Q&A Section of HP Needs Updating!

1. 86

   Austinstarposted 8 years ago

   Whenever I look at the Q&A "explore answers" section, I see questions that are still there after five years or more. Sometimes the questions are extremely stagnant and inactive.
   I think it would be a good idea to auto delete questions that are over a year old on an ongoing basis just to keep this section of HP fresh.
   Any other ideas about this section?
   Thanks,
   Lela

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   1. 87

      Marcy Goodfleischposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I've noticed that, too, Lela - I think it's set up to find related topics in the system, and some an ancient.  I realize that means some readers might click on them and add to their time on the site, but it can also be off-putting to see something that old.

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      1. 86

         Austinstarposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         I agree. I never go to the forums though as we can't earn anything from them and they seem to be some kind of battleground.

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   2. 81

      Say Yes To Lifeposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I think a year is too short of a time.  It might be a good idea to delete questions that have not been commented on in several years.

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      1. 86

         Austinstarposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Yes! They should certainly delete those questions with no answers at all. Personally, I think they should delete questions that are 'spammy' too. A lot of non-english speakers try to post questions in the Q&A too.
         And when someone's account here goes inactive, they should delete everything by that person.

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   3. 81

      peachpurpleposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      if you look at unanswered section, wow, long list i must say

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      1. 91

         Millionaire Tipsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Those would be easy to delete.  If people aren't interested in answering them, they aren't worth staying on the site.

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   4. 67

      KU37posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      One other consideration is that some of the old material could be considered offensive to some small minority of readers.  I don't think that is a naive consideration in light of recent events.  Many traditional media are now taking a closer look at the way they edit the news, partly out of "political correctness", whatever that might mean, but also out of concern for the safety of their employees.  Unfortunately, that is the new reality in terms of being responsible in public speaking.  If HubPages were to remove old questions from Q&A as you suggested, that would also be a small way of showing some concern for the safety of their employees.  Also, I think if they were planning on deleting a question, they should first make an attempt to notify the asker in advance, so the asker can update the question to avoid the potential loss of AdSense income.

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      1. 86

         Austinstarposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         The revenue from AdSense in the Q&A section is minimal compared to the Hub section. HP is really about Hubs more than anything else. It HP totally eliminated the Q&A section, it would hardly be noticeable to the writers here in terms of revenue.

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         1. 67

            KU37posted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Speaking for myself, I'm not concerned with revenue.  But paradigmsearch voiced an objection based on that.  The distinction I'm concerned with is un-moderated speech vs. moderated speech.  I think the person asking a question in Q&A can upload an image, I don't know if others are able to.  If nobody is moderating Q&A, is HubPages counting on users to report a potentially offensive or dangerous image?

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            1. 86

               Austinstarposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               Yes, I do believe that HP doesn't allocate a staff person to moderate the Q&A section, although that may change.
               And anyone can upload any photo they want to to Q&A at any time. You may also upload photos in the forums here. There is a small camera icon on the lower right of the text section. Click on it to upload photos.
               
               

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2. 72

   relacheposted 8 years ago

   This is the same problem as exists in the forums, except it's worse in the forums because really out-dated writing or account management advice comes up, and literally the site is giving new users the worst possible advice.

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   1. 86

      Austinstarposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Maybe they should have a section marked 'old content' and move stuff there. It would still be searchable, but inactive for new postings.

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      1. 68

         Dressage Husbandposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         I agree they definitely need to move the old stuff to some kind of archive that is labelled as such. Otherwise it is counting as junk and devaluing the current content.

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      2. 67

         KU37posted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Is there some way to "protect" content (I'm thinking of 'old content', but it could be any content) from being altered or removed without notifying the original Hubber?  Here is where I'm coming from:  I would prefer there to be some kind of community discussion before HubPages decided to remove any "old" content for political reasons.  I'm imagining HP going back and censoring old content to suit new stricter norms of free speech or new interpretations of their guidelines.

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3. 94

   aesta1posted 8 years ago

   I think they should be deleted after a year. When I was new, I was answering some of them until  I realized they were asked years ago.

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4. 61

   paradigmsearchposted 8 years ago

   Leave my old Questions alone!!! Some of those puppies get organic views daily and every once in awhile a present from AdSense shows up.

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   1. 86

      Austinstarposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      LOL! They must be very good questions then!

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      1. 61

         paradigmsearchposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Feel free to use them for hub ideas.

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   2. 91

      Millionaire Tipsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Some questions are evergreen.  And some questions still apply to people who are still using old technology, etc. 
      
      There are questions that should be deleted because they are outdated, and the information is no longer accurate, but deleting them by date won't work.

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5. 86

   Austinstarposted 8 years ago

   Well, since HP doesn't have the staff to moderated the Q&A, they sort of depend on us to do it, But I think it can be done automatically by date and anything that is over five years old is considered ancient in the online world, so that could be a reasonable cutoff.
   If the originator of the question is still making money from it (ie - still gets views and answers), they should update the question before it is deleted. The Q&A should be fresh and constantly updated.
   Maybe change the stellar questions into hubs that last forever?

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6. 86

   Austinstarposted 8 years ago

   I have just deleted all of my Q&A that were over four years old. I think we need to clean up our own hubs and questions and not wait for or depend on HP to do it. This is our account after all.
   We already delete old hubs, broken links and stuff like that, so I'm assuming that we need to maintain all of our work here!

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7. 61

   paradigmsearchposted 8 years ago

   What is the speed of dark?
   
   Sorry, couldn't help myself.
   
   Yep, I'd of posted it as a Question, but I've already ascertained it would never get any organic traffic. Oh, well.

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   1. 86

      Austinstarposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Did you write a hub on that one? I read somewhere that dark doesn't actually exist. Too much space between lights I think.
      But don't we all want to solve the physics of the universe?

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