What do you do when you see a question on Askville that is obviously meant to be asked elsewhere-such as Amazon.com?

What do you do when you see a question on Askville that is obviously meant to be asked elsewhere-such as Amazon.com I see at least one a day, usually from a newbie, who is quite obviously needing some customer service from Amazon.com. What do you do? Do you ignore it?

Do you send a pm in an attempt to steer the person in the right direction? So you take an answer slot and try to be helpful there (with the intent of helping others)do you send a pm welcoming the person to Askville? What do you do when the asker actually puts their email address into the question.

I'm curious if there is an unwritten protocol regarding these types of questions. Mostly because we all came here at one point for the purpose of getting a question answered. Asked by?

-Cat-? ™ 45 months ago Similar questions: question Askville meant asked elsewhere such Amazon Amazon > Askville.

Similar questions: question Askville meant asked elsewhere such Amazon.

I answer it I answer it, if I come across it...I let them know, this isn't amazon, and if they have a problem, I direct them where to go, also, I give them the phone number to call...and I also email them. I put it up, in case someone else is new, hoping they will see it and won't ask the same question again. I notice most people ignore that type of question, because it never gets voted on.

All I know is, I'd hope someone would do it for me.

Answer it if I can I've gotten a lot of Best Answer ribbons by answering these questions. Here's the deal: we are an online community, but our "landlord" is Amazon. They're footing the bill for this site, which doesn't cost us a nickel.

I figure it's just paying the rent to help out once in a while. Amazon has a link to us on the bottom of every search page. They don't explain what the link is really for, and when someone who's looking for a battery charger for their MP3 player can't find it, they might come here because it gets them to another page.

I'm sure Amazon is hoping that someone here will be able to help out, and if I can find a battery charger for the asker, I'll find it and answer the question. If it's obviously a question I can't answer, as in, "Where is my order #12249785? ," I might try to link up the asker with Amazon's CS.

Sometimes it'll get me a 5 star rating. This place is about answering questions. So I answer if I can.

Sources: Experience .

Customer Service Questions Well, for starters, I don't think there's an established protocol. Everyone treats these a little differently. Mostly, I ignore them.

The majority of these questions are from people that I suspect vacated the site as soon as they realized Askville isn't Amazon CS. Not all of them do, and I could probably be more helpful, but there you have it. For most of the ones I don't ignore, I'll put a comment in the DB that says something to the effect of, "I think you'll need to get a hold of Amazon's customer service, which isn't us, I'm afraid...sorry."

That's not to say I don't answer the occasional Amazon question...but the ones I answer are usually geared more to how the website works rather than "where's my order"-type questions. (With as much as I buy from Amazon, I'm probably an expert in their website! ) I answered a question not too long ago about how to improve one's recommendations; since that was a question that didn't require knowledge of a person's order history or account access to answer, I was able to do it myself.

I've only seen an email address a couple of times (I don't often look at the details of these questions, which is probably why), and it seems to me I reported them as abuse. NOT because they were abusive questions, mind you, but to give the Askville staff a heads up so that they could discuss removing the email address/question for the questioner's safety. I generally don't send these people welcome PMs or compliments; I'm all for welcoming people to Askville, but I want to wait until I'm sure they're really here for Askville rather than customer service.So, nope...no unwritten protocol (that I'm aware of)!

Just do what the rest of us all seem to do and answer (or not) as the mood strikes you.

" I hope everyone answers. Please pass this question on" "Does anyone here actually remember when Askville started? I wonder who asked the very first question?

" "Has anyone on Askville ever asked a question in Gibberish? " "I just asked a question via Askville's "give feedback" feature. Should I have signed it?

" "Askville replaced my new question with the one I asked last week! Why?" "Has anyone ever asked a question on Askville in another language?

I don't think I've ever asked a religious question on Askville during my time here but here's one that has been.......

This question may already have been asked, but I am going to ask again...it's about voting on Askville...

" I hope everyone answers. Please pass this question on.

I just asked a question via Askville's "give feedback" feature. Should I have signed it?

Askville replaced my new question with the one I asked last week! Why?

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.