A Repost Question Button request. July 13, 2007 9:41 AM Subscribe
I'd love to see a button (part of the 'best answer list') in an ask.mefi question that allowed (after say 7 or so days) a question to be 'relisted.'
Maybe the 'cost' should be less than 7 days wait (or the same as.) I wonder/think that some questions scroll so fast, that people may miss it; and a 'repost' question' would be helpful. Thoughts?
I'm hungry and I don't want to go to work today.
The Dancer Upstairs was pretty good. I'll have to watch it again tonight.
Why not just ask the same question again in a week? There's a button for that.
posted by carsonb at 10:00 AM on July 13, 2007
The Dancer Upstairs was pretty good. I'll have to watch it again tonight.
Why not just ask the same question again in a week? There's a button for that.
posted by carsonb at 10:00 AM on July 13, 2007
Right, because we're already not seeing the same questions over and over and over again.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 10:04 AM on July 13, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 10:04 AM on July 13, 2007 [1 favorite]
You know what would be great? Is seeing people routinely hit the repost button like clockwork every week for the same damn questions for months at a time.
Wait, that would be the opposite of awesome.
posted by shmegegge at 10:06 AM on July 13, 2007 [1 favorite]
Wait, that would be the opposite of awesome.
posted by shmegegge at 10:06 AM on July 13, 2007 [1 favorite]
There's no question that questions do tend to scroll past pretty quickly. I doubt reposting is the best solution, though. It could be perceived as spamming, it could be that every relevant potential answerer really did look at the question but had nothing useful to contribute, etc.
I'm not sure what the solution would be. The AskMe front page is pretty long as it is, so just lengthening it seems out. Perhaps some tweaking to encourage viewing by category, so that things would be broken into manageable chunks. Perhaps changing the front page to show "all new posts since your last view" although that would be a bigger server hit.
posted by adamrice at 10:10 AM on July 13, 2007
I'm not sure what the solution would be. The AskMe front page is pretty long as it is, so just lengthening it seems out. Perhaps some tweaking to encourage viewing by category, so that things would be broken into manageable chunks. Perhaps changing the front page to show "all new posts since your last view" although that would be a bigger server hit.
posted by adamrice at 10:10 AM on July 13, 2007
Only if the question has 0 responses. And I mean 0.
posted by blue_beetle at 10:16 AM on July 13, 2007
posted by blue_beetle at 10:16 AM on July 13, 2007
One way I could see this working without having an obnoxious footprint on the normal AskMe index is to build a mini-sidebar where "repost!" questions could be listed by (abbreviated) title—the last ten or so to have been resurrected, plus a link to "see more" that'd go to a larger index of these questions. Something with approximately the same footprint as the Meetups reminders in Metatalk.
It'd make a home for this sort of opt-in "still hoping!" question; capping the "bumps" at once a week or every two weeks and requiring it to be a manual poke-a-button process might keep it from being an idiotic mess.
Whether that'd be worth the effort to build, I have no idea.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:20 AM on July 13, 2007
It'd make a home for this sort of opt-in "still hoping!" question; capping the "bumps" at once a week or every two weeks and requiring it to be a manual poke-a-button process might keep it from being an idiotic mess.
Whether that'd be worth the effort to build, I have no idea.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:20 AM on July 13, 2007
This "scroll" thing is a non-starter. More askers is directly correlated to more answerers and there's no reason to believe that they're growing out of proportion to each other.
Most of the questions that go unanswered are either terribly phrased, don't provide enough information, are inherently unanswerable (How do I inflate a bicycle tire with a potato?), or all of the above. If someone wants to point out some questions which they think really would have gotten a better answer if they were around longer, be my guest, but I think you'll have a tough time coming up with more than a handful.
posted by 0xFCAF at 10:25 AM on July 13, 2007
Most of the questions that go unanswered are either terribly phrased, don't provide enough information, are inherently unanswerable (How do I inflate a bicycle tire with a potato?), or all of the above. If someone wants to point out some questions which they think really would have gotten a better answer if they were around longer, be my guest, but I think you'll have a tough time coming up with more than a handful.
posted by 0xFCAF at 10:25 AM on July 13, 2007
Relisting a question will cause longer lists and more scrolling.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 10:29 AM on July 13, 2007
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 10:29 AM on July 13, 2007
What you're talking about is known as a "bump", and on sites that permit it I find them amazingly annoying and obnoxious.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 10:30 AM on July 13, 2007
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 10:30 AM on July 13, 2007
Isn't this what the "unaswered" tab is for?
posted by oneirodynia at 10:30 AM on July 13, 2007
posted by oneirodynia at 10:30 AM on July 13, 2007
Or as some call it, the "unanswered" tab.
posted by oneirodynia at 10:32 AM on July 13, 2007
posted by oneirodynia at 10:32 AM on July 13, 2007
Just purchase a banner ad with a link to your question.
posted by brain_drain at 10:32 AM on July 13, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by brain_drain at 10:32 AM on July 13, 2007 [1 favorite]
"Right, because we're already not seeing the same questions over and over and over again."
ZING!
posted by klangklangston at 10:58 AM on July 13, 2007
ZING!
posted by klangklangston at 10:58 AM on July 13, 2007
Maybe people aren't answering the question because 1) it's too complex 2) it's too obscure 3) it's too vague/broad or 4) there is no answer. Reposting wouldn't help. You can always reword in a week and try again.
I haven't noticed many questions that just slip under the radar because of too much clutter.
posted by desjardins at 11:12 AM on July 13, 2007
I haven't noticed many questions that just slip under the radar because of too much clutter.
posted by desjardins at 11:12 AM on July 13, 2007
Maybe we should just extend the posting limit to two weeks. People loved it that last time.
posted by OmieWise at 11:15 AM on July 13, 2007
posted by OmieWise at 11:15 AM on July 13, 2007
The unanswered Tab is useless (every question initially is there as unanswered.)
The unanswered TAG is useful (if people know about it who ask...and people know about looking for it.)
Mefi is very time sensitive; many people aren't using RSS readers, many people miss questions.
And you missed why some people don't answer "They dont' have time now, but perhaps later."
Basically it's this: If it ain't seen on the front page, it doesn't exist.
I do like cortex's suggestion.
I'd also like an initiative (maybe an automatic email) to go out to people who 'don't mark' a best answer (say after 7 or 8 days).
posted by filmgeek at 12:33 PM on July 13, 2007
The unanswered TAG is useful (if people know about it who ask...and people know about looking for it.)
Mefi is very time sensitive; many people aren't using RSS readers, many people miss questions.
And you missed why some people don't answer "They dont' have time now, but perhaps later."
Basically it's this: If it ain't seen on the front page, it doesn't exist.
I do like cortex's suggestion.
I'd also like an initiative (maybe an automatic email) to go out to people who 'don't mark' a best answer (say after 7 or 8 days).
posted by filmgeek at 12:33 PM on July 13, 2007
desuetude, not everyone is as clued in to RSS readers, tags, etc.
Many well answered questions (where the asker goes "GREAT ANSWER), don't actually mark a best answer.
posted by filmgeek at 1:41 PM on July 13, 2007
Many well answered questions (where the asker goes "GREAT ANSWER), don't actually mark a best answer.
posted by filmgeek at 1:41 PM on July 13, 2007
Oh, well then please modify your suggestion thusly:
I'd also like an initiative (maybe an automatic email) to go out to people who 'don't mark' a best answer (say after 7 or 8 days) but who clearly state within the comments that some of the answers are, indeed, very good.
Can we add an exemption, however, for askers who do not feel that any particular answer warrants such designation for the question in question?
posted by desuetude at 2:06 PM on July 13, 2007
I'd also like an initiative (maybe an automatic email) to go out to people who 'don't mark' a best answer (say after 7 or 8 days) but who clearly state within the comments that some of the answers are, indeed, very good.
Can we add an exemption, however, for askers who do not feel that any particular answer warrants such designation for the question in question?
posted by desuetude at 2:06 PM on July 13, 2007
I'd also like an initiative (maybe an automatic email) to go out to people who 'don't mark' a best answer (say after 7 or 8 days) but who clearly state within the comments that some of the answers are, indeed, very good.
Can we add an exemption, however, for askers who do not feel that any particular answer warrants such designation for the question in question?
How would you make that automatic? Wouldn't it require someone to go through and read all the questions with no "best answer" marked to determine which they were?
posted by Many bubbles at 2:58 PM on July 13, 2007
Can we add an exemption, however, for askers who do not feel that any particular answer warrants such designation for the question in question?
How would you make that automatic? Wouldn't it require someone to go through and read all the questions with no "best answer" marked to determine which they were?
posted by Many bubbles at 2:58 PM on July 13, 2007
Yeah, but they could train an ape to do that.
posted by klangklangston at 3:42 PM on July 13, 2007
posted by klangklangston at 3:42 PM on July 13, 2007
I rarely mark 'best answer' when I ask something. It is built in to the nature of many questions that you ask them because you don't know what the best answer is, even after people have made suggestions.
Also, yes, questions are scrolling off-page too quickly. Something needs to be done design-wise, I reckon.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:34 PM on July 13, 2007
Also, yes, questions are scrolling off-page too quickly. Something needs to be done design-wise, I reckon.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:34 PM on July 13, 2007
Or disemvowelment, maybe.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:14 PM on July 13, 2007
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:14 PM on July 13, 2007
I'd like to be able to specify the number of questions that show up on the first (and subsequent) pages when I'm logged in. Say, 80 at a time instead of 40. Then they wouldn't scroll off-page as quickly... although it doesn't help if you're using an rss reader.
posted by Many bubbles at 7:24 PM on July 13, 2007
posted by Many bubbles at 7:24 PM on July 13, 2007
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posted by desuetude at 9:54 AM on July 13, 2007