Which feature, if any, would you rather see implemented first on The AnswerBank?

[AB Editor]

 

This poll is closed.

Which feature, if any, would you rather see implemented first on The AnswerBank?

• Ability to upload images into questions and answers. - 43 votes
• 34%
• Ability to modify the format of text within questions an answers, including emojis. - 30 votes
• 23%
• Ability to upvote answers which will have an affect on the "Best Answer". - 29 votes
• 23%
• Other, I will say below. - 26 votes
• 20%

See final stats

Stats until: 00:34 Sat 27th Apr 2024 (Refreshed every 5 minutes)

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[Blubster]

How about a down vote?

[MissTerious]

Actually I don't think best answer serves any purpose. Neither would anything that replaced it
A thank you from the op is sufficient

[ABSpareEditor]

If you click “Go To Best Answer” you will see that I replied to Tilly2.

[burlyshirley]

I'd like BA to stay. I don't want an 'upvote', too much like a 'like/dislike' button to me and I'm not bothered about emojis or an edit function either. In short, I'm happy with it the way it is !

[MissTerious]

Actually I don't think best answer serves any purpose. Neither would anything that replaced it
A thank you from the op is sufficient

It's like getting stars at primary school. Does any aber really take notice of them

[JimF]

Very little in Crosswords where, if a BA is given, it's almost always just for the first correct answer which, by definition, cannot be any "better" than any of the other correct answers which follow it.

[pastafreak]

//Modify text after posting - No. It would make a mockery of any responses posted before the modification. It is just laziness on the part of the posters not to check before submitting.//

But several of us have explained why we'd like an edit function...and it's not because we are lazy.

[Buenchico]

'Upvoting' definitely gets a 'thumbs down' from me! In sections such as 'News' it would simply become a contest to see whether we'd got more than left-wingers or right-wingers on the site. The present system might not be perfect (because, as Barmaid says, people posting in 'Law' have been known to give BA an answer that suits them, rather than to one which is legally correct) but in general it works well enough in 'Crosswords', 'Q&P', 'Travel', 'Technology', etc, as well as in 'Chatterbank' (where, by the very nature of the section, any BA award is likely to be subjective anyway).

One improvement I'd like to see is to get rid of the question box on the site's home page. (It could be replaced by a simple instruction that, in order to post in a particular section, one should go to that section to find the question box. It's the way that many forums work without any problems). At the moment we keep getting people who ignore totally 'sticky' posts (e.g. about Chatterbank courtesy) or posting guidelines (e.g. in 'Crosswords'), which I suspect is because they always post from the site's home page, meaning that they never actually see those sticky posts or guidelines in the first place!

It would also help to make links to posting guidelines (e.g. in 'Crosswords') far more prominent, as it's very easy to miss/ignore them at the moment.

The sticky about Chatterbank courtesy could be replaced by prominent message at the top of the page, providing much the same information. (e.g. "Please only use this section for 'natter and fun'. Posts about serious news stories and political issues belong elsewhere on the site"). That way the message will be visible to everyone who goes into Chatterbank, rather than only to those who can be bothered to click on a sticky.

It would help the moderators, I feel, if we could be given the ability to move a post from one section to another. As things are at the moment, if I see a political appear rant in Chatterbank, I either have to leave it there (possibly with a polite note added to the thread about where similar posts should go in the future) or just remove it altogether. It would be handy if I could simply move it across to 'News', 'Politics', 'Current Affairs' or 'Society and Culture', as appropriate.

Some of the links that are currently at the very bottom of each page could be moved to a more prominent position, I feel. It's hard to blame people for never having read the Site Rules or Tutorial (or for not knowing how to contact the Ed) when those links are so well-hidden down there.

To the best of my knowledge, AB hasn't yet implemented the registration system (used on many other sites) where a new member has to click on a link in a 'Welcome' email before being able to use the site. Such a system acts as a deterrent to spammers, who can otherwise join the site and start posting about CBD and Keto (for example) almost instantaneously. So I'd like to see such a system introduced here.

[jno]

also, Chris, it might help if the word "gummies" were banned for about 10 years and all posts containing it automatically deleted. Except this one.

[douglas9401]

Maybe the more fierce among moderators could pop a short reason for the sometimes random deletions insted of the catchall 'comment deleted' to avoid a lot of head scratching.

It might help in guidelines being tightened up.

[ToraToraTora]

I'd like to see some sort of indication of who is a moderator.

[JimF]

I'd say there's no chance at all of "outing" the mods on here, even though it's essentially standard practice on every other similar site.

[ToraToraTora]

oh and can we have newbies in green like we once did.

[THECORBYLOON]

As only the Mod involved in deleting a post/thread and the EDs know who the Mod was, how would knowing who all are Mods help?

The fact a known Mod is involved in a thread does not prevent another, non-participating Mod from taking action in that same thread, does it?

There are four known Mods and that could be all of them for all I know or there could be dozens more.

If there are more and they want to remain anonymous, that is their choice.

[andres]

Drop the Best Answer altogether. Quite often the OP gives the BA after just a few answers. Then that is followed by other much better answers. Otherwise leave everything else alone.

[Canary42]

The BA and Image options are unnecessary in my view. You've missed what I regard as the most-needed facility (which I have mentioned before so I don't know why it didn't make this poll) - the "Preview" option where the poster alone sees (previews) their post exactly as it will appear - they then have the option to post it or modify it - this eliminates typos, failed links, etc and also allows a poster to see when a word is auto-censored. Other forums which I use provide this very handy feature.

[THECORBYLOON]

The ability to edit would help since, in the time taken to craft a response to the most recent post for example, several more might appear and then it's not obvious which post the response refers to.

The edit would save having to add another post, "that was in reply to X"

[ABSpareEditor]

Buenchico, to be able to use The AnswerBank you must verify your email address. Until you do, your account is locked. All of the spammers who post on The AnswerBank have verified their email address.

[THECORBYLOON]

I hope you're being paid at overtime rate...

[ABSpareEditor]

LOL