xp files blue'.Taking the 2 week limit off the table (as it is in testing until the end of Feb), what other approaches do you think could help ask mefi scale beyond a few thousand strangers answering each others' questions on a single page?Here's three:
1 per month for the first year, then 15 (or whatever number ed.) per year, with the reset date being your sign-up date. Still a little complicated, but not too bad..posted by Chuckles at 2:04 PM on January 8, 2007
There might still be a spike in questions around that fateful day in November, but it can't be too important.
I think too many people equate faster with too fast, just like I think too many people end up being NIMBYs when it comes to development. It's not the questions they're objecting to— it's the growth, flat-out. That's where they're losing their "sense of community," and seeing more traffic on their shaded streets. And it evidences just as much a sense of entitlment as any of the "Answer my $5 question" comments do.but personally, I think it is trumped by !Jim's:
The fact that I can just incidentally see something and think, "You know what, I do have something intelligent to say about that" lends a whole new perspective to topics, which would probably otherwise be answered by the same 10 people who consider it their forte.I think a reasoned adjustment in the posting limit rules will improve question filtering, and this is MetaFilter, after all..
If only there were a way to:posted by Eideteker at 5:11 PM on January 8, 2007
1. Bank 1/4 of a question per month, up to a maximum of 3 banked questions (basically, a year's supply), non transferrable.
2. Prevent/screen more and more duplicates/easily googleable queries on AskMe to prevent scrolling off. Mini-mods with an approval queue just sounds like a nightmare, though.
posted by Eideteker at 9:08 PM EST on April 4
This is true. I never read AskMe unless I'm specifically linked to a question, and the universe hasn't collapsed in upon itself yet. I wonder what percentage of users have posted more FPPs than AskMes. I'm over the "one AskMe question per FPP or bestanswer" idea, but I still think people should be contributing to MeFi if they're going to put a drain on the community by using AskMe. Maybe along the lines of what Jess suggested in terms of a waiting period, add a clause that you have to have at least attempted an FPP before asking your first question. But that still leads to junk FPPs.
I dunno, I just don't like the idea of people signing up (and paying $5, sure), just to use the knowledge base without contributing. But there's no algorithm I can think of that monitors contributions discourages crap. Giving someone one question per ten answers means you get a bunch of crappy one line noise for answers, because people are greedy for questions. But I do know that I find AskMe unreadable in its present state, so I rarely contribute anymore. Occasionally I'll remember to search for things tagged with keywords pertaining to my specialty, but that's too much work and too narrow a field.
posted by Eideteker at 1:26 PM EST on August 5
Actually, I remember a proposal I made once before but can't remember in which thread. I suggested letting users get one question per month, with up to four of those being bankable (you can accrue up to four questions). And if that didn't sound complicated enough to code, you could transfer the questions to a user who had already used theirs for the month (put a "Donate your questions?" link on the profile page or something). Questions asked that are over the asker's monthly limit get put into a waiting list, where donors can review them for urgency (My mom needs a kidney... vs. What wallpaper should I choose?). Questions that don't get bumped off the waiting list simply get posted when the querent's month is up (not on the first of the month; that would be suicidal). Donors might do this out of community spirit, but if not enough people are donating, maybe you could build a system where donors of enough questions (100?) earn points for a free gift membership for a friend or something (you'd also have to code up the gift membership thing). I think that would glut the page, though, and that the small stream of regular donations would be enough for the most urgent and immediate of questions.
It's actually not that complicated, but would require basically rebuilding the system from the ground up. But I figured I'd throw it out there. I like that people who have to ask questions would still be able to, but that frivolous questions would have a higher cost to the asker, reducing their overall frequency (and by the absence of their example, reducing their overall tendency). Questions right now are so "cheap" that they can be asked indiscriminately. I've basically raised the price, but also placed them into a merit-based system (oh, and as an added bonus, you can hide the usernames on the waitlist page so it's not a popularity contest).
posted by Eideteker at 1:52 PM EST on August 5
posted by mediareport at 8:05 AM on January 8, 2007