Is anyone out there willing to answer questions? Is % Best Answer tracking hurting participation?

I usually answer 7 - 15 questions a day and this stays pretty constant. ~ Is % Best Answer tracking hurting participation? There are some users who will not answer a question unless they feel they can give a 4 star plus answer and likely get the best answer but I do not think they represent the majority and I do not feel this stat measurably hurts participation but it does effect it.

I will certainly will answer any question that interests me regardless of possible or actual competition. ~ Would the ability to comment without formally answering (thus hurting %BA) help improve interaction? We can do this.

Inside each of our profiles there are like, dislike, and comment buttons below each of our questions and this is exactly what the are designed to be used for.. outside the question meta-conversations. Asking for clarity or more specifics in regards to a question using these profile buttons is the perfect way to do it. ~ Is the timing of selecting BA discouraging people who discover the question weeks later from contributing (thus hurting the quality of content that Mahalo might garner)?

I would not say so. Discovering a question late gives the answerer a logistical advantage to getting the best answer as the question might, after answered, go right to voting or if the asker sees the answer in time, be the only answer to choose from when a selection of best answer is made. ~ Why is there such a low contribution rate to answering questions?

(Those that stay in favorites or most popular for days/weeks don't count! ) It is generally accepted by those like @jasoncalacanis (he would know having all the data) that 50% of questions get an answer eventually. I think this is about right too.

~ A lot of my questions seem to get a decent amount of "views," which I interpret as other people being interested in finding out about the topic. But almost no one answers.2 answers in 3 days or even 1 answer in 34 days. I'm a good tipper: $.50, $2, $3, etc. I notice other questions have the same issues.

What am I missing here? I see some of your questions and they are interesting and very answerable but they are 100 miles from easy and many users will answer questions that are easier by that I mean have a more direct answer. Many of the questions you post are quite complex, require thought and deduction, both opinion and fact, research and knowledge, and I feel they are great questions but require more work than most questions.

I suppose you know this because you DO tip very well, better than most, for the information and effort required to answer your question. With the questions you ask of a political nature.. @nancyke11y you are a great competitor in the debate ring and I think some folks will shy away from that debate with you if they know you at all. You will win most debates as you have a larger collection of knowledge than most and have it handy to use when your point is questioned.

Most importantly I think if someone feels they will lose this debate they will not receive the best answer even if they are the only answer to the question. I have seen a few users smartly post their older unanswered questions within a new question. Like "Would you like to answer these older tipped questions?

" and inside the new question are the link or links to those older questions. Even with only a default tip this gets our older question back of the front page even if it is just for a short time. This type of re-asking is great because it is free and usually successful at getting at least an answer or two to either select as best or select nba and get your tips back.

First answer of the morning, first cup of coffee, hopefully this was helpful. :).

Nancyke11y the views on your unanswered questions could easily be coming from people that stumbled on the question via Google, and aren't even Mahalo members. Therefore they're not likely to answer a question. Up til now, if you answered an old question that had remained unanswered for a long time, you had a very good chance of picking up a BA for that.

There are some black belts that got a lot of their tips and points that way. So I think the reasons questions remain unanswered are simply that... a) Once they're off the front page, not many people see them ever again b) They are too difficult or specialized, and most people can't attempt them. (See @davepamn!) As for possible issues with the new voting system, I've made some suggestions here: mahalo.com/answers/mahalo-answers-commun... My suggestions Personally I was not until now put off from answering old questions if they were interesting and well-tipped.

Hmm, one thing I'm finding interesting about Buddawiggi's answer is: I don't even remember seeing one of these political types of questions from you, nancykelly.... It's probably not something I would answer often, but it just goes to show you that there are so many times that the "right" person for your question could just have logged in at the wrong moment of the day... there's such a small margin of time that a new question is on the top of the pile. That makes me think that perhaps there are people who would answer a question if they saw it on the front page, but they don't happen to click on that subject-group on that particular day... Maybe if they did, a question within it would pique their interest enough to answer.... but they are not going into that area and seeing it. Meanwhile, others are seeing it, and find it interesting enough to click on and read, but for those reasons Buddawiggi mentioned, they don't actually make the choice to present an answer.

I'm sure there are times when people just don't feel that they have what it takes to really contribute something? Or maybe they don't feel like it at that moment, and perhaps they intend to come back and do it later, but they forget or get distracted by other things?.... Something else that surprises me at times about Mahalo is that there are little niche areas of knowledge that people have, and we all think, "Oh, well surely there's someone else at Mahalo who knows as much or more about this as me. " But then you'll discover that you who's asking that question is at the top of the food chain on that particular topic, at that particular time.

Others who feel they have enough knowledge and interest to answer really well may just be busy doing lots of tasks, or may be too busy in real life to answer Mahalo questions that week, etc. I also definitely identify with not being overly motivated to answer some kinds of questions, if I don't feel I have a good chance of grabbing the tip. Generally, with something that I find interesting and I feel I have something to contribute, I'll answer. But sometimes not, if: - Someone else has already said pretty much what I wanted to contribute, so there's no need for me to repeat.

-The answer is one that requires a pretty big time and effort commitment, and others have already done a masterpiece that makes it unlikely that my time and effort will be paid off with anything. (I'm not in a situation in life where I can do something big for free, if it isn't all that important to help someone or if there is somebody else who can do it. :) It's certainly true that the more a question asks for or involves, the fewer answers you'll get... Even if they are quite well tipped.

The only ideas I can think of are: 1. If you know of some users who do seem to have interest and knowledge about a particular topic you're asking a question about, and you think they'd like to answer, send them a direct question or an email or contact them through chat or something to let them know about your question. You could even check what time of the day they like to answer questions or something, to be sure that they know it's going to be there and that they'll definitely see it.

2. Another idea is: Perhaps you could make some kind of statement in your question, such as: "Any thoughts on this, long or short, would be appreciated!" or "You don't have to write a thesis on this - just looking for people's thoughts or anything that people know about this. " Maybe some people are feeling that there are very specific, high requirements to answer the question adequately.

Best of luck with more success. I hear ya - even with every effort I make, often I still get far fewer answers than I'd like or than I would have expected to get a few months ago.

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.