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Labman said "does anybody know how good an answer is?"
Yes, labman, they do. But, only if the Asker has tried the answer, and found that it worked to solve that particular issue. That, of course, could take much time, and the Asker probably wouldn't come back to "rate" anyone. A "rating" just after the Asker reads the answer isn't really a good rating, depending on the question, simply because there has been no time to try the answer..
You still don't get it, do you Fred? You just had a prime example that belies what you said here and you still say it. To explain to others, I answered a question on PA where I gave an incorrect answer. Fred came along and corrected me. With a properly constructed rating system (see my other post), Fred could have (rightly) given me a bad rating with an explanation. So there are plenty of examples where someone DOES know how good an answer is. The key is you want to head off the asker from wasting their time trying an incorrect answer. I also believe that Asker will come back and rate answers that worked, if given an effective system.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fredg
Another website, answerway.com, uses a system whereby another expert is allowed to rate any question asked; whether it is from another expert or any other. Ratings from other experts have become a "farce". Some only log on, like one person, with ID "intials" CB, to down-rate other experts' answers, out of pure Harassment, and most are my answers. CB is showing in the Experts' Profile there, of only answering two (2) questions! This abuse has happened 4 times in the last 2 weeks.
Other experts there ask questions, and a group of other experts always rate them 5 stars for any answers, just to keep those ID's at the top of the ratings list!
Allowing another expert to rate other experts is a very bad idea, and again, can turn into a "farse".. If you are going to allow any ratings at all, then it should be ratings from the Askers only.
I very much disagree with this. As I just showed allowing other experts to rate answers is important. The system here, where experts have to earn the right to be able to rate has merit. But askers cannot always judge the quality of the answer. If they could they wouldn't have asked the question in the first place.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fredg
As Labman said, anyone can sign in with another ID and abuse this privilege as well. But with good "overseerers" or moderators, those "outright" abusers can be banned; as has happened here before with a couple of ID's.
Well here I admit Fred knows what he is talking about since he has done this himself. The way this site is strucutred its not hard to catch people doing this as Fred was caught.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fredg
Having a ratings system whereby only Askers can rate anyone has the advantage of making those who answer questions do more research before they give an answer; if the answer is not already known to them. Even with this system, not all answers will be rated by the Asker because some don't want to take the time.
This makes no sense. Again Askers are not in the best position to judge the quality of an answer. At least not until they try the answer at which point it may be too late to prevent damage. I don't see how allowing askers only to rate will make people research more. Answerers who truly care about helping are going to want to put out the best naswers they can regardless of ratings.
As I said in my other post here. The purpose of a ratings system is to allow askers to judge the quality of the answers they receive. This is done by rating an individual answer as well as showing a track record for volunteers. The drawback of a rating system is that it can abused and manipulated by unethical people. So the challenge is to construct a ratings system fulfills its purpose while minimizing the potential for abuse. I believe the points I made in my other post would meet that challenge.
Hi,
After reading the previous "books" of posts, I still think no ratings is best. People who really want to help others don't care about them.
Maybe the Admin can put together all this and come up with something that has a "little bit" of everyone's suggestions.
But, satisfying everyone is not going to happen.
To see ratings, I had to disable the "subscribed threads", deleting out all of them, then changing it in "options" to "no subscribed threads". Now, when I click on My Profile, the ratings show up beneath the heading of "No Subscribed Threads", about 1/3 the way down the page. And, Yes, since there is a ratings system, I am interested in seeing mine.
While I still had the Subscribed Threads links showing, the ratings were way down below all of them, at the end.
I know that I myself would never attempt to fix something by instructions that i get on a board without understanding what i'm doing. If i'm not qualified enough to do something, i'll either try learning something about it and understand what i'm doing before i try doing it myself, or i'd get someone who is qualified enough to do it for me.
If i have a problem with anything, i'll ask the question and see if the answer is logical. If it's not, i'll ask for more clarification. If i find it not logical even after further clarification, i'll pronounce myself not qualified to deal with the problem and will get a professional to fix it for me.
However, if i really don't understand what i'm doing, but decide to go by the instructions and mess something up, i can only blame myself for not managing to succeed.
I myself would always try going by instruction for solving a computer problem or a car problem (if i have proper tools), because i feel sure of myself that i can make all the steps right. However, i'd never try mixing up chemical substances, given an order and volume of each substance needed, because i KNOW i don't understand what might happen.
I believe it's up to people to be realistic with themselves, and acknowledge what they can and what they cannot do. I also believe the asker should be responsible for listening to suggested solutions to problems given by people on this board. It's their free will if they will listen to you or not. To use the old cliche (or whatever you spell that)..."Would you jump off a building if I told you to do it?"
Hi,
After reading the previous "books" of posts, I still think no ratings is best. People who really want to help others don't care about them.
Maybe the Admin can put together all this and come up with something that has a "little bit" of everyone's suggestions.
But, satisfying everyone is not going to happen.
To see ratings, I had to disable the "subscribed threads", deleting out all of them, then changing it in "options" to "no subscribed threads". Now, when I click on My Profile, the ratings show up beneath the heading of "No Subscribed Threads", about 1/3 the way down the page. And, Yes, since there is a ratings system, I am interested in seeing mine.
While I still had the Subscribed Threads links showing, the ratings were way down below all of them, at the end.
Three points here.
1) There is a difference between ratings and rankings. Ratings are valuable because (as I've said) they help the asker by letting them know the quality of an answer. Rankings are more for ego then anything else and I don't care about them, never have.
2) You can collapse the subscribed threads or just scroll all the way down to see the comments and Reps. Not very difficult.
3) You still refuse to address the issues I have raised about Askers judging answers.
I believe that the Admin. should check out the other ASK ME type of sites, and see their systems. I have been on several ones, and did use them, (not ever wondering if I was politically correct!!) but now I wonder ..... after reading all of these opinions ....... I wonder if I will be afraid to rate anyone, after reading all of this!!
But for sure, I DO NOT like the system on this site, it frustrates me whenever I want to go and rate someone's answer, I curse when I find that box appearing that tells me to spread the reputation, blah blah blah........then I would rather have nothing, rather than expend my energy and then NOT being able to rate someone!!
Hi,
ScottGem said:
"You still refuse to address the issues I have raised about Askers judging answers."
I am sorry, but all this is lost in your overkill and wording. I really don't even know what your issues are!
I am sure it will come out in the wash somewhere.
I believe that the Admin. should check out the other ASK ME type of sites, and see their systems. I have been on several ones, and did use them, (not ever wondering if I was politically correct!!) but now I wonder ..... after reading all of these opinions ....... I wonder if I will be afraid to rate anyone, after reading all of this!!
But for sure, I DO NOT like the system on this site, it frustrates me whenever I want to go and rate someone's answer, I curse when I find that box appearing that tells me to spread the reputation, blah blah blah........then I would rather have nothing, rather than expend my energy and then NOT being able to rate someone!!
Hi Violet,
I wholeheartedly agree, the threshold on spreading needs to be drastically lowered. Otherwise the frustration factor negates the value.
Hi,
ScottGem said:
"You still refuse to address the issues I have raised about Askers judging answers."
I am sorry, but all this is lost in your overkill and wording. I really don't even know what your issues are!
I am sure it will come out in the wash somewhere.
That's because you are too lazy to read. I doubt if anyone else is unclear about it, but I will try to make it brief for you.
If an asker has to ask a question, then how can they be the best person to judge the answer? In most cases, the only way to judge is after trying the solution. But if the solution is bad they could do damage. So isn't it better for some other knowledgeable person to warn them off BEFORE they weaste their time or do damage?
That succinct and clear enough for you?
Scott<>
P.S. Still waiting for your apology about the drive space question!
How many unique site visitors have we had since the poll was posted? I hope that the 14 that bothered to vote are only a fraction. Only 4 have voted to keep it, and at least 2 of them have made posts wanting changes to it. Nobody posted that the conflicting advice is confusing and they would really like to have rup system to guide them. If many of the people giving answers want to dump it, and nobody is clamoring for guidance, the sooner it is history, the better.
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