Question

Topic: Our Forum

Why Should Questions On Weekends Be Left Open.....

Posted by Anonymous on 9/20/2004 at 8:35 AM ET 262 Points
Points to be awarded to people who come up with best practice recommendations, support and reasons for the following:

Questions posted on Fridays or weekends should be left open for at least the duration of Monday (and remember think global time zones here not just Americas) to allow sufficient time for members to consider the question, ponder a response and post.

Have some fun with this one...

Cheers
To continue reading this question and the solution, sign up ... it's free!
SUBSCRIBE
Or, SIGN IN

RESPONSES

  • Posted by telemoxie on 9/20/2004 at 8:44 AM Accepted
    I think questions should be left open at least a week. Some of the very best comments I have read come from very busy people - and they have more to do than watch MarketingProfs full time. And some of the very best posts I have read are an ongoing discussion between experts, and this takes time.
  • Posted by Carl Crawford on 9/20/2004 at 9:14 AM Accepted
    hi Jason,

    YES i totally agree with you on that one. There have been a few times lately where i would have liked to answer a question but the poor person does not seen to understand that if you leave the question open longer you will get more answers.

    most of the time i think that the person gets the answer they need and/or are just trying not to be rude to people by awarding points to them for there answer.


    recommendations:

    * make it impossible to close the question with in the first 24 hours.

    this might be bit of a technical problem but it should help.

    * have double close question page

    eg the first time they click close they should then be prompted : "Are you sure you want to CLOSE the question.
    If you leave the question open for more than 24 hours you will have had the best chance of getting the answers you seek." or something along these lines

    * you could start doing what i am doing and tell new member not to close there question to quickly and to wait at least 24 hours to get the best benefits of this forum.

    * you could give them a 24 waiting period AFTER the question is closed to be able to re activate it. All you need to do is more the newly closed questions to a special part of the forum where they have a time saying how long until they close for good.

    * maybe you could make it so that you can award part of the point to someone how has giving a good answer, so they get some point straight away and then there are still some points left over for the rest of the people (this will present a technical problem and could also lead to more problems than answers)

    *make it clear that if you close a question ALL your points that you have put on to this question will be awarded and the question will close. FLASHING RED BANNEDacross the middle of the screen might do the trick .

    * you could have a very short SEPERATE EMAIL to new people that in forms them IN BULLTET POINTS about the time a question should be open and a couple of MAIN forum rules. be about half a page with big lettering.

    if i think of anything else i will post back.

    Have a nice day

    Carl Crawford
  • Posted by Carl Crawford on 9/20/2004 at 9:16 AM Member
    oh i see Vevolution and i are thinking along the same lines. Great minds Do think alike.
  • Posted by Peter (henna gaijin) on 9/20/2004 at 2:50 PM Accepted
    I agree with what Vevolution said - it is the question author that chooses when to close a question (until an open question gets too old, at which time KHE Staff has to close it for them).

    KHE has made some changes to the system to try to reduce people from closing questions too early. The messages sent to a Author explaining the process have been modified some to try to make sure people udnerstand about closing questions, and it seems that less people are closing questions early now than they were in the past (though that is just my impression, not based on statistics).

    Oh, in response to Carl - there is nothing to prevent you from answering a closed question (besides not being able to get points). The system allows people to answer closed questions and the author will still get your answer.
  • Posted by SRyan ;] on 9/20/2004 at 4:35 PM Accepted
    Support for Jason's Weekend Theory of Open Questions:

    Askers should definitely leave them open for a while, because there may be those of us who post answers late at night on Saturday after enjoying too much wine. On Monday I can take a sober look at the same question ...and correct or apologize for what I might have already written.

    Shelley ;]
  • Posted by telemoxie on 9/21/2004 at 9:28 PM Accepted
    I agree, Virago, the number of open questions on the main page should be increased.

    I do not see what the rush is. Can we schedule insight and creativity? I'm just not sure that knee-jerk immediate reactions to questions are always the best answers. I've had several situations where I have cooresponded with the author, have thought for a day or so, possibly even done a bit of research on rare occasions, and when I went back with the hopes of posting a quality answer, the question was closed...

    ... which wouldn't be quite so bad, except that your well thought out and "too late" answer will then be referenced on your profile page in red...
  • Posted by telemoxie on 9/21/2004 at 10:52 PM Accepted
    I have just posted a response to your closed question, "Easy way to compare market effectiveness". If you take a look at my profile above to the right, you will see that this has been flagged in red, as though it is a bad thing.
  • Posted by telemoxie on 9/25/2004 at 2:59 PM Member
    Upon reflection, I believe people's opinions on "how long a question should be left open" will be related to their preferred method of answering questions.

    If one simply cuts and pastes a standard response, saying "Here are some links" or "check previous answers" - then the one who responds first "wins", and that person would benefit from closing questions rapidly (especially since the points would be distributed to fewer people). But does this address the underlying issues of the person posting the question?

    My preferred style is to engage the questioner in a conversation. I like to ask some questions, to get some information, and to reflect on the situation. Quite often, the truly important issues in a situation are not described in the initial question. Sometimes I may do a bit of research. And I'm busy running a small business, and raising a family - with my high school aged daughter on the computer in the evenings, I may not get to MarketingProfs every single day.

    In one particular situation, someone had asked a question, the person and I had traded some posts, we finally had the information we needed to address her issue... but the question was closed. What is the hurry?

    Maybe my approach is too slow-paced for this instant gratification world - but I have observed that the questions which are left open for lengthy and open discussion and debate sometimes provide some excellent and targeted advice. And it seems to me that this perspective and advice is the chief benefit and potential of this forum. If you just want links and pat answers, do a google search.

    Take care,

    Dave Krehbiel
    aka TeleMoxie
BACK TO TOP

Post a Comment

Related Discussions

Community Info

Top 25 Experts
(Our Forum)