Does choosing the right topics make a difference in how well your question gets answered on askville?

I'm finding that it's often quite annoying to try and find the right topics from askville's lists - and sometimes there's topic listings for the same word in singular and plural... Somebody needs to clean this up! Asked by AP 57 months ago Similar questions: choosing topics make difference question answered askville Amazon > Askville.

Similar questions: choosing topics make difference question answered askville.

A little, perhaps. However, it's a matter of courtesy to at least try to correctly categorise questions. I think there are some people who probably only scan through the lists of questions in a few topics which interest them.

Certainly, many more people probably do this if they've been away from Askville for a few days (there seem to be so many questions around now that I doubt if many people who've been away for four or five days really read through the list of all questions asked in the period when they get back). I know that when I'm away from my computer for most of a week I have more than enough to do when I get back without sifting through thousands of questions to see if there are any I can give a good answer to. In that respect, it probably has some immediate effect on who is going to see the question -- and it's clear that you've got a chance of getting more, if not better, answers if lots of people see the question.

Given that experience is awarded to the answerers in the topics which the question asker has nominated, it's only fair to try to pick appropriate topics so that those who spend their time answering the question get due recognition. Whilst experience isn't of any tangible value, and I'm rather skeptical about the likelihood that any of the levels, points or coins associated with Askville ever having any real value, it's the system which is in place and people at least like to see their efforts recognised. The previous point has two obvious extensions.

The first is that there are probably some people who only answer questions which they think have a chance of improving their experience in some subset of topics -- perhaps those in which they already have good scores, or those in which they think there are likely to be more questions in the future. Again, this means that a question with poorly selected topics is less likely to get a number of good answers. Conversely, to some degree, if you've picked topics in which lots of people are desperately trying to gain experience then there's a chance that you'll get lots of answers from people who can't really give you a good answer and are just trying to improve their score... not that I'm suggesting that this is really a good reason to deliberately pick obscure topics; I'm just trying to present a balanced view of this aspect of things.

One final consideration is that carefully selecting topics shows respect for fellow askville users and people who will subsequently look through these archives: if questions have sensible topics associated with them then it becomes much easier to locate questions which one might be interested in, or to locate the details or some half-remembered question. Just my thoughts, as ever...

For sure! It's really important to get significant topics for your questions...it's not vital right after it's asked, as it's on the front page, but once it's scrolled off the first couple of pages, people then have to go through the topics and find that question, and sometimes that means your question is just found by chance. Especially with some of the more "creative" topic choices--those will be buried in the bottom of the pile, basically, once they are off the front pages.

That makes your questions with obscure topics kind of wasted.... I 100% agree the topic list needs to get cleaned up. I wish they would do that! To see "Detriot" as a topic, spelled that way, is rediculous!

There are other instances like this. We don't need "dog" and "dogs" and "book" and "books". Why can't they be combined?

It would make this board much more efficient, I would say. I'm not sure if Askville doesn't want to edit, or just doesn't have the time, or what. But I would really like to see it all cleaned up and organized.

I think we can do some of our own "self-policing" of this, and gently ask/remind people to re-think their topic choices by posting in the discussion area. I think Askville thought that by us being able to add topics to the original ones would teach the newbies about what good topics are, but I don't think that's been effective. *Poppet*'s Recommendations Elementary School Success 2007.

Brand New Quality Product Amazon List Price: $64.61 .

Multipart answer here I just submitted feedback asking for a way to merge topics. I answered some questions his morning that were grossly miscategorized. I won't get points in my leveled topics nor will I get the apprpriate coin payout for good or great answers,because the topic should have been my L2 and L3 topics.

You should always try to choose your toppics carefully. Questions on Askville are Askville,Amazon should be Amazon and so on. If the topic is regarding your body,it's usually health.

Plurals are a huge problem here now. I generally use the plural form for anything that it would apply to. If I was asking about a cat I would use cats,because it makes sense.

We definitely need to have some of these topics merged now,but Askville has nothing in place. Maybe an L3 or L4 superpower would be cool to use on merging topics. Sources: Askville BrainBuilder_is_gone's Recommendations YOU TELLING ME I'M OFF-TOPIC IS OFF-TOPIC!

Large Bumper Sticker Take that! .

I suspect it does If you look at the top ratings for some similar topics, you'll see a pretty big discrepency. For example: Digital Camera - Top rating, 86 by ThoughtMonkey! :) Digital Cameras - Top rating, 145 by phototakeouter Digital Photography - Top rating, 175 by NetJohn Electronics - Top rating, 1023 by EddieNygma Finding the right set of topics will get your question in front of the right set of answerers.

And I strongly agree with you that someone should clean these up. For my above example, I would suggest keeping the Digital Camera topic and dropping the others. :) .

No, not really Askville would like us to stick to topics we're good at, but I don't think most people actually "patrol" certain topics - most either use mTurk to answer questions, which just throws them all at us regardless of topic, or they watch the front page for new questions. I agree on how annoying it is to find the right topics - I always write my own, because, like you said, all the plurals and typos and multiple word topics are hopelessly confusing. Sources: My knowledge .

" "yes,ASKVILLE,I have a QUESTION. WHY is it that I ASKED 2 QUESTIONS, as well as ANSWERED a QUESTION..WHERE are THEY? " "There are some strange topics on Askville that can be added to your question.

What's your favorites?" "A question about Askville topics:" "Is it okay to copy and edit your own answer from a previous question that you've answered on Askville? " "What is the difference between tbe psychology and human behavior topics on Askville? " "How do additional topics get added to an askville question?" "To all of Askville ~ "What was the first question you answered on Askville"?

Please pass this on to all of Askville. " "Have you ever been embarrassed by, or felt you inadequately answered, an Askville question you responded to?

Yes,ASKVILLE,I have a QUESTION. WHY is it that I ASKED 2 QUESTIONS, as well as ANSWERED a QUESTION..WHERE are THEY?

There are some strange topics on Askville that can be added to your question. What's your favorites?

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.