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Every now and then throughout Answerbag's history, we've added Q&A to our database from various authoritative sources, using staff-maintained accounts. These are usually questions about geographic information that people rarely ask in a systematic way, but that are extremely handy to have around if you really need to know, say, the population of a small town in Kansas:
Very soon you'll be seeing two new characters, Curious Bag (the asker) and Know-it-All (the answerer). Since Demand Media has access to an impressive array of experts and sources of information, this should be an intriguing addition. We'll be able to provide information that otherwise might never make it onto the site, even though it could be tremendously useful to a future asker. And as always, you'll be able to add your own perspective. Here's the first batch; let us know what you think!
P.S. I'm just back from 3 weeks camping and surfing up and down the California coast, in a 1978 VW van ;). Many thanks to AB-James and the rest of the crew for holding down the fort!
I'll have to see how this project develops in order to have a fully informed opinion.
However, as of today forgive me for having doubts about this. (As intriguing an addition as the much-maligned AB Bernice?)
; )
Their bios explain a bit more about our thinking here. In a nut, we want to answer questions that people are asking on the Internet, but that no one has yet asked here. And with the vast arsenal of experts we have access to at Demand, we can get great, well-crafted answers to those questions too.
As always, we'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback. Let us know what you think!
Hope this Curious Bag isn't vying for Most Inquisitive Answerbagger. Things could get ugly. Also keeping my fingers crossed that the home page doesn't get glutted by the same question for every state in the US, every country in the world, every letter of the alphabet, every surname for every culture, every part of a house, etc. Please help keep Curious Bag in check to spare us from facing Spam Bag and becoming more insane than we are already. Hope you had a great trip Rich.
And just to add a quick edit after seeing Galeanda's reply, I think she raises a lot of excellent points, especially about questions being duplicates, in the wrong category and an overall deja vu feeling like AB-Bernice is back in the house. I'll hope for the best but I also hope this isn't just something that is being demanded by Demand Media.
It just looks like a new version of AB-Bernice. I think that your two new accounts should reflect that they are "Staff" and not have a ranking at all like other Staff users. Having them with just these clever names isn't very clear that it's not a single user.
I don't think this is a terrific idea since many users in the past hated AB-Bernice and often would downrate the answers or question because it was just 'some robot' type postings. That would make it difficult for someone who would come by to judge which answer is best if they look at the top rated answer. But I'll give it a try and see what happens. And a quick look at the questions and I can already see that there are duplicates of things that have been asked before. lol!!!
And they aren't placed in the best categories, either, just very generic, that's not good or a good example for others. Like what is this question about pianos http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1608099 doing in Recreation and Sports. That's not right at all when there is a perfectly good category just for pianos. What a mess! Or this question about being a Nutritionist under Autos??? http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1608090
So I think that these two accounts should be held to the same standard we all are, that is, to try to not write a duplicate question and to place their questions in the best possible category.
As far as the Staff Robots go, is it supposed to add some Knowledge to our supposed Knowledge Database?.
This sounds to me like a comment on the lack of quality in the plethora of puerile questions that AB is allowing users to throw at the site..
Surely if we expected a little more from the users we would not need to have Robots to give us hundreds of formula questions which at the moment look rather suspect as far as duplication and content are concerned.
Since we are now accepting quantity over quality in the question department maybe we need the Robots.
We will just have to see how it pans out, although I have my doubts
May we please have them marked as Staff like our late much lamented Bernice
I understand what you're trying to do with Curious Bug and Know-it-All, but in that first batch of questions, besides the problems of duplicates within CB's list, itself, there are also dups that have already been asked (and some already flagged - http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1608289 )
as was already noted, bad categorizing (Who puts walk-in coolers in a HOME? http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1608329 . They go in businesses and storage places.);
answers that don't REALLY answer the question ( http://www.answerbag.com/a_view/7287685 . My sister put in radiant heating in most of her house. And TOH has done this in basements. The question was general, so there's no real way to determine this, unless you give a cost per square foot.);
technically incorrect ( http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1608283 - The question was "windows" not "basement windows" as stated in the source - Putting glass block windows inside a house or office would cost much more, but the answer implies $3200 is IT. AND, the source was a forum where the guy was asking a question about it.)
And, I'm, personally, afraid to flag them, since they are "staff questions and answers". My mod % has already taken a pretty good hit trying to flag spammers' questions and answers.
And on and on... I, again, understand what you're trying to do, but obviously, you need to work out some bugs in these processes.
I think everybody is fine with adding automated content, as long as it doesn't show up on the main page with the normal flow of discussion... why can't this just be sucked into the database in a batch at night or something? That's what made Bernice so unpopular... people kept trying to interact with "her" because she took over the incoming stream. When they discovered how cold and digital she was, they felt betrayed... used... bit-bucketed.
Sweet, thks. Hey did you get my feedback on my profile feature problem? Also the one about the member thats on the site and was banned on another previous account?
Personally I understood Answerbag was for REAL people to ask questions and obtain answers well having a little fun. If robots are going to be asking and answering questions then what is the point in us being here? What if someone comes up with the question themselves but can not post it because you bots have glutted the scene already? If the question wasn't asked then perhaps no one here is interested in the answer.
Why in the world would I want a robot to ask and answer questions, it seems so completely unnecessary.
Dont we have millions of "Real Users", why cant WE ask and answer the questions, isnt AB for People not Robots?
Why dont you have your robots go play the game together, and lets us real people interact here on AB a social site, I dont want to socialize with Robots.
When will the real problems be fixed, the glitches?
Put your vast arsenal of experts on that, it is the most important to the users.
in response to Spicy Hot is an Angel..'s comment on Jul. 31, 04:24 AM
I dont understand the need for having this????
Why in the world would I want a robot to ask and answer questions, it seems so completely unnecessary.
Dont we have millions of "Real Users", why cant WE ask and answer the questions, isnt AB for People not Robots?
Why dont you have your robots go play the game together, and lets us real people interact here on AB a social site, I dont want to socialize with Robots.
When will the real problems be fixed, the glitches?
Put your vast arsenal of experts on that, it is the most important to the users.
I agree with Spicy hot fully
Arent we here to do this?
Why do we need robots?
Is there any need for us as members now?
is it now at the point where AB is willing us away?
personally I think the glitches should be worked out on this site before other features are added
An interesting idea...though I question the need to post such questions as a routine matter of course here on AB.
Certainly I do not object to the posting of questions (and answers/comments) by AB Staff when the need, or even just the desire, arises. Sometimes something specific needs to be posted to address whatever issues are at hand.
However, this takes on the appearance of spamming, in the context of mass postings of huge numbers of questions in a short period of time.
Others have already brought up the issue of holding these accounts to the same standards as the rest of us: i.e.- duplicates, spam, and so forth. So I won't bother going into citing my own specific examples.
But large numbers of questions being posted by these accounts will have the SAME effect on AB that large numbers of postings by certain other well known members here: They bump other people's questions farther down on the list, effectively giving them a smaller chance of being seen and answered. Also, they cause some level of animosity among other users for a variety of reasons.
I do not think it's a particularly good idea, but I withhold my final opinion on this until I see how it actually works in practice.
Oh, in further support of what I posted earlier, I looked at the link again and have noted the following interesting fact:
337 questions (and answers) were posted, all of which were dated "21 hours ago".
This kinda makes my point about spamming (i.e.-mass postings of huge numbers of queations).
The one GOOD thing I would like to say about this is that at least they are all answered; so they don't add to the huge numbers of unanswered questions already posted here on AB, which grows ever larger day by day.
337 questions in such a short time, though: I can already picture the response of one certain AB member in protest of that ability, because he cannot do the same thing.
Thank you all very much for sharing your thoughts and concerns with us — we sincerely appreciate it.
We're definitely excited about this early test of publishing expert-researched answers on Answerbag, but we're treading lightly as we explore the ramifications of doing so.
As some have posted, asking duplicate questions (either of "ourselves" or of other members' questions) doesn't add value to Answerbag, and we're looking to fix that flaw in our process going forward.
This is an initial test with 500 new questions by the time we're done getting them published on the site. We are doing them in large batches, but measures have been taken (again, as referenced earlier in the comments here) to ensure that we don't take over the homepage or dominate other sections.
Be assured that we're listening to your feedback closely. We will learn — from you! — as we go. and make sure that these early issues — consistency of format, duplicates, etc — are handled properly going forward. Thanks for caring so much about Answerbag!
This is why we get the bots.
On my state song lyrics questions I have now received two more DRs (-2) and this answer. http://www.answerbag.com/a_view/7298284 Friendly, nice with a LOL at the end, but this shows why staff is turning to bots instead of us asking our own questions.
One note I wanted to address was the notion of "The Curious Bag," and by extension "The Official Know-It-All," as "bots." It's definitely true that their postings are an automated import on our end, but it's far from the case that they're robotic. The answers they're posting aren't spidered from other websites in a mechanical process.
Rather, we're employing the services of various experts and writers, whom we require to conduct and show research on the questions they're answering. (That's why we have the source URLs; we want to show that the answer isn't made up, but sourced from a reputable site or institution.)
To be clear, our goal here is *not at all* to replace you, the fully human members who power Answerbag. Instead, we're aiming to attract new members and visitors who get pulled in from the new topic we address that we otherwise wouldn't have — in hopes that some of those new folks will then post and answer other questions, benefiting all of us!
in response to Lex Friedman's comment on Jul. 31, 12:08 PM
Thanks again for your continued feedback.
One note I wanted to address was the notion of "The Curious Bag," and by extension "The Official Know-It-All," as "bots." It's definitely true that their postings are an automated import on our end, but it's far from the case that they're robotic. The answers they're posting aren't spidered from other websites in a mechanical process.
Rather, we're employing the services of various experts and writers, whom we require to conduct and show research on the questions they're answering. (That's why we have the source URLs; we want to show that the answer isn't made up, but sourced from a reputable site or institution.)
To be clear, our goal here is *not at all* to replace you, the fully human members who power Answerbag. Instead, we're aiming to attract new members and visitors who get pulled in from the new topic we address that we otherwise wouldn't have — in hopes that some of those new folks will then post and answer other questions, benefiting all of us!
Sorry but four questions in a row asking what is the average price of Health Insurance, albeit the questions have one word difference is SPAM, it is not adding anything to the database, apparently they cannot be removed as duplicates and no matter how Expertly they are answered the answer must be the same.
Please explain how this is going to pull in new members?
Maybe we would not be 3 % plus down on traffic in the last month if more of the Glitches had been removed instead of giving us resident Spammers, because since my last comment I have looked at these robots and I am afraid that is exactly what they are Spammers that now we have no right or chance to remove.
Answerbag has been taken out of the hands of its human users and handed over to the Robots. If this is what we are to become , you may bring in people but you will lose a lot more and the ones you bring in will not stay. Those of us that have cared about the site and stuck as users no matter what, are to be sidelined for Spamming Robots. Good Idea.
Hopefully this is just an experiment
in response to Lex Friedman's comment on Jul. 31, 12:08 PM
Thanks again for your continued feedback.
One note I wanted to address was the notion of "The Curious Bag," and by extension "The Official Know-It-All," as "bots." It's definitely true that their postings are an automated import on our end, but it's far from the case that they're robotic. The answers they're posting aren't spidered from other websites in a mechanical process.
Rather, we're employing the services of various experts and writers, whom we require to conduct and show research on the questions they're answering. (That's why we have the source URLs; we want to show that the answer isn't made up, but sourced from a reputable site or institution.)
To be clear, our goal here is *not at all* to replace you, the fully human members who power Answerbag. Instead, we're aiming to attract new members and visitors who get pulled in from the new topic we address that we otherwise wouldn't have — in hopes that some of those new folks will then post and answer other questions, benefiting all of us!
Lex,
I understand the sources, but when you use shopping sites as sources... Well, my understanding was that those were to be considered spam, unless they specifically answered the questions. Some of those questions are WAY to general to be sourced by ONE website, even if the numbers (costs) are listed there. And on one of my examples, above, it was even CLOSER to what we would normally flag as spam (I think it was one of those about vehicles... It started with a "Make/Model question/answer thing).
Also, would you address whether we can can flag these questions as such, and get a fair review, as they are by STAFF? It sounds like there might be some difficulty in convincing staff mods that staff questions or answers are spam. And many of us have seen answers with ANY type of link flagged as spam AND ACCEPTED. I mean, I've had at least one of my answers flagged as spam, when I included a link to my personal website, where I don't make ANY money from anyone, including from Google ads (right now).
Of course, it would be helpful if we had the actual rules used by staff mods to do our moderation, but since it seems to be so fluid, I'm sure it would be out of date the second it was published.
Thanks for helping us understand, taking what we all are saying seriously, and for keeping us informed.
in response to BigDaddyBS's comment on Jul. 31, 01:33 PM
Lex,
I understand the sources, but when you use shopping sites as sources... Well, my understanding was that those were to be considered spam, unless they specifically answered the questions. Some of those questions are WAY to general to be sourced by ONE website, even if the numbers (costs) are listed there. And on one of my examples, above, it was even CLOSER to what we would normally flag as spam (I think it was one of those about vehicles... It started with a "Make/Model question/answer thing).
Also, would you address whether we can can flag these questions as such, and get a fair review, as they are by STAFF? It sounds like there might be some difficulty in convincing staff mods that staff questions or answers are spam. And many of us have seen answers with ANY type of link flagged as spam AND ACCEPTED. I mean, I've had at least one of my answers flagged as spam, when I included a link to my personal website, where I don't make ANY money from anyone, including from Google ads (right now).
Of course, it would be helpful if we had the actual rules used by staff mods to do our moderation, but since it seems to be so fluid, I'm sure it would be out of date the second it was published.
Thanks for helping us understand, taking what we all are saying seriously, and for keeping us informed.
BD I tried to flag a couple of the questions I mentioned in my second post as Dupes and they will not even take a Flag. Maybe my Browser is messing up but I doubt it. I am afraid we are stuck with Dupes and Spam and nothing we can do about it.
in response to BigDaddyBS's comment on Jul. 31, 01:33 PM
Lex,
I understand the sources, but when you use shopping sites as sources... Well, my understanding was that those were to be considered spam, unless they specifically answered the questions. Some of those questions are WAY to general to be sourced by ONE website, even if the numbers (costs) are listed there. And on one of my examples, above, it was even CLOSER to what we would normally flag as spam (I think it was one of those about vehicles... It started with a "Make/Model question/answer thing).
Also, would you address whether we can can flag these questions as such, and get a fair review, as they are by STAFF? It sounds like there might be some difficulty in convincing staff mods that staff questions or answers are spam. And many of us have seen answers with ANY type of link flagged as spam AND ACCEPTED. I mean, I've had at least one of my answers flagged as spam, when I included a link to my personal website, where I don't make ANY money from anyone, including from Google ads (right now).
Of course, it would be helpful if we had the actual rules used by staff mods to do our moderation, but since it seems to be so fluid, I'm sure it would be out of date the second it was published.
Thanks for helping us understand, taking what we all are saying seriously, and for keeping us informed.
BD, I have to agree with you. Having checked out some of the questions and answers I think they are just thinly disguised spam.
- Relationship advice
- Brain teasers, trivia & jokes
- Random questions
- And much more!
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