Blog Archive: April 2011 | Answerbag

Answerbag news, notes, and announcements.

Author	Post
Author	Post
AB-Rich	April 9th, 2011 at 7:53 pm New home page layout You're not seeing things: the Happening Now feed, composed of the questions and answers submitted by you, has reclaimed its rightful place at the heart of the Answerbag home page. Now you won't have to scroll down quite so far to see the flow of new Q&A. Let us know what you think! 36 comments \| Post one Comments I agree with wellduh. Do something about those bots as well. Report by Nitsua Evets Hates AB Staff on April 9th, 2011 COOL! It's good to see the actual questions at the forefront of the Home Page once again! Thanks! Report by The Chief on April 9th, 2011 Wow, I actually like a change to the site. How strange. Report by Talimze on April 9th, 2011 Gradually, little by little, you are going back to what the old timers like myself missed. It's too bad you lost so many of us. Report by Yarnlady is happy every day on April 9th, 2011 I like the change a lot. Feels more like the "old" times. Well done. Report by Barcaluv on April 9th, 2011 I have some questions. Does this mean that the "Polls", "Debates" "Hot Topics", "Featured Member" etc. sections are gone for good? Or will some of those be re-instated in a different format or layout at a given time? I also wanted to share this link in case anyone is curious about checking out the changes that have happened to AB's layout and appearance through the years. http://waybackmachine.org//http://answerbag.com Report by Barcaluv on April 9th, 2011 I actually love it. Thanks so much, Rich! @Wellduh: The problem with removing those questions and answers is that when you get a post that is removed that you feel shouldn't have been, it would be a bit hard to tell Rich or one of the CLs or one of the other members of the Staff what the link is if it's not right there on your profile. Maybe a fix to this can be that removed material is viewable to the profile holder, the Staff, and Community Leaders only . . . ? In other words, my proposal is to hide removed material from the general public so that that becomes an issue with the administration and the user in question who had removed material only. This would also solve problems with users who truly are embarrassed with things they've asked that they've asked the Staff to remove, but are still frustrated with the posts still showing up on their profiles for all to see. Report by AnonymousGirl on April 10th, 2011 I like the cleaner look. I still wonder why you made the "Contact Us" link so hard to find. It used to be on the bottom of all the "pages" and now you have to click on "About Answerbag" and then find "Contact Us" on the top of the next screen. Report by Mrs. Cleaver on April 10th, 2011 Oh, is that what you did? I thought something was different! Report by Ambrose the Colossal Praying Mantis on April 10th, 2011 AB-Rich: I like the new "keep it simple" look and feel of the homepage. As to the things that have been happening "under the hood" lately, I am missing the extended possibilities to use some HTML code in answers and comments. I guess that this was done as an anti spam measure. Report by iwnit on April 10th, 2011 AB-Rich: one suggestion to the new homepage. As it is basically the same as the "Happening Now" page (plus "Leaderboard" and "Popular questions" and minus "Professionally researched"), why not suppress the "Happening Now" page and show the long list of "Happening Now" Q&As already on the homepage? Report by iwnit on April 10th, 2011 i dont like it really..yall need to change it back please lol Report by MS.TODD on April 10th, 2011 I'm sure you're just stripping down the site for mobile devices. You should get rid of all the graphics and just have a text only site. Report by Mister_Bromide on April 10th, 2011 the answer's pick seems to be working again...at least it shows when you click it...but if you go back to the same answer it no longer shows. Report by DA BEN DAN yanggui zi on April 10th, 2011 It was so long on the other version, that I almost missed that, the first time I signed in to the AB service this morning, and now I'm STARTING to LOVE Answerbag again. You're getting there, so keep up the good work! Report by byankno1 on April 10th, 2011 Thanks, nice to hear you guys like the changes. If the rationale was to optimize the site for mobile devices no one told me ;), but people have been requesting that for a while. Also shielding removed content from display has been on our list, but not highest priority. If someone really wants something removed, I generally go in and edit it, then the next time Google and the other search engines visit the site and update their indexes it disappears. Also, thanks to our tech folks the asker's pick and profile link problems have hopefully been solved. Report by AB-Rich on April 10th, 2011 Well, Rich, thanks for showing us all once again that you guys actually are listening, no matter who tries to tell us otherwise. :) Report by AnonymousGirl on April 10th, 2011 I would love to also see the categories the questions are asked in on the homepage Report by Patti jo on April 10th, 2011 I like it. Report by Shemarq the Wamama on April 10th, 2011 I'm happy to see it, it reminds me of the "good old days" before AB went all "commercial" (for lack of a better term). Good job! Now if you could just bring back the old point system where leveling up actually meant something. 8-) Report by Self Consuming Cannibal on April 10th, 2011 hooray!!! that's good, really! thank u a lot!! Report by Sophie the Valiant on April 10th, 2011 Thankyou very much for changing this as close to back as you have. When I saw it I was hoping it was not a glitch. Report by Arisztid on April 11th, 2011 Thanks! I find myself more and more looking into AB........ Report by Whitehair on April 11th, 2011 the " follow us to facebook" window cannot be deleted and blocks Rick's message. someone told me the blog is about the new homepage. I do like the new homepage. it's simple, and that is cool. cheers Shunyata Report by shunyata on April 11th, 2011 The "new (good old) homepage is terrific! Whoda thunk? Report by trouble ... on April 12th, 2011 Sort of off-topic, and I don't know if this happens to others but when I try to edit a comment, I'm being re-directed to the home page. Can you please look into that? , thanks, Report by Barcaluv on April 12th, 2011 note this question: http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/2476352 when i look at it...the words go outside the box and into the area on the right hand side of the screen... Report by DA BEN DAN yanggui zi on April 15th, 2011 Barc, what I have taken to doing when that happens is to open link in another tab. That way I get the edit comment box. I have no clue if this still works but it did last time I did it. If it works, it is a temporary solution until the glitch is fixed. Report by Arisztid on April 15th, 2011 I would like your answer to this question..thanks http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/2477296 Report by DA BEN DAN yanggui zi on April 17th, 2011 Off Topic When I try to answer a question or click like on the question I get this message: Error Encountered! you are already logged in! Read more: What was the last article you read? \| Answerbag http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/2481584#ixzz1KGyp9pXU Report by Booknight on April 22nd, 2011 Report by Booknight on April 22nd, 2011 I no longer have the previously stated problem. Would someone please remove my goofs -- thanks Report by Booknight on April 22nd, 2011 in addition to my previous question...this one goes outside the box as well http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/2484912#ans10638299 the wording runs right across the page. Report by DA BEN DAN yanggui zi on April 26th, 2011 Spam is completely out of hand again. I have given up flagging it because it does no good. It just keeps pouring in. Report by Arisztid on April 28th, 2011 Stay classy answerbag! http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/2489686 Report by Perryman on May 3rd, 2011 I've been away from Answerbag for a long time. I never was a "heavy hitter" here anyway. But I'm glad to see that you're going back to the basics of Q&A, and ditching all the crap that nearly killed Answerbag after the [redacted] event a few years ago. Now I wish all the old regulars wold come back... Report by Kate Walker on February 18th, 2012
Rachel Globus	April 5th, 2011 at 5:01 pm So, What’s the Deal with Lent Again? March’s Top Questions Photo Credit: Getty Images A couple big things were front of mind for the curious denizens of the interwebs last month: Lent, temblors, and the lovely, late Elizabeth. 1. Why can’t you eat meat on Fridays during Lent? Theories abound in response to the #1 most-visited question in March (17 answers at last count), but congratulations to Ankhorite, who had the top and surely the most exhaustive answer. Be sure to read down to the part about when beaver, capybara and muskrat were declared “fish” for the purposes of Lent. 2. An enormous earthquake and tsunami hit Japan in mid-March, as everyone now knows. The scale of the disaster was so vast, so beyond comprehension, that at first people simply tried to understand what a 9.0 earthquake meant. On Friday, March 11—the day the earthquake hit—the question How high does the Richter scale go? got more than 100 times more visits than usual. 3. The passing of film great Elizabeth Taylor sparked remembrances across the country, which had many asking, *say, how many times was* she married? Thanks to SASSYWI-Q-Sassia-Jetpacking with NASCAR for getting the numbers right—no mean feat. 4. Lent inspired more than one question about the purpose and origin of meat proscriptions. Our #4 most-visited question was What’s the origin of eating fish on Friday? Answers were as varied and thought-provoking as they were to our #1 question—and not necessarily the same. Kudos to one Anonymous user, who nabbed the top-Liked answer with a story about a bargain struck between a mistress and a pope. 5. Do you know anybody with purple eyes?** Well, if to follow a star from silver screen to silver screen is to know them, then yes—for the late Ms. Taylor was famous for her violet eyes. According to kalbert801, “After four years of med school, five years of residency and my fellowship I can definitively state that violet eyes do exist and are natural.” Lastly, kudos to the askers of Answerbag's top questions: Fun Breanne Green wickedwillie MyKinKStar 2old2dieyoung 5 comments \| Post one Comments I guess I'm confused how these questions and "askers" can be the top for March 2011. All of the questions are from years ago and the askers mentioned have been gone from 2/11 to 2006?? Report by Mrs. Cleaver on April 5th, 2011 Good point Mrs Cleaver. Report by Gingerminx on April 5th, 2011 They're top by the number of visits they receive, not by the number of answers they receive (an equally important metric!). So even if the questions were asked years ago, certain events will cause people to have those questions and search for them, either on Answerbag or search engines such as Google. That's why we saw traffic to questions on Lent, earthquakes and Elizabeth Taylor surge in the past month. So, the question or answer you ask today may still be helping people years after! Pretty neat, eh? Report by Rachel Globus on April 6th, 2011 Ah I see how they are chosen. Report by Gingerminx on April 6th, 2011 hmm, I think you mean blue eyes... purple eyes are impossible, and her's were no except. just plain blue. no idea where the "violet" thing came from. Report by AudreyHepburn on April 9th, 2011
AB-Rich	April 4th, 2011 at 12:05 pm Disappearing answers We've had some reports of people's answers not showing up on the site consistently. If you can view an answer individually from the a_view link, but it doesn't appear when you click "show all answers," you've discovered one of the affected answers. We do have a fix for this, but it requires us to process each answer individually. Please send the link(s) to the answer to a Community Leader, or via the Contact Us link, and we'll restore them. Thanks! 13 comments \| Post one Comments Rich, do you mean to send you the address of the question or answer or both? thanks Report by DA BEN DAN yanggui zi on April 4th, 2011 For over the last year, my answers and questions have been disappearing from both my public&personal profile for both my answers and questions. I started to write q&a's in October 2009, but for each question and answer I write, one of the oldest get's deleted. It's hard to explain. I haven't been able to keep up with these and would like to see these oldest questions& answers restored to these lists. I have already written a forum post on this issue, but it seems like you have hidden this post too from your system and seem to crossed it off the "to-fix" list. Forum Source page: http://www.answerbag.com/forums/topic.php?t=634 Report by byankno1 on April 4th, 2011 Send the link to the answer itself as Rich described. The link to the question is self evident from that. :):) Report by The Chief on April 4th, 2011 Thanks Rich. Another problem that occurs intermittently is that I get notified of a comment to my answer, but when I get there it shows no comments. I discovered a workaround for this: Add a comment myself, then all the previous comments will magically reappear. Report by RC loves ice cream on April 4th, 2011 I'm not as smart as everyone else , because I have no clue how to send links , my answers usally show up after about 20 minutes or so , also the same is happening with the comments as RC said , though when I click on the profile page that says comments , it does nothing , I cant get to my comments . Great to see you Rich and so glad your still here with us Report by Patti jo on April 4th, 2011 Rich why cant we choose '' best answer '' anymore ? We need it ! Thanks a bunch Report by Patti jo on April 4th, 2011 well, I cannot send an answer which disappeared. for instance. A asks : How many eggs do you eat each week ? I answer : I eat three to 4 a week. it is only by " accident" that I later see the answer never showed up. so I can't copy anything to anyone, I would therefore have to copy every single question and my answer and store them somewhere, in order to then check them later, and send those which were not posted in the first place to AB. hmmmmmmmmmmm Please SOMEONE FIX MY " asker's pick feature". I like to give asker's pick and I have not been able to do so for a week. it just doesn't work. thank you so much. I know members appreciate receiving asker's pick. cheers and many thanks. Report by shunyata on April 5th, 2011 Thanks all--we're aware of the Asker's Pick bug but haven't nailed it down yet. @RC: the disappearing comments bug/add a comment workaround has been around so long it's almost a feature, but it's never manifested consistently enough for us to figure it out. @byankow1: I can confirm your experience of having older answers pushed off your profile page but this too isn't consistent or widespread. @shunyata: You should be able to view the answers from your profile page (in your case, here: http://www.answerbag.com/profile/1212798/answers/), then right click on the missing answer, copy the URL, and send that to a CL or Contact Us. Report by AB-Rich on April 5th, 2011 Does this apply to missing comments as well? This is honestly one of the most frustrating bugs I continually come across. Comments that I know exists randomly coming and going for certain questions. Here is an example I just came across: http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/2075885 I don't know for sure that you see it the same way as I do, but I KNOW I have commented on every question I 'liked' but I don't see any comments at all. Are you guys making any progress on this type of thing. At this point it has been going on for so long it is just plain embarrassing. Report by buster on April 6th, 2011 this one shows that I didn't answer it...but I clearly did: http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/2470965#ans10553651 Report by DA BEN DAN yanggui zi on April 7th, 2011 my answer doesn't show on this one: http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/2471795 Report by DA BEN DAN yanggui zi on April 8th, 2011 In my 'My Answers page I have: "Answer to: Are Atheists considered Skeptics? Atheists are a-theist, people who do not believe in a god. Why is it so difficult to accept it as that and no more than that ? Why do theists keep on and on trying to add other things to it, such as: - Atheists have no morals - Atheists are miserable and angst ridden - Atheists are minions of Satan - Atheists are skeptics - Atheists are hedonists - Atheists are selfish - etc, etc, etc. Could..." The Question is still there, but my answer have dissapeared. I sort of resent that. Before disappearing it garnered 2 likes. I have reported this via the 'Contact Us' link on the About-Us page, sofar with no response. Report by JakobA I^_^I on May 25th, 2011 In this report: "this one shows that I didn't answer it...but I clearly did: http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/2470965#ans10553651 by DA BEN DAN yanggui zi on April 7th, 2011" The questions have now also dissapeared. It redirects to the 'social-sciences' category page so there must be some sort of reference to that found before it went astray. Report by JakobA I^_^I on May 25th, 2011

Blog Archives

About Us

About Answerbag

Sitemap

Professionally Researched Questions

Legal

Privacy Policy

Terms of Use

Disclaimer

Ad Choices
Follow Us on Facebook

Answerbag.com
Your favorite Q&A site is on Facebook! Become a fan to connect with the ever-growing community of Answerbaggers, share your thoughts and find out what Answerbag's up to next!
Latest Tweet

What is the very worst thing you can do in an interview? http://t.co/3QoM2mLE

Follow Answerbag on Twitter!

Answerbag