Ask a Question Chaos

[a5cent]

Ever more registered members are starting to ask questions in the 'Ask a Question' forum. It appears this forum is becoming a catch-all forum, for those members who can't find or are too lazy to look for the forum that suits their thread's topic:

Here are a few examples:

Thread	Question	Where it should be located
thread	What do you think of the XBM app?	WP Apps or WP8.1 Developer Preview forum
thread	Flashlight app suggestions?	WP Apps forum
thread	IE 11 Closes itself...?	WP 8.1 Developer Preview forum

All of those threads were started by registered members. When I last looked, at the time of posting, 20 of 30 threads were started by registered members, yes, 66%.

The threads started by unregistered folk tend to be easily answered and for the most part, not very interesting for registered members. These are the types of questions the 'Ask a Question' forum was intended to help with. For the most part, these threads stick to the very simple Q&A format.

The threads started by registered members tend to be neither trivial nor boring however. Some of them boarder on the verge of debates, rather than just Q&A's. Most importantly, for every such question posed by a registered member, there would exist a more suitable forum. IMHO these threads would better serve the community, if they were created (or moved) to the forum where most would expect to find them.

So, my question is, what is our policy here?

Wouldn't it be better if one of us moved all the posts by registered members to the forums where they'd actually belong? Shouldn't we than all adopt some policy to discourage registered members from posting there in the future?

 

[snowmutt]

Maybe we need to PM the members and move the question to the correct forum. I am not against this, but that alone would be a full time job.

I am glad you brought this up though a5ent. I was actually thinking the same things the last couple of strolls down that forum.

The Ambassadors are doing a great job dealing with this thread. I am in favor of helping them out.

 

[Guytronic]

I'd move things like this out of the ask a question forum.

Threads in that forum should only last until a valid question is answered.
Debates and non-relevant discussion should be moved\merged out of "Ask a question" especially if the asking party replies a resolution.

 

[a5cent]

Thanks for your feedback guys! Always helpful to hear what you think!

Maybe we need to PM the members and move the question to the correct forum. I am not against this, but that alone would be a full time job.

Exactly. That is the big question. How do we communicate and enforce correct usage of this forum, without making our lives miserable?

We already had a sticky titled 'What is this forum for?'. In it hopmedic nicely explains that the forum is intended primarily for non-members, but unsurprisingly it is being ignored by most. I just renamed that to: Already a registered member? Read why this forum isn't for you.' I'm not very happy with that title. I'd prefer a positive spin rather than 'this is not fo you'. I just couldn't think of anything better. If you can feel free to improve it. Anyway, it's a first step...

The second step is to have one of us move all the member-posted threads to where they actually belong. That shouldn't be too much work, but that can't be an indefinite/recurring task!

That brings us to the third and most important step: How do we discourage members from continuing to post in that forum?

I like Snowmutt's suggestion to send a PM to each member who posted in that forum, and who's thread we move. I just don't want to be doing that indefinitely. My suggestion would be that we do that once, only during our initial clean up. Afterwards, I'd prefer to just aggressively close member-posted threads in that forum and be done with it. I'd suggest that each closed thread include a standard phrase politely explaining why. That should help explain the situation to everyone, including those who don't get a PM.

Alternatively, we could ask James for a more rigours approach, where tech could just technically prevent members from opening threads in that forum. I don't know if that is a good idea, but it would certainly solve this issue.

Whatever we do, we probably don't want to discourage members from visiting that forum and helping us answer questions.

So, what do you think?

 

[Guytronic]

Are the threads or posts started in Ask a Question triggering the hold for moderation thing?
I thought they were, couldn't recall though.

I was wondering if all new threads being place by anyone in Ask a Question could be moderated so we could eyeball them and make a judgement about where they need to be.

 

[a5cent]

Are the threads or posts started in Ask a Question triggering the hold for moderation thing?
I thought they were, couldn't recall though.

I was wondering if all new threads being place by anyone in Ask a Question could be moderated so we could eyeball them and make a judgement about where they need to be.

Assuming there is no difference to other forums, yes, every post by non-members (or members with very few posts) will require moderator approval. Posts by regular members likely will not though.

Anyway, after initial clean up, I'd prefer to just close member-posted threads in that forum right away. That isn't very polite, but I'd hope folks would eventually get the message and post their threads in the correct forum on their own, without requiring as much work from us.

We could also tell Ambassadors not to answer member-posted threads in that forum, giving preferential treatment to those threads that were posted where they belong.

 

[Guytronic]

Anyway, after initial clean up, I'd prefer to just close member-posted threads in that forum right away. That isn't very polite, but I'd hope folks would eventually get the message and post their threads in the correct forum on their own, without requiring as much work from us.

We could also tell Ambassadors not to answer member-posted threads in that forum, giving preferential treatment to those threads that were posted where they belong.

I think the closing of posts by members may be the best idea for training (helping) existing members to understand.

The Ambassadors are a very good source for redirects.

Looks like Android Central has a number of current users posting in Ask a Question also.
Ask a Question is throwing a lot into an already overflowing pot.

 

[Laura Knotek]

Andreas,

That's a great point.

The team leaders on the other sites mentioned this problem during the team leader meeting on 19 June. I was not part of the meeting, since I had prior obligations, but I saw the notes.

James was going to write up a post and sticky it explaining that registered members should use the regular forums, not Ask a Question.

I'll email this thread to James, since it appears that all sites need this clarification.

 

[James Falconer]

Will clarify this in the morning folks... On the road ATM

 

[Muessig]

Personally I think we should have a canned reply and treat this as we do with developer spotlight. We make it clear registered users should use a relevant forum and we will move or close threads appropriately. We only pm once after the first violation and repeat offenders have been warned and their threads are just locked, maybe worth a redirect to their issue or something similar.

 

[James Falconer]

Howdy all. I've posted a sticky in Ask a Question... you can view it here: http://forums.windowscentral.com/ask-question/292973-who-should-post-ask-question-forum.html

I've made it clear in the sticky that members should post in the most appropriate forum. However, if they need a super-quick response, I have no problem with them posting in there. We don't want to turn anyone away (member or guest) from this forum, as it is helping power development of our new Q&A feature.

Once a member question is answered correctly, you can tag it (per the new Q&A Feature here: http://forums.mobilenations.com/for...new-q-feature-how-you-can-help.html#post10991) and move it to the most appropriate forum.

Also, I'm OK with creating a canned reply (Muessig) if this will help in reaching out to members to clarify. Perhaps run that by me before putting into play.

 

[James Falconer]

@Aperture - saw your post right now, and that's OK... deleting posts is not a good idea... keep referring folks to the sticky, and be sure to tag using the Q&A feature mentioned above. You can also move the thread to the most appropriate forum once it has been answered.

Q&A development is still going well... we're getting closer... but still need your help tagging threads and marking best answers!

 

[Pete]

James, I think that it might be an idea to clarify when it's appropriate to move threads. Is moving them as soon as we see them (answered or not) ok for obviously non-urgent questions from forum members (i.e. those people who have previously registered and posted in the main forums)?

 

[James Falconer]

You can move them as soon as the thread has been tagged, and a best answer has been selected.

 

[James Falconer]

Updated the guide as well.