thank you for the new features. It also seems to remind me that there are questions out there that need to be answered, by 'popping' in on my account page. Very cool! Thanks again.

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   Cagsilposted 13 years ago

   Thank you.

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   travel_man1971posted 13 years ago

   Thanks for the two new added features. It will help us rethink/rephrase our questions.

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   zzronposted 13 years ago

   This is super duper cool!!

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   Pamela99posted 13 years ago

   I think this is a great addition as new Hubbers sometimes are quite experienced but others are not and they need the support.  I was always taught that there are no stupid questions.  If someone is going to make a judgment about Hubpages based on what they consider a stupid question, maybe they are in the wrong place.

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    ahzeazposted 13 years ago

    great

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    okmom23posted 13 years ago

    Thank you!

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    L.C. Smithposted 13 years ago

    Sweet!  Thanks.

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       smthjon5posted 13 years agoin reply to this

       its very nice post

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    Research Analystposted 13 years ago

    I have found the new answers features helpful, thanks for the great updates.

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    vicki simmsposted 13 years ago

    I think the changes are great and I look at the unanswered questions quite alot in different catagories that don't normally interest me so that I can learn new things. As for stupid questions, there are no stupid questions because someone has asked it because they genuinely dont know the answer (I would like to hope anyway).

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