How To Sort Out The 'Answers' Category....

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  1. profile image0
    ryankettposted 13 years ago

    Plenty of people bleat on about the forum being a major problem for this site, although I happen to believe that it is important and remains fun at times.

    The biggest problem in my opinion is the 'Answers' section. How could we encourage more literate and sane hubbers to use this section?

    How about a system whereas if you answer a question with a hub, the person that asked the question takes 10% of the impressions from this hub?

    The safety net against prolific spamming of the questions section being that you may ask a maximum of 1 question per day?

    I am confident that much more of us would get involved, with some valid questions, and the result would be some sort of huge 'ideabank'. If the questions were not drivel I would personally use it for hub ideas when my brain isn't working.

    What do you think? Any better ideas? And don't say its fine how it is, it blatently isn't!

    *Its not really a category of course, lets call it the Answers 'section'

    1. Marisa Wright profile image87
      Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I don't think that would improve quality - in fact, I think the reason a lot of people ask stupid questions is that they think they can already earn money by asking them.  Offering more reward could make it worse!

      I vote the name be changed back to  "Hub Requests", and the ONLY way to answer the question is to write a Hub. That way, it's clearer it's not a Help section.

      1. Pcunix profile image90
        Pcunixposted 13 years agoin reply to this

        I like that.

    2. profile image0
      Ari Lamsteinposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I'm glad to see that there is an active conversation going on about the Answers section!  I have been working on this section for the last couple of months, and I think that we have made some great progress.  It also seems like there is a lot of room for improvement.

      If I understand you correctly, it sounds like quality is the number one concern that you have.  Is that correct?  Personally, I have found there to be a number of good questions and answers out there.  But it is also easy for a spammer to come and "bury" those questions and answers quickly.

      How would you feel if we implemented some mechanisms to highlight quality content?  For example, if we allowed users to "vote" on each question and answer, and then we highlighted the "best question" and "best answer" of the previous day on the homepage of the Answers section?

      1. Marisa Wright profile image87
        Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

        That requires more moderation or more attention from Hubbers, and I can't see it would be worth the effort.  As I've replied to Nora - HubPages needs to decide what it's trying to achieve with this feature.  If it's genuinely designed to encourage people to write Hubs, then remove the ability to answer the question any other way.  Simple.

  2. Mikeydoes profile image42
    Mikeydoesposted 13 years ago

    Answers/hubbers/forums all need to be revamped in some way. I'm sure they were fine at one time, but with the amount of traffic coming here, there is a lot of clutter. There will always be clutter, but there has to be a way to limit it, or perhaps sort it out.

    Answers is pretty bad, I go in there and a lot of the questions don't need to be asked, or I can't understand.

    There are hundreds of good answers that could be featured as the best.

    Just like it isn't fun going into Hubbers and seeing the same people over and over again. I think its about time they work on showcasing other good answers and other good hubber talent.

    How can we compete with the people who have 100 scores and are constantly getting seen more because they are permanently on the front page? Don't get me wrong they deserve their dues, but I am sure there are better people out there than them that get no exposure.

    1. profile image0
      ryankettposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      They could sort out 'Hubbers' by just adding a 'Hot' category, just like the 'Hubs'. In other words, those that have a traffic spike across their portfolio. That would help.

      Although of course, we are all capable of appearing in the 'Best' category. Not managing it doesn't really give reason to suggest that the system needs to be fixed. I generally hover at around 94-98, but I have reached the first page on several occassions, so I havent got any real beef with that.

  3. Whitney05 profile image83
    Whitney05posted 13 years ago

    I vote to change the name of the section back to Requests!!!

    I think that 1 question a day would help.

    I think that the more we can reduce the spam, low quality, and stupid questions, the more people will participate.



    Old restrictions on the section need to be put back in place!!
    * No yes/no questions
    * No questions pertaining to Hubpages, as those should be asked on the forums
    * No opinion questions

    (There were a few others, but these are the most important)


    If there were more clear rules and restrictions, we could potentially reduce the junk that clutters the area. You'll find that most quality questions are never answered because they're swamped by the junk. It is a shame.

    I don't know how many times this has been brought up, but maybe if we continue to bring it up, the HubPages team will eventually see how many people are saddened by the quality of the section. It has become a Yahoo Answers section full of crap.

    1. Marisa Wright profile image87
      Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I'm wondering if these were removed because they had to be policed by a person, and the HP team simply don't have time now the site has grown.



      If I'm in cynical mood, I'd say that's exactly what HubPages wants. If they were serious about making the Answers section useful, they could remove the ability to leave an answer, so all you could do is click the button to create a Hub.  But the name of the section and the way it's set up, actively encourages people to treat it like Yahoo Answers.  That increases traffic, I guess.

    2. profile image0
      Norah Caseyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      These are the rules that are displayed for someone posting a question:

      -Short, concise questions are best. Be specific. A good question will help ensure a good answer.

      -Use the Additional Details box to elaborate or clarify.

      -No adult, obscene, or offensive questions. Keep it clean and friendly.

      -Do not ask questions that can be answered completely with a single word or short phrase.

      -Advertising is not allowed in questions.


      We have recently implemented a system for banning repeat offenders. This, I think, has improved the quality a bit.

      I agree that the rules for this section have to be clarified and be presented consistently across the site. I think the popularity of the feature caught some of us off-guard.

      If a question is not clear or can be answered in a short response, please flag it right away. Our goal with this feature is to have users generate high quality hubs, not just participate in random polls.

      1. Marisa Wright profile image87
        Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

        If your goal is to get people to answer with a Hub, why on earth do you allow people to simply answer the question? 

        Right now, the section encourages you to write an answer rather than a Hub.  That's back to front.  If you removed the text box so the only way to answer was in a Hub, that would solve a lot of the problems:

        1.  Instead of having "Ask ... a question" on our Hubs, you could say "Request another Hub from..." or "Ask ... to write a Hub for you".  That would stop people using the feature when they should be posting a comment.

        2.  Set up the Questions section so the user fills in a form which starts "Please write a Hub about [fill in subject]", followed by another text box where they could provide background information. Then people couldn't write yes/no questions, and it would be bleeding obvious it's not a Help section.

  4. frogdropping profile image77
    frogdroppingposted 13 years ago

    Would have to be fixed for the HG's though. One of the aspect of greeting is to ask a question, if you so wish. I usually ask one every time I greet someone.

    That said, I like to think I don't ask a question so much as insert a good hub title - that's why I write them as I do.

    Anyway - because I do use it I have noticed that some hubbers roam wantingly through, asking incredibly weak or silly questions, whilst others use it as a means of spam, no doubt.

 
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