Is there a way for Q&A users to get notified of our responses?

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   poppyrposted 7 years ago

   Every few days, I get a question on my “Things You Should Never Do if Your Hamster Has Babies” article that says something along the lines of “my hamster just had babies, here is my personal problem, please help me.” Usually the answer they are looking for can be found in the article, but that’s another issue.
   
   After correcting the grammar and spelling in the question, I give what I hope is a detailed response. Do people who ask questions have any way of knowing our answers? Quite often I ask for more information (the age of their hamster, for example) and I’m met with no response.

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      vineliner57posted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I am thinking that they don't, but can't verify that. Between that, and the several hours that it takes to even get the notification of a question, and up to a week before the Q&A is posted, timeliness is a definite problem, especially for those needing quick answers.
      
      What I have been trying to do is provide answers for more than one possible outcome.
      
      For instance, a gal replaced a nose stud with a shorter one, which caused her some discomfort. My question to her was, "Is this a new piercing, or an established one?" (or something along that line). I then provided solutions to both situations.
      
      I really like the Q&A, but providing answers quickly is a problem.

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2. 100

   DrMark1961posted 7 years ago

   Yes, they do get a response. It is an email from HP that says "Your question has been answered." If you would like to check this out yourself, you can ask yourself a fake question on one of your articles. (You should be signed out. You will be asked if you would like an email when the question is answered, and it will ask for your email address.) When you answer it an email will appear on your account letting you know that the question has been answered.
   It does not take hours or weeks. When I ask a fake question I am notified almost immediately (one of your articles has a new question email) and get another email almost immediately after I answer it. You can also try this yourself to monitor how quickly this happens on your account.
   
   I do realize there are a lot of problems with this section. Several times just this week I have had totally irrelevant questions (this morning I had one on a breeding hub where a guy asked if his dog is going to come home after running away) but I just ignore them. The more helpful questions I try to make more general so that more people will get help from them. It is working for some people, and I have well over 50,000 Q&A views in this so far.

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      eugbugposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Usually it takes several days before I get an email notifying me that my question has been answered.
      Maybe it depends on the site?

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      1. 100

         DrMark1961posted 7 years agoin reply to this

         That could be. (I have no way of telling since all of mine are on the same site.) That is why I suggested the OP test it herself and see what kind of responses she gets.

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3. 77

   vineliner57posted 7 years ago

   It has been my experience that it does take several hours for the first notification of a question being asked (my last one was 17 hours, and I check in quite often), and up to a week for a question with the answer to finally be posted. Just sayin....

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