What do you think of my plan for cleaning up topics on Askville? Is it feasible? How would you do it differently?

I know this subject has already been brought up numerous times, but I had an idea on how to clean up topics with very little work involved for the Askville team. (Sorry, but having 1 person go through every topic is a huge waste of time and not likely to ever happen. And does anyone really want to lose points in a topic just because it's misspelled?

Or only 1 question has been asked on it so far? What if it becomes a popular topic in the future? )So here's my idea: Anyone can nominate a topic to be merged and another topic for it to be merged into (ie.

I'd nominate "movie" to be merged into "movies"). The announcement is put up on both topic pages, and possibly the main page. Everyone on Askville is eligible to vote yes or no on the merge for a limited time (say 48 hrs).

If a set percentage (say 75%) of voters agree, the topics are merged. Each person's points in the first topic ("movie") are added to their point total in the second topic ("movies") and the first topic is deleted. Asked by Alyanna 46 months ago Similar questions: plan cleaning topics Askville feasible differently Amazon > Askville.

Similar questions: plan cleaning topics Askville feasible differently.

I think that it sounds like a good idea I would say that something to account for questions that had both 'movie' and 'movies' as topics should be included into the plan, and maybe a slightly lower percentage needed to approve the change (though for many of these, I doubt the people voting would have any problem with merging the topics) and some programing that would keep the change going so that the movie category wouldn't be begun again, an automatic change in topics when the question was submitted might work. I would also add a page just for topic merging suggestions, a sort of one stop shop where people can look over all the proposed merges in one place rather than hunting them down. Those cosmetic suggestions aside, I think that you have a very good idea and I hope the powers that be decide to listen in..

Brilliant! UTTERLY brilliant! The only additional suggestin I would make might be that the person instigating the topic merge should perhaps be leveled up in the topics--but I don't care--I JUST WANT IT TO HAPPEN.

Perhaps that could be a Level 3 or Level 4 (and beyond! ) Superpower--the ability to submit a merge, but the voting would be open--but I don't care--I JUST WANT IT TO HAPPEN. What I really like about this is that, like the appeals, this would have an initial rush while everyone's pet peeve topic oddities were fixed, then it would slow down to an occasional one.(My pet peeve favorite?

I'm level 4 in Random Crap. I'm (I think) Level 1 in Random and in Random_crap. FIX THIS, ASKVILLE TEAM!

And CHEERS TO ALYANNA for her wonderful plan! Sources: Personal opinion NancyE's Recommendations Pirate Treasure Chest Full of Gold (Chocolate Coins)! Average Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5 (based on 1 reviews) In case you can't tell by my lackluster response, I LOVE your idea!.

Topics.... Oh, it’s such a controversial and complicated topic here--TOPICS! We’ve had so many battles and discussions over this very thing. It’s gotten a bit better as of late, thank goodness.

Not the topics, but the discussions...not so angry! I am very impressed at the thought you’ve put into this plan. It makes a lot of sense.

BUT, it would only be a temporary fix and something that would have to be done again and again; for as soon as you eliminated the detriot/detroit topic situation, some goofball will come along and add detriot or maybe detrot again! It would be a never ending process of trying to maintain the topics; a never ending battle, more than likely. Plus if we have to get people to vote on something--for some there has to be a "reward" for doing so and if there isn’t some won’t do it.So a few would end up doing the topic voting, and Askville would have to set up a whole new mechanism to enable this voting and the topic changes.

The topic situation bothered me much more until I became active in the Flickr photography community. There, we can tag our photos with up to 75 tags (or maybe more, I don’t know!) about anything and everything, and I consider tags to be about the same as our topics here. I’ve learned that the more tags you use the better; the easier that your photo will be found by someone looking for "scar" or "snarky grin" rather than "face" or "injury".

I understand that the points and gold are what the real issue is here, though. People don’t want to get a few points here and there when they could be combined and made into one encompassing category. But that’s just not going to happen the way they have it set up here.

They should have done that when the site first started--limit the topics possible; offer only certain options that your question must fit in. They tested this site for quite awhile before opening it up to the rest of the world; if they wanted the topics more controlled they would have changed it a long time ago. And it’s their site, consequently, they get to decide just how it works.

Yes, they want our input, but still, they know what they are aiming towards with this venture, and we don’t. There is a reason, I would assume, that it’s set up the way it is, or they would have made changes by now in one of the many updates they’ve made here. I think we have to just accept that the topics are the way they are and will stay that way.

And after all, we do have FUN with creating new topics--what about the Mr_M topic, horseradish, and even random crap, things like that--would we want to be harnessed into a set of topics that we have no input into? I don’t think so! There a lot of creative folks here who have fun with the topics and that’s what makes this a fun place.

In a perfect world, your suggestions for the topics are what we need! But I just don't think they are feasible in the Askville real world at this time. Maybe in the beginning it would have worked.

It would be too labor and time intensive for the developers, and would add even more confusion to the community if added now. I'm for keeping it the way it is; we like the freedom we have in creating new topics, and the price we pay for that freedom is some points that are kind of "wasted" because we can't use them where they should be. The bonus is that we have fun with the silly topics, and make friends, and just have a fun time in general.

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I think your idea is good but may I add something?! I think that is a good idea and certainly better than doing NOTHING! However I can add a few points.

1) I think only "top 10" people on any topic should be able to suggest this merging. Otherwise we will see a LOT of suggestions everyday and it gets sort of messy!2) When adding points from "movie" to "movies" something should be considered. Lets say I had posted a question and had added both "movie" and "movies" as topics.

Now whoever answered my question earned points in both of these topics. When these topics are merged I think these experience points should not be added.So we need a program for implementing that. Some of those experience points should be added and some of them discarded!3) I think the notice should be posted on the topic page not the first page.

This way we avoid a messy first page and also only those interested in that topic would vote.4) Somehow those removed topics should never be accepted by Askville server as a topic. We certainly don’t want them come back again! 5) If there is not enough votes (Lets say at least 100 votes) that suggestion should expire and ignored after 48 hour period ends!

Sources: Askville opinion and experience!Paradise. T's Recommendations SUPERPOWER 2 Average Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5 (based on 1 reviews) How about having a "topic maintenance superpower" awarded to some "especial" Askvillers?!.

Sorting the words and meanings ... I daresay there could be a lot more organizing done for the words used in Askville. Even in this post that Alyanna has started is a case in point. In Topics, we see: askville features, askville topics, askville, topics.

And what about more that I've seen, such as, askville, askvillers, askville members, askville community etc ...? Why have several interrelated ideas floating around in confusion? Yet on the other hand how can we accurately define the precise words we want to use unless we are able to combine some of them? I'm wondering if it's possible to have a "Folder" in which all the minor descriptions can be listed similar to a computer Folder which has a long list of files in there.

That would solve the folder issue but maybe not the files issue as they could be endless. Well, I'm still new here so I will leave it to more experienced heads than mine to work it out. It would be a good idea to have voting on which words would be combined and at the same time make our own suggestions to add to the list, if needed.

Looking forward to some changes, and sooner the better.

" "I think we need FEWER topics on Askville! Do you agree?" "How do additional topics get added to an askville question?

I think we need FEWER topics on Askville! Do you agree?

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.