New Q&A

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  1. DzyMsLizzy profile image85
    DzyMsLizzyposted 6 years ago

    So, the old  Q&A was retired; eliminated; phased out; dumped; deep-sixed; trashed; gone bye-bye, eh?  No love lost there for me; so many of the questions there were truly idiotic.

    So now, instead, it's been revived, and glued onto our articles????!!!!

    Is there a way to opt out of this?  I am not a fan. Rather, I find it annoying.  I've already gotten 2 questions, and both of them could have been answered or figured out by careful reading of the article in the first place.

    The form showing us the question only wants to know if the question's grammar is correct. Pfftt!  Really?  How about "Is this a sensible or stupid question?"

    I'm serious:  if there is a way to opt out of this new-old feature, that's what I'd like to be able to do.

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    1. theraggededge profile image97
      theraggededgeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      They are fab, and a great way to garner more traffic. You can change the question to something you'd prefer to see on your article.

      I use the opportunity to expand on the topic or add a little extra info about a related topic. I also add in links to other similar hubs.

      You can opt out by clicking 'Pause' at the top of the page on https://hubpages.com/my/hubs/qanda

      Edit: right now, I have almost 350 a day extra views. They are counted separately, and ads are shown on the question pages.

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      1. Christy Kirwan profile image91
        Christy Kirwanposted 6 years agoin reply to this

        We don't recommend changing the original meaning of the article, as the author of the question might return to check on a reply. However, you may ask questions on your own articles if you think there are questions you would like to answer and your readers aren't asking them.

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      2. TessSchlesinger profile image61
        TessSchlesingerposted 6 years agoin reply to this

        Actually, I don't know how they can garner more traffic. And I think they look dreadful. I don't want them. I'm trying to figure out how to get rid o it. If it does provide more traffic, I'll just do without the traffic. I don't want a question and answer on my hubs. Up to now, they've done fine just asking them on the comments.

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        1. wilderness profile image95
          wildernessposted 6 years agoin reply to this

          I have to wonder if my willingness to answer those questions, and help people out, on my "how to" hubs isn't a part of what is producing lots of backlinks.  I would hope that folks that are happy are more likely to recommend, via a backlink, the hub.

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          1. TessSchlesinger profile image61
            TessSchlesingerposted 6 years agoin reply to this

            I doubt it.

            The only way that the Questions and Answers will bring more traffic is if the specific question is optimzed for web traffic. And as the article is already optimized for web traffic (the longtail keywords wll be the same), I don't see how it will increase traffic.

            I've just spent about 10 hours in total answering questions to a guy that I thnk is a troll. That's in the comments section. That has now put me off completely answering questions. And it wasn't a how to piece - just something the guy couldn't agree with. One of my answers must have been 1500 words. I just deleted the entire discussion. I'm done.

            Also, by putting the Q&A below my article, it encourages people to ask questions -something they wouldn't have thought of without it there. I do NOT want not want to talk to readers. I am a writer - not a social butterfly who likes to have conversatiions with others.  I prefer the comments.

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            1. WryLilt profile image88
              WryLiltposted 6 years agoin reply to this

              Each question goes to a stand alone page, and that page can rank in Google. That page shows ads. Because the page title is different than the article title, there's a good chance of getting unique traffic in the same way the previous Q&A, or Yahoo or Quora etc does.

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          2. lobobrandon profile image88
            lobobrandonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

            Very unlikely. People asking you questions are probably not bloggers, and even if they are the probability of them having blogs with any link value is far lower. Maybe you would get a social media share and some more traffic if they are happy.

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        2. bravewarrior profile image86
          bravewarriorposted 6 years agoin reply to this

          Tess, click on the link theraggededge provided above and click "pause". That'll stop the question box from appearing in your articles.

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          1. TessSchlesinger profile image61
            TessSchlesingerposted 6 years agoin reply to this

            There is no pause, there. However,  just received another question I just deleted it. I think I might have seen a pause button. Why don't hey simply say delete?

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            1. bravewarrior profile image86
              bravewarriorposted 6 years agoin reply to this

              Yes, the pause button is in the area you're led to when you get notification of a new question. I'm assuming (and we all know what that means) that when you hit pause, it eliminates the Q & A box from all articles. Maybe Christy will come in on this and clarify how to disable Q & A entirely.

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            2. theraggededge profile image97
              theraggededgeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

              https://usercontent2.hubstatic.com/13985549.jpg

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              1. Marcy Goodfleisch profile image83
                Marcy Goodfleischposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                I think "Pause" is used to temporarily suspend questions for that particular hub. If you have a ton of hubs, that could get difficult to manage.

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                1. paradigmsearch profile image59
                  paradigmsearchposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                  Actually, I think it shuts them all down in one shot, leastwise when accessed from the stats page.

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      3. HappyPuppyHost profile image59
        HappyPuppyHostposted 6 years agoin reply to this

        I feel ashamed I didn't notice this link before.  Thanks.  I enabled Q&A for my hubs now.  I'll test it out to see if it helps.  Thanks again!

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      4. TIMETRAVELER2 profile image86
        TIMETRAVELER2posted 6 years agoin reply to this

        I didn't know we're allowed to link to our other articles in the questions session.  Are you sure this is OK to do?  Does it say this in writing anywhere and if so, where?

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        1. theraggededge profile image97
          theraggededgeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

          The questions and answers are moderated, so the mods would remove them if they didn't like them, I would think. They are still there smile

          The mods do re-word some answers though. Especially where I've been 'harsh'. On purpose big_smile Just kidding. They have changed one or two though. There was one where I answered "I don't know, perhaps it's because..." followed by a short list. They changed it to something like, "Consider these possibilities..."

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          1. Jean Bakula profile image92
            Jean Bakulaposted 6 years agoin reply to this

            Are we allowed to give a link to an article of ours on Q&A if it answers the person's question in more depth? I have a more sophisticated following than the one I have been complaining about, and they could learn more if I was able to do that. I thought the administration said we couldn't put any URLs. But I have so many "series" things that could be so helpful to those trying to learn.

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            1. theraggededge profile image97
              theraggededgeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

              I put them in, Jean. So if someone asks, "What do I do if I blah blah blah?" I answer briefly, and then say, "This article might help you: http....."

              Try it. What's the worst that could happen? It might get snipped, but they aren't going to suspend your account big_smile

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          2. DrMark1961 profile image95
            DrMark1961posted 6 years agoin reply to this

            I never start out a sentence on the Q&A with yes or no. Why should the reader open the capsule up and learn more if the answer is in the first few words. I think if you did use "I dont know" as the entrance words in the answer no one would click on it.

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            1. theraggededge profile image97
              theraggededgeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

              You are right, but it was one of those stupid questions. Why am I not a parsnip? Not that, but similar. I really wanted to say, "I don't b!oody know. Ask your mother." big_smile

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              1. DrMark1961 profile image95
                DrMark1961posted 6 years agoin reply to this

                Yeah, I got one of those this morning. I always tell them to ask Aunt Bev. Me and mom do not have a clue.

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                1. theraggededge profile image97
                  theraggededgeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                  Oh... so it's you sending them to me. Well! I think a little retaliation is in order. I'm sending MableAble on the next plane.
                  https://usercontent2.hubstatic.com/13989465.jpg

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                  1. DrMark1961 profile image95
                    DrMark1961posted 6 years agoin reply to this

                    She looks like a vicious attack dog. Next time someone asks "Why am I a parsnip?" I will just answer "Because you are not brussel sprouts". Problem solved.
                    Mable can chill and avoid the plane ride.

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    2. NateB11 profile image88
      NateB11posted 6 years agoin reply to this

      They must not attach them to all articles, I just checked a couple of mine, no Q and A's.

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      1. NateB11 profile image88
        NateB11posted 6 years agoin reply to this

        Not sure I understand the feature correctly, but it's a great idea if it's what I think it is. I have a couple articles that get a lot of commenters asking questions and it would be great if other visitors could more easily help answer questions.

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      2. bravewarrior profile image86
        bravewarriorposted 6 years agoin reply to this

        Nate, I think the Q & A is only available on articles appearing on the niche sites. I checked several of mine, including one that's on the standard HP site. All but the latter have the Q & A box at the end of the article.

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    3. paradigmsearch profile image59
      paradigmsearchposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Go to https://hubpages.com/my/hubs/qanda and click pause.

      For those who want to enable, my experience was rather odd. I had to also click pause and then click enable in order to kickstart things.

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    4. TIMETRAVELER2 profile image86
      TIMETRAVELER2posted 6 years agoin reply to this

      You aren't required to answer all of the questions.  Furthermore, this is different from the old Q and A because that was from Hubbers for Hubbers...this is for readers.

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    5. HappyPuppyHost profile image59
      HappyPuppyHostposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Interesting, I haven't seen this feature yet.  Maybe I don't have enough pages yet?

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    6. robhampton profile image93
      robhamptonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Quick question about this. How does a reader know that they have to come back and look at the article to receive the answer to the question that they asked? Or are they just supposed to figure that out for themselves

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      1. theraggededge profile image97
        theraggededgeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

        They get an email telling them their question has been answered. Or at least I got one when I asked a question.

        Edit:

        Hi theraggededge,

        theraggededge has answered your question on your article "XXX"

        To view the answer, follow the link below:
        https : //exemplore.com/question/XXXXX

        Thanks,
        HubPages

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        1. TIMETRAVELER2 profile image86
          TIMETRAVELER2posted 6 years agoin reply to this

          I was wondering that myself.  Thanks for the info.

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    7. CatherineGiordano profile image76
      CatherineGiordanoposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      I've had about 6 questions so far and they all sounded like they were written by 5 year-olds. The questions are asinine. Also I too have found that most of questions could be answered just by scanning the article.

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    8. kapowinnovations profile image60
      kapowinnovationsposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Awesome

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  2. Mike Hardy profile image86
    Mike Hardyposted 6 years ago

    As a noobie I’m not sure if they are trying to get more content (to improve SEO) improve engagement ( to reduce bounce rate and improve google quality score.) I had my first q&a yesterday and found it a good way to expand my article

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    1. DrMark1961 profile image95
      DrMark1961posted 6 years agoin reply to this

      I think it does both. As the OP pointed out, some questions can be stupid--all you have to do is delete them. Besides improving ranking and improving engagement, the question/answers help readers and also provide an addittional income stream both for us and for HP.
      Definitely worth the time.

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  3. Cre8tor profile image93
    Cre8torposted 6 years ago

    I get some real doozies too but I just ignore most of those. Keep in mind you're gaining traffic on the Q&A and can even monitor it separately to see how it's going. It seems to me it's like doubling down on views so though I do agree it's sometimes annoying, I do get good questions too and though it's not as much, I'm getting revenue for answering them.

    All that said, I do believe you can opt out. Not sure but I do think so.

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    1. theraggededge profile image97
      theraggededgeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Don't waste them, rewrite them into a coherent and useful question--even if it is not connected to the original query. I've only hidden three out of nearly 100 questions and that was because I couldn't think of anything at the time. I'll get round to fixing them soon.

      We can now add our own questions too. A good opportunity to bring in some more controversial points, which generates even more traffic.

      These Q&As are a great addition to our writing.

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      1. bravewarrior profile image86
        bravewarriorposted 6 years agoin reply to this

        I wasn't aware of the new Q & A. Was this announced in a newsletter? Where can I learn more about it and how it works?

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        1. Beth Eaglescliffe profile image95
          Beth Eaglescliffeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

          @ bravewarrior - I got an email telling me that Q&A had been enabled on my account.

          It looks as though the program is being rolled out gradually (i.e. not everyone can access it yet). I checked on a couple of your hubs and you do not have a Q&A area yet. When you are selected, it will appear just above the comments section.

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          1. bravewarrior profile image86
            bravewarriorposted 6 years agoin reply to this

            I actually clicked on the link that theraggededge provided in her comment. It said that I have not opted for Q & A but can turn it on. Before I do so, can someone tell me how it works?

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            1. Beth Eaglescliffe profile image95
              Beth Eaglescliffeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

              @ bravewarrior - That's good to hear.

              As for how well it works, I'm at the trial and error stage. I think it's worth a try. You can always hide the Q&A's if you find it doesn't work for you. But going by what theraggededge has said, I think it's going to help increase our earnings.

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              1. bravewarrior profile image86
                bravewarriorposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                I'm all for that. I'll give it a shot.

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      2. Jeremy Gill profile image91
        Jeremy Gillposted 6 years agoin reply to this

        Agreed, the Q & A is nice. Although I have to edit most questions for grammar, and some answers could easily be googled, it's worth a little effort for the extra views and interactivity.

        Minus one exceptionally rude "question" (basically a random go **** yourself comment that I of course hid), I'm very happy with the feature. And rude comments like these aren't a fault of the software but of people, so no complaints there either.

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        1. EricFarmer8x profile image94
          EricFarmer8xposted 6 years agoin reply to this

          I only just noticed this feature today and enabled it after reading this forum post. I wonder what kinds of questions I will get in the future. If what you say is true it does sound nice.

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      3. Christy Kirwan profile image91
        Christy Kirwanposted 6 years agoin reply to this

        Just to be clear, rewriting questions is not recommended, and mods will reject questions that are changed too drastically from the originals. Instead, go to the article and ask a question yourself if you would like to include its answer.

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        1. theraggededge profile image97
          theraggededgeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

          But what if the same person keeps asking the same or similar questions over and over? I have one at the moment; s/he must have submitted 20 of them. So far, the mods seem to have allowed the changes. I don't want the 'hidden' section to be full of unanswered questions, and there's no way of deleting them.

          I believe it's a troll, so I am quite happy to take advantage of them.

          Also, they can't leave their name, so the question isn't personalized or anything.

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          1. Christy Kirwan profile image91
            Christy Kirwanposted 6 years agoin reply to this

            You can simply delete questions that are redundant or ones that you don't want to answer. They won't show up on your live article until approved and answered by you.

            Mods weren't aware that authors were drastically changing questions until recently, but will not let drastically modified questions be published now that this is something we're aware of.

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        2. Chriswillman90 profile image91
          Chriswillman90posted 6 years agoin reply to this

          I didn't realize you couldn't alter the questions too much. For the most part I've just tried to fix the grammar/spelling issues, but I've changed questions more extensively because a few made almost no sense.

          Then there are the troll questions, but I just ignore those.

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          1. Christy Kirwan profile image91
            Christy Kirwanposted 6 years agoin reply to this

            Just delete any questions that are nonsense or troll comments.

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            1. theraggededge profile image97
              theraggededgeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

              You can't delete them, Christy, only hide them. So they are still lurking there under the hidden filter.

              Well the mods will be deleting a lot of mine as I have had many troll, nonsensical and repeated questions sad

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              1. Christy Kirwan profile image91
                Christy Kirwanposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                Hiding them means they do not and will never show up on your article.

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                1. lobobrandon profile image88
                  lobobrandonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                  Ok cool. Gonna hide the one I received. It is irrelevant to the article.

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                2. DrMark1961 profile image95
                  DrMark1961posted 6 years agoin reply to this

                  Only about 5 questions show up at the bottom of the article, and if the reader wants to see the other questions he has to click "see more". Is there a way to arrange the questions so that those more popular, and more likely to be viewed, are at the top?

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                  1. Christy Kirwan profile image91
                    Christy Kirwanposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                    I'm not sure, but can you give me a link to an article where this is happening? I'll look into it.

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                  2. Jeremy Gill profile image91
                    Jeremy Gillposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                    Speaking of arranging questions, when I click the "add question" button, my articles are displayed in a seemingly random order, making finding a specific one difficult. A way to alphabetize them would definitely help.

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            2. Marcy Goodfleisch profile image83
              Marcy Goodfleischposted 6 years agoin reply to this

              Christy - I don't really see a delete button - I pressed some things and finally got rid of one that was spam. It would be good to have a button that clearly says "Delete" for those of us who try to piggyback on our hubs by posting links.

              I had one question (haven't had many yet) that was horribly illiterate. I edited it so it was readable (did not change the meaning), but it felt odd to do that. This could become very time consuming for people with high volumes of questions. Some of my hubs seem to invite questions (or emails, even) from people who want answer to specific issues, rather than simply posing general questions.

              How would we ask our own questions? And why?

              Thanks!

              MG

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              1. Jeremy Gill profile image91
                Jeremy Gillposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                There's an "add question" button on the right of the Q&A page to add your own question. You would do this to get more views as well as provide information you think could benefit your readers, almost like a mini FAQ for the hub.

                As for editing the questions, that's the nature of the beast. My experiences so far show about 90% of the questions needing to be edited for spelling/grammar (without changing the meaning), and it's the price we pay for the extra views.

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                1. Marcy Goodfleisch profile image83
                  Marcy Goodfleischposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                  Thanks - I think my question mostly relates to how it would look to ask ourselves questions in our own articles. I don't know that I'm comfortable with that (ethically).

                  If I have to edit questions to make them coherent or to avoid cringing at the spelling or writing, that's work, and it may not be worth it to me. The idea of HP (back when I joined) was "passive income," and babysitting Q&As is not passive. Worse yet, editing questions is not passive - it's like grading papers.

                  I do have a passive income (not what I was led to believe, but still...), though. For me, the operative word might be the "passive" part.

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                  1. robhampton profile image93
                    robhamptonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                    lol, that's what I was thinking as well. Why would we ask ourselves a question about our own article? Unless it's something like an FAQ type of thing for readers. Still not sure about all this but am staying open minded

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                  2. DrMark1961 profile image95
                    DrMark1961posted 6 years agoin reply to this

                    Passive income is a reason some people work on this site, but we are all different.

                    I do not feel like making a question easier to understand for other readers is like grading papers. I see it as a way to help other readers when they look at the question, understand it, and think "yes, I need to know that too".

                    I certainly do not feel that taking a moment of my time to help someone with a problem is babysitting.

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                  3. Jeremy Gill profile image91
                    Jeremy Gillposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                    As to "how it would look", I don't think anyone can see that it was the author who asked the question, so no one will know we're basically talking to ourselves : )

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        3. TIMETRAVELER2 profile image86
          TIMETRAVELER2posted 6 years agoin reply to this

          If you do that wouldn't it show that you are asking yourself a question?  Don't think that would add to credibility.

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          1. Glenn Stok profile image97
            Glenn Stokposted 6 years agoin reply to this

            TT1, If you write the question correctly it won't sound like you are asking yourself a question.

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            1. TIMETRAVELER2 profile image86
              TIMETRAVELER2posted 6 years agoin reply to this

              That's not what I meant.  When someone asks a question, their name shows up.  If you ask your own question, wouldn't your own name show up also?

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              1. Glenn Stok profile image97
                Glenn Stokposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                Ask the question while you are NOT logged in.

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                1. TIMETRAVELER2 profile image86
                  TIMETRAVELER2posted 6 years agoin reply to this

                  OH...NOW you tell me!  Oh well, so I'll look like an idiot because I tried to do it the other way.

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                  1. Glenn Stok profile image97
                    Glenn Stokposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                    You can hide those.

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                2. Jeremy Gill profile image91
                  Jeremy Gillposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                  Your answer confuses me, Glenn. What difference does being logged in make? I don't see anything that identifies the asker of the question by name or picture.

                  As you mentioned earlier, to avoid sounding like it came from yourself, just phrase it as though someone else is asking.

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                  1. AliciaC profile image93
                    AliciaCposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                    I’m a bit confused, too. I’ve asked myself one question while I was logged in. I clicked the “Add Question” button in the Q&A section of my account. The text box that came up said “Ask yourself a question”, so I did. I’ve checked the relevant article and my name isn’t shown on the question.

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                  2. Glenn Stok profile image97
                    Glenn Stokposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                    Jeremy, I’m confused too. I told her to do it without logging in because she insisted that it was displaying her name: TIMETRAVELER2.

                    I tried it both ways and I agree with you that it never placed my name on the Q&A when I posted my own questions.

                    The only difference is that when you’re not logged in, it asks for your email address if you want to be notified when the author answers. But even then, it still does not place any user reference in the content. At least not when I did it.

                    I'm thinking that TIMETRAVELER2 might be seeing a different version of the implementation since there seem to be discrepancies among how we all experience this. They might still be testing it, and being the weekend, we’re not going to get a response about bug reports until Monday.

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                  3. theraggededge profile image97
                    theraggededgeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                    Same. No name ever shows up.

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      4. Jean Bakula profile image92
        Jean Bakulaposted 6 years agoin reply to this

        Hi Bev,
        I find I am enjoying the back and forth with people and the new Q&A feature. But I didn't know we could add questions of our own. Did I miss an announcement about that?

        I get a few incoherent ones, but it's easy to edit them into something which makes sense. I think it makes our articles more interesting, it's a way to add info to them. So far nobody has cut and paste all their planets, asteroids, etc. into the Q&A and expected a free astrology chart, my biggest fear. They have stayed in the comments section!

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        1. theraggededge profile image97
          theraggededgeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

          Yep, go to the Q&A tab on your stats page. Look down the page to the right. There's a button that says 'Add Question'.

          If you click on it, a box appears with a drop-down for you to select which hub. Underneath it says 'Ask yourself a question'.

          Wouldn't it be great if it tuned in to our subconscious - big_smile

          Let me know if you use it. I haven't yet. But it's a good way of generating some interest in low-traffic articles, I'm sure.

          Re your planets etc., I think there's a limit on the number of characters, but I could be wrong.

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          1. Robie Benve profile image94
            Robie Benveposted 6 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks for pointing that out Bev, I had not realized that you could add questions from there. I was wondering if they would be ok with the authors adding ad hoc Q&As , and that answers it. Thanks

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          2. Jeremy Gill profile image91
            Jeremy Gillposted 6 years agoin reply to this

            Theraggededge, let me preface this with I don't think you've been overly harsh, but I imagine Rob was talking about statements like this: "Maybe. I'm simply explaining why a writer might want to add a little Q&A themselves."

            Tone is hard to tell over written words, often why I add a "good luck" or other positive statement at the end of forum posts. Short sentences sometimes carry a feel of aggression. Like this. And Rob, I don't think she meant any harm; like she said, she's just blunt. Hope this helps.

            By the way, I commented here because those replies were getting too edged into a corner lol.

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            1. theraggededge profile image97
              theraggededgeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

              Thank you, Jeremy, for pouring oil on troubled waters. You are always very reasonable.

              And once more, no offence was intended.

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        2. HappyPuppyHost profile image59
          HappyPuppyHostposted 6 years agoin reply to this

          Thanks for the information.   I'll see if I can use this.  I have an article that isn't getting much attention right now.

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        3. HappyPuppyHost profile image59
          HappyPuppyHostposted 6 years agoin reply to this

          Still wondering if it shows up in mobile phone browsers since I haven't seen it yet.

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      5. TIMETRAVELER2 profile image86
        TIMETRAVELER2posted 6 years agoin reply to this

        I didn't know you could do that.  How would that relate to page views?  One thing this has done for me is give me fodder for writing new articles.  I like this feature very much.

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  4. DzyMsLizzy profile image85
    DzyMsLizzyposted 6 years ago

    Thanks for  the information, folks.
    @ Beth: I did not get any notification that the feature had been enabled; first I knew about it was an email telling me I had "a new question on one of my hubs"
    @ theraggededge:  You can rewrite the person's question???
    @ Shauna: It does not seem to be an opt-in thing, but a new feature they are rolling out a little at a time...

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    1. bravewarrior profile image86
      bravewarriorposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      I enabled it a little bit ago. We'll see what happens.

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    2. Jeremy Gill profile image91
      Jeremy Gillposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      To answer your question to theraggededge, yes, you can alter the person's question (with the "edit" button). I usually do because the original question typically contains spelling and grammar errors or could simply be worded better.

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  5. Kierstin Gunsberg profile image95
    Kierstin Gunsbergposted 6 years ago

    Since they've been put on my niche articles I'm making significantly more money each day and my traffic is way up! I love the new Q&A feature, it's fantastic!

    replyreport
  6. Kierstin Gunsberg profile image95
    Kierstin Gunsbergposted 6 years ago

    And yes, you can rewrite the question to be grammatically correct and to fix any spelling errors. It will ask you under the question "is the grammar correct?" and you choose "no" and then fix the question.

    replyreport
  7. Beth Eaglescliffe profile image95
    Beth Eaglescliffeposted 6 years ago

    @ DzyMsLizzy - Have a look at your notification settings (Profile tab). You may have them set up not to receive certain emails.

    @ bravewarrior - Don't wait for the questions - set the ball rolling like theraggededge suggests and write some of your own.

    replyreport
    1. DzyMsLizzy profile image85
      DzyMsLizzyposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Beth, I went looking for that tab, and couldn't find it. In any event, I never did previously set to block any notifications from HP...I get emails daily; "here are your recent notifications from Hub Pages."
      **shrug**

      replyreport
  8. paradigmsearch profile image59
    paradigmsearchposted 6 years ago

    Not too sure I want to do someone else's Google searches for them. However, maybe I can steer things so that they answer each other's questions and the article simply becomes the platform for them to do so.

    replyreport
  9. Titia profile image92
    Titiaposted 6 years ago

    Just got the Q&A email, so I'll wait and see what kind of questions will be coming my way.
    I think it's great because people now don't have to set up an account first to ask a question.That fact was holding a lot of people back from asking I guess.

    replyreport
  10. TeriSilver profile image96
    TeriSilverposted 6 years ago

    I just answered a question that would be easy to determine by reading the article's content.  I am not liking this, so far.

    replyreport
    1. lobobrandon profile image88
      lobobrandonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Why did you answer it? You could just hide it.

      replyreport
    2. DzyMsLizzy profile image85
      DzyMsLizzyposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      I know what you mean, Teri.
      This is the kind of innanity I am putting up with, as this question showed up on my article on Boating Lingo just today:
      "Someone said, "We can anchor at some point." What does that mean?"
      I answered politely, but I felt like saying, "Are you seriously that stupid?

      This seems to be the general nature of the questions I garner on my articles.  Only one asked a serious question, but it was unfortunately, not easily answered, as it involved both a medical procedure I had done, and had written about, as well as an individual's physical and mental outlook differences from any other persons;  I wrote a fairly comprehensive reply, but it essentially told them as much.

      replyreport
      1. Glenn Stok profile image97
        Glenn Stokposted 6 years agoin reply to this

        Lizzy, the thing is that your “comprehensive reply” becomes a new page that Google may index and that brings you added traffic and added ad revenue. Those Q&A pages have ads on them, and they have a link back to your article. That’s a good thing. In my opinion it’s worth the time to write a comprehensive reply, as you stated. All the silly questions can (and should) be ignored.

        Just an added note: Some Q&A don’t become separate pages. They are just listed in the article, and I haven’t figured out yet what causes that difference. Not sure if it’s random or if it’s based on some criteria, such as length of the answer. It’ll take more research—or for the team to chime in about that.

        replyreport
        1. TessSchlesinger profile image61
          TessSchlesingerposted 6 years agoin reply to this

          I've just received stupid questions - the kind that makes me think the questioner just wants attention. Ad it looks really ugly at the bottom of my article.

          replyreport
          1. Glenn Stok profile image97
            Glenn Stokposted 6 years agoin reply to this

            You can hide those stupid questions.

            replyreport
        2. lobobrandon profile image88
          lobobrandonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

          If this is true, then I have no problems with it. Let me know if you ever find out what makes them separate pages. Every single one I have seen have separate pages for the question and answer.

          replyreport
          1. DrMark1961 profile image95
            DrMark1961posted 6 years agoin reply to this

            I have noticed when you have a lot of questions and answers they become second pages. Here is an example where the question and answer both appear on the page: https://pethelpful.com/dogs/five-dog-br … ving-alone

            replyreport
            1. lobobrandon profile image88
              lobobrandonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

              Hmm, I would love to see an answer from the team on what makes a question take on its own page. From this, it seems like a few question and answers implies it stays on the hub, and more then it has its own page. So a question with a 10-word answer could get its own page too?

              replyreport
              1. EricDockett profile image96
                EricDockettposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                I would like to know why this happens too.  I don't have a lot of questions and answers and all of mine are on second pages with their own url. I haven't seen any like in the example Dr. Mark gave.

                @Dr Mark - Does that answer on your Hub also have it's own page, or is it only on the Hub?

                Sure would be nice if HP would just tell us how this works instead of having to guess.

                replyreport
                1. DrMark1961 profile image95
                  DrMark1961posted 6 years agoin reply to this

                  No, I do not think it has a separate page because it is not clickable like the others.

                  replyreport
                  1. EricDockett profile image96
                    EricDockettposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                    I know you have a lot of Q&A so don't do this if it is a pain, but you can tell if it has its own page if you can find it in your list of questions answered.

                    The reason I wonder is because I thought  the reason for Q&A is for the Q&A pages to get search traffic. If that's the point, then why wouldn't HubPages give the answer its own page instead of just making it appear on the Hub?

                    If the point is to add info to the Hub - which is a better idea, IMO - then the answers don't need their own url. So maybe they are moving away from that. Who knows.

                    It's just frustrating trying to puzzle out HP's intention here.

                    replyreport
          2. Jean Bakula profile image92
            Jean Bakulaposted 6 years agoin reply to this

            Mine are separate too.

            replyreport
        3. Sue Adams profile image95
          Sue Adamsposted 6 years agoin reply to this

          Update:
          Having emailed the team about that,  all my Q&A's are now truncated and sent to new pages just like yours Glenn.

          replyreport
        4. DzyMsLizzy profile image85
          DzyMsLizzyposted 6 years agoin reply to this

          @ Glen Stok;  Is it possible to hide/get rid of stupid questions that have already (unfortunately) been answered?

          replyreport
          1. Glenn Stok profile image97
            Glenn Stokposted 6 years agoin reply to this

            Just hide it.

            replyreport
            1. DrMark1961 profile image95
              DrMark1961posted 6 years agoin reply to this

              I have 6 questions that have never been viewed, even by the person that originally asked for advice. Do you think that they should be hidden? I have left them, thinking they might benefit some reader in the future, but am wondering if the poor questions (or answers) affects our rankings in some way.

              replyreport
              1. lobobrandon profile image88
                lobobrandonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                They are not on your page so they should not affect the main article. About affecting the site as a whole that is a different story.

                replyreport
  11. Thelma Alberts profile image91
    Thelma Albertsposted 6 years ago

    This is new to me. Do we get notification when a question is asked? I have to check if a question or 2 are already asked on my hubs.

    replyreport
    1. TIMETRAVELER2 profile image86
      TIMETRAVELER2posted 6 years agoin reply to this

      You get an email from the team saying you have a question and a link to it.

      replyreport
      1. Jean Bakula profile image92
        Jean Bakulaposted 6 years agoin reply to this

        I haven't been getting any emails from the team when I get a new question. I just check it each day.

        replyreport
  12. TeriSilver profile image96
    TeriSilverposted 6 years ago

    I could and probably will in many cases, but the question was specific to the area where I live (planting grass seed) and, if the idea is to "engage with" readers, this is what has to be done.  But I think, in most cases, it's opening a proverbial can of worms -- I have several pieces, for example, that I already answer questions on (to the extent I can accommodate someone's 50 year old memory of some obscure product or cartoon they "remember" from childhood). I see the value of the Q & A but it can also put readers off if we ignore them.

    replyreport
  13. Natalie Frank profile image92
    Natalie Frankposted 6 years ago

    So do we receive notifications about questions, emails or both?

    replyreport
    1. lobobrandon profile image88
      lobobrandonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Email for sure. Notifications, I don't think I saw one of those.

      replyreport
  14. paradigmsearch profile image59
    paradigmsearchposted 6 years ago

    An update.

    24 hours and nary a single question. This kind of volume I can handle. big_smile

    replyreport
    1. bravewarrior profile image86
      bravewarriorposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      I just had my first question, but was really a comment. The person who posted, said s/he had to add a question mark to satisfy the software. I responded by leading the questioner to the comment section below (moving forward).

      replyreport
  15. Cre8tor profile image93
    Cre8torposted 6 years ago

    I have been seeing decent traffic daily and today had 4 new questions. I respond to just about everything. Maybe deleting 1 of every 20 questions. (They have to be bad for me to ignore completely even if I just say "I don't know" I respond.) It's too soon to judge on the whole but I like my results so far. That's where I am after a couple months in anyways.

    replyreport
    1. EricFarmer8x profile image94
      EricFarmer8xposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      This is how I feel as well. I have answered one question so far and it was an interesting one. I probably will answer most questions as long they are not very dumb or worded too weird for me to understand.

      replyreport
  16. Don Bobbitt profile image84
    Don Bobbittposted 6 years ago

    The Q&A changes are fine for me. I have evolved my HUB base to be around 3/4 centric to one subject and that is RV's and RV recreation.
    I encourage readers of my Hubs to ask me questions, and i am getting asteady flow that I work on each morning.
    I love it and the added exposure of my HUBs.
    DON

    replyreport
  17. DzyMsLizzy profile image85
    DzyMsLizzyposted 6 years ago

    Ironically, since my OP, and having answered a couple of questions, I only just today got the email announcing this as a 'new feature.' 

    The first question I answered, however, is still showing on my page as not having been answered.  But I did answer it.  What glitch gives?

    replyreport
    1. theraggededge profile image97
      theraggededgeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      They are moderated smile It takes up to 24 hours for them to appear.

      replyreport
      1. lobobrandon profile image88
        lobobrandonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

        Does the person who asked the question get an email once the question has been answered?

        replyreport
      2. DzyMsLizzy profile image85
        DzyMsLizzyposted 6 years agoin reply to this

        @theraggededge:  This has been sitting there showing as unanswered for over a week!  sad

        replyreport
  18. EricFarmer8x profile image94
    EricFarmer8xposted 6 years ago

    I have a theory related to questions. I am testing it now and will monitor the results.

    replyreport
    1. Marcy Goodfleisch profile image83
      Marcy Goodfleischposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Please let us know what you learn!

      replyreport
      1. EricFarmer8x profile image94
        EricFarmer8xposted 6 years agoin reply to this

        Well what I was thinking is that if I use a service like https://answerthepublic.com/ and find and ask questions myself would doing this get more more views and ads. I try to think of what the reader would ask and hopefully if they see these questions and answers in search they will click on them and then read the article.

        replyreport
        1. Glenn Stok profile image97
          Glenn Stokposted 6 years agoin reply to this

          I agree with you Eric. Any content that answers questions thoroughly should bring more traffic. Even if they don't click any further to go to your hub, you still get 60% impressions for the ads on the Q&A.

          The trick, as I see it, is to make the Q&A useful so it ranks well. A quick short answer is not going to get much Google ranking in my opinion. Time will tell how well all this works for us.

          replyreport
  19. Glenn Stok profile image97
    Glenn Stokposted 6 years ago

    I'm wondering if the person asking the question gets notified when we answer. Or is it like the comment section -- and the only way they see the answer is if they come back to check. Does anyone know?

    I'm getting a few questions that are not clear and require me to ask for more clarity. I feel bad just ignoring these, but it may be the only thing to do.

    replyreport
    1. poppyr profile image92
      poppyrposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      +1

      It's usually "anonymous asked a question." Do they get any kind of notification or do they have to remember to come back themselves?

      replyreport
  20. poppyr profile image92
    poppyrposted 6 years ago

    The questions seem OK so far, but a few times I've been asked questions that are actually asked in the hub, which is a bit annoying.

    I've also been asked inappropriate questions (for example, I write about how to romance certain characters from a video game. Twice I've been asked "does the character get naked??").

    I don't like or dislike the feature so far, but if Bev is right and it generates more traffic, then it can't hurt.

    replyreport
    1. Jeremy Gill profile image91
      Jeremy Gillposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Same. Unfortunately, us gamers tend to have somewhat-juvenile audiences, so we have to roll with the occasional immature question or comment.

      Still, I'm happy overall with the Q&A addition.

      replyreport
  21. Rochelle Frank profile image92
    Rochelle Frankposted 6 years ago

    You get an email message when you have a question. Also you can look on your account page and click on the q&a column ( far right,top) for a list.

    replyreport
    1. robhampton profile image93
      robhamptonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      I understand that I get an email if someone asks a question. I was wondering how or if the READER is notified that there is an answer to their question that they asked as poppyr just pointed out.

      replyreport
  22. Glenn Stok profile image97
    Glenn Stokposted 6 years ago

    Has anyone else noticed that Q&A seems to be delayed with showing up in the Q&A stats?

    I also noticed that the notification doesn't work. I tested it with another email address simulating as if I were the reader posting a question.

    replyreport
  23. Kaitlyn Lo profile image82
    Kaitlyn Loposted 6 years ago

    I think it would be helpful if, once they've completed the rollout, HP wrote a blog post detailing everything about how the new Q&A works and about any specific policies they may have for it. They have very helpful information on their existing tools and programs, so having something like that for the new Q&A would be great.

    replyreport
  24. profile image0
    marcuscaineposted 6 years ago

    I think sticking Q&A into the articles is redundant. Isn't that what the comments are for?! If Hubpages wanted to increase reader engagement, then they should allow readers to comment without signing up for Hubpages.

    replyreport
    1. Jeremy Gill profile image91
      Jeremy Gillposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      I see what you're saying since questions could already be asked in comments. However, the Q&A increases traffic and gives us the nice ability to edit questions for spelling and grammar.

      Also, can't readers comment with anonymous, one-time names? I'm pretty sure they don't have to do the whole email sign-up thing. And since the Q&A is optional, it gives authors a valued degree of choice when it comes to using it.

      replyreport
    2. bravewarrior profile image86
      bravewarriorposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Once upon a time ago, readers who aren't Hubbers didn't have to sign up to leave a comment. When did it change?

      replyreport
  25. theraggededge profile image97
    theraggededgeposted 6 years ago

    To those who don't like the Q&As, why not turn the feature off? Click on Pause at the top of your Q&A page. Then the question box will just disappear from your hubs.

    As to inane questions; just press Hide. OR rewrite it into a coherent, useful question, and I don't just mean fixing the grammar. You don't have to answer anything that irritates you. I know Christy says that it's not recommended, but the moderators haven't touched mine, and some of them get quite a few views.

    Make it work for you (or not). It's completely under your control.

    Edit: I forgot. Smiley face smile in case anyone take offense.

    replyreport
    1. lobobrandon profile image88
      lobobrandonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Let's begin with the smiley face smile

      I pointed out the problem with the question pages. I don't have them, but it is still going to affect me, so I can rant about it. smile smile smile

      I personally would like to keep the option open in case I get new info to add to my articles. But, I don't want to do that as I do not support the feature the way it is. It would look crazy if I had the option for readers to ask questions when I go against it here on the forums smile smile smile

      replyreport
      1. DzyMsLizzy profile image85
        DzyMsLizzyposted 6 years agoin reply to this

        I know what you mean.  I've answered the few I've gotten so far, but mostly, I find it annoying.
        Mostly, I have gotten "anonymous asked a question..." notifications. 
        As others have said,asking a question was already an option in the comments, and we were previously told that comments counted as part of the articles for Google's purposes.
        I have noticed, however, that since this feature has come into play, I seem to be getting far fewer of my 'daily notifications' from HP, telling about comments on articles, updates on forum posts, or additional comments on hubs I am following.  Instead, I am getting only the questions notifications, and the 'daily updates' only a couple of times a week.
        Frustrating.

        replyreport
  26. sallybea profile image95
    sallybeaposted 6 years ago

    i have had the same experience, some are just spam, badly written and not what I want to appear on my pages.  I have had to delete 2 already.  I am starting to dread having to deal with them.

    replyreport
  27. WryLilt profile image88
    WryLiltposted 6 years ago

    Love this new feature! I'm hiding a lot (I get a lot of basic "Am I pregnant?" questions) but I can see how it's going to be fun to answer questions specifically in my niche, instead of having to search for them!

    Since each question goes to its own stand alone page, I'm wondering about the minimum answer. Should we try for at least 300 words where possible? What's everyone else doing?

    replyreport
    1. DrMark1961 profile image95
      DrMark1961posted 6 years agoin reply to this

      I think it depends on the question. I have had several that deserved a long answer and a link to another article that would help them even more. Some of them, however, just need to tell me about their specific situation and the answer to their question is already in the hub. I try not to hide some of them, but basically I just tell them what section they need to read again and to visit their local vet since he can see what is going on.

      replyreport
    2. lobobrandon profile image88
      lobobrandonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Susannah, read my initial post here https://hubpages.com/community/forum/33 … -questions let me know what you think.

      replyreport
    3. theraggededge profile image97
      theraggededgeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      I have answers ranging from 10 words to a couple hundred. I think it depends on the question. I also include links to related articles if it they will also contribute to answering the question.

      replyreport
  28. Daniel Mollat profile image67
    Daniel Mollatposted 6 years ago

    How do you edit a Q&A answer after it has already been live for a few days? I posted an answer to a question but I now find that my answer needs editing to make it more relevant. How do I edit it?

    replyreport
    1. DrMark1961 profile image95
      DrMark1961posted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Open the Q&A on your account page
      Click on filter
      Click on "show all"
      It will show all of your questions and answers, you can edit there
      Thanks to Marketing Merit for pointing this out on another thread

      replyreport
  29. Daniel Mollat profile image67
    Daniel Mollatposted 6 years ago

    Thanks very much DrMark. I wouldn't have figured that out.

    replyreport
  30. Glenn Stok profile image97
    Glenn Stokposted 6 years ago

    I spoke with Paul at the Maven conference about why some q&a go on separate pages and some go in the hub.

    He said they are running an A/B test. Condition “A” goes on separate pages and condition “B” goes in the hub. They are monitoring the results to see which works better for SEO.

    replyreport
  31. SmartAndFun profile image93
    SmartAndFunposted 6 years ago

    I am feeling really guilty. I have been getting questions for a month or two (was in beta testing for it) but have not answered or even looked at a single one. Instead, I just get the emails and feel guilty.

    Ugh. Comments and now questions. I don't know why but I just can't bring myself to even read them much less answer them. Why am I like this? I know I shouldn't be this way.

    Is it ever too late to answer them?

    replyreport
    1. DrMark1961 profile image95
      DrMark1961posted 6 years agoin reply to this

      If you have questions from back in January or early february, I doubt you are going to get page views from the person who asked that question.
      You can opt out of this program if you do not feel it is worth your time. My comments and questions are very different so I appreciate the two sections. If you do not, I do not think any readers are going to notice.
      You can also choose not to answer questions about some subjects. I almost always hide questions about dog names, for example. If someone is asking about a sick dog or trying to choose a new puppy that fits their lifestyle, I am happy to reply.

      replyreport
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