Unanswered thread competition discussion
This is not a good idea and it doesn't address the problems raised in the Most Repped thread.
Simply replying to a thread first doesn't mean you're being helpful. I often have to correct people who posted before me but have given misleading or completely wrong advice. This seems to be a scheme to decrease the number of unanswered threads rather than to reward helpful posters. This will just encourage people to post one sentence, pre-scripted lines like you see in the Welcome Forum. You say you're going to make sure all the winner's posts are constructive, but how will you do this? Are you really planning on verifying every fact and every snippet of information given?
Simply replying to a thread first doesn't mean you're being helpful. I often have to correct people who posted before me but have given misleading or completely wrong advice. This seems to be a scheme to decrease the number of unanswered threads rather than to reward helpful posters. This will just encourage people to post one sentence, pre-scripted lines like you see in the Welcome Forum. You say you're going to make sure all the winner's posts are constructive, but how will you do this? Are you really planning on verifying every fact and every snippet of information given?
Scroll to see replies
Stupid.
My suggestion is that you be able to give post a rating based on different attributes. One of them is helpfulness.
People get badges depending on how funny, helpful or whatever points they accumulate.
My suggestion is that you be able to give post a rating based on different attributes. One of them is helpfulness.
People get badges depending on how funny, helpful or whatever points they accumulate.
Useful but I believe people may just spam to get more points.
People may make dupes using VPNs and then just post on them to get the most points.
This is my opinion and you should probably completely ignore it but maybe members should be voted on how helpful they are, some especially in the chem and maths parts of this forum are very helpful, spending hours of their day working out 1 question and explaining it patiently through many comments and will probably get nothing from it but a thank you, if they are lucky lol. They go unrecognised. Maybe these guys deserve it more than those who just post a lot.
I see that you guys are trying to get other people who make posts and are ignored but I honestly believe that this is not the right solution.
People may make dupes using VPNs and then just post on them to get the most points.
This is my opinion and you should probably completely ignore it but maybe members should be voted on how helpful they are, some especially in the chem and maths parts of this forum are very helpful, spending hours of their day working out 1 question and explaining it patiently through many comments and will probably get nothing from it but a thank you, if they are lucky lol. They go unrecognised. Maybe these guys deserve it more than those who just post a lot.
I see that you guys are trying to get other people who make posts and are ignored but I honestly believe that this is not the right solution.
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by keromedic
Stupid.
My suggestion is that you be able to give post a rating based on different attributes. One of them is helpfulness.
People get badges depending on how funny, helpful or whatever points they accumulate.
My suggestion is that you be able to give post a rating based on different attributes. One of them is helpfulness.
People get badges depending on how funny, helpful or whatever points they accumulate.
Oooh, then each user could have a spider graph showing what type of poster they are.
Original post by mikeyd85
Oooh, then each user could have a spider graph showing what type of poster they are.
Sarcasm?
Original post by Andy98
Original post by LostGear
Challenge accepted
Isn't this exactly the reason why this is a bad idea. People will now treat helping people as a game, which will ultimately lead to poor advice being given.
Original post by Samual
Isn't this exactly the reason why this is a bad idea. People will now treat helping people as a game, which will ultimately lead to poor advice being given.
Exactly. Hence why I said no to the money.
Bish.
Bash.
Bosh.
Original post by Samual
Isn't this exactly the reason why this is a bad idea. People will now treat helping people as a game, which will ultimately lead to poor advice being given.
Bash.
Original post by shooks
It goes without saying, but to be eligible for the contest your posts need to be constructive. We’ll take a look through the winner’s replies each day to double-check.
It goes without saying, but to be eligible for the contest your posts need to be constructive. We’ll take a look through the winner’s replies each day to double-check.
Bosh.
Original post by Captain Jack
Bish.
Bash.
Bosh.
Bash.
Bosh.
Yes, I saw that and I have already asked how you plan to judge what is and what isn't constructive. I really can't see you checking and verifying every piece of advice to make sure it is correct, can you?
Original post by Samual
Yes, I saw that and I have already asked how you plan to judge what is and what isn't constructive. I really can't see you checking and verifying every piece of advice to make sure it is correct, can you?
Yes, it takes us about 60 secs to export all qualifying posts into spreadsheet. We can then read them all. Do not fear Samual, quantity over quality will not win.
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by Captain Jack
Yes, it takes us about 60 secs to export all qualifying posts into spreadsheet. We can then read them all.
I don't mean reading them, I mean checking the information given is correct. For instance, if someone asks "Can I study History of Art at UCL with a BTEC?" and someone replies saying "Yes, lots of universities accept BTECs, I know someone who got into UCL with a BTEC" - you would presumably treat that as constructive even though the answer is no. You won't be able to check every fact, you'd be doing it for weeks.
Original post by Samual
I don't mean reading them, I mean checking the information given is correct. For instance, if someone asks "Can I study History of Art at UCL with a BTEC?" and someone replies saying "Yes, lots of universities accept BTECs, I know someone who got into UCL with a BTEC" - you would presumably treat that as constructive even though the answer is no. You won't be able to check every fact, you'd be doing it for weeks.
That is partly true. It will be apparent who is giving good answers. They may not always be perfect but that isn't bad either - we don't check every post on TSR for its accuracy. It's no different to normal replies across the site. Other people can then step into correct or add more info.
At least a well thought out reply bumps it and draws attention to someone's thread that may otherwise have recieved no reply whatsoever. And if 10 out of 20 replies by the winner are decent. That's ten people who got a decent reply vs 20 who received nada.
That said, we know a fair amount about unis and the education system. We would know the answer to your above example for instance.
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by Captain Jack
That said, we know a fair amount about unis and the education system. We would know the answer to your above example for instance.
Really?
Cos I wouldn't without googling to check that UCL offer History of Art and if they do if they'll take a BTEC for entry without supplementary A levels.
Original post by Captain Jack
That is partly true. It will be apparent who is giving good answers. They may not always be perfect but that isn't bad either - we don't check every post on TSR for its accuracy. It's no different to normal replies across the site. Other people can then step into correct or add more info.
At least a well thought out reply bumps it and draws attention to someone's thread that may otherwise have recieved no reply whatsoever. And if 10 out of 20 replies by the winner are decent. That's ten people who got a decent reply vs 20 who received nada.
At least a well thought out reply bumps it and draws attention to someone's thread that may otherwise have recieved no reply whatsoever. And if 10 out of 20 replies by the winner are decent. That's ten people who got a decent reply vs 20 who received nada.
I don't reply to plenty of threads because I simply don't know the answer. That is far better than posting a wrong answer. You assume that other people will step in and correct any incorrect information, but there is no guarantee of that happening. And even if someone did post to correct an earlier mistake, that person gets nothing - it is the person who made the mistake that gets the reward. Ugh this is such a bad idea, a real slap in the face to people who like helping.
Original post by Samual
Isn't this exactly the reason why this is a bad idea. People will now treat helping people as a game, which will ultimately lead to poor advice being given.
Do you have any other ideas?
Original post by R Dragon
Why did I get a notification for this?
I THOUGHT I WON
Why must you make me suffer....
I THOUGHT I WON
Why must you make me suffer....I got a PM to both of my accounts about this... one of them isn't even accessible!
It's the blanket PM's that annoy me, not the notifiers... I mean the thing is on the "New to TSR" widget so people can look at it when they want to - they shouldn't be forced notifications and PM's about it!
Oh well - at least I know the thing is on; hopefully it'll reduce the unanswered threads. Now what's the best way of doing this? Start from the very beginning of time and work forwards?
Thanks for all the feedback about this month's unanswered threads competition. I've just split this out into its own thread so we can continue the discussion without diverting the original thread.
We've got a thriving community on TSR, but one of the biggest challenges is unanswered threads. If a new member arrives on the site, makes a post and then never gets an answer, they might never come back. That bothers us because TSR is meant to be a helpful resource for everyone who wants to use it.
We know that an active minority of TSR members are really engaged with answering posts all over the site - both those that are unanswered and those that have already developed into conversations. You are genuinely the lifeblood of this site - you're the people who have built up the community that we have today. This project is intended to help you by generating interest within the rest of the community to chip in.
In the office, the CT team often go on unanswered thread missions, where we'll give answers to as many as possible. Every time we see the same results. Threads that were previously disappearing with no posts are suddenly noticed again and develop into proper conversations.
We can't guarantee that every response made as a result of this competition will be 100% accurate - but that is the nature of an online community and we believe it's something that our members understand. By increasing the profile of discussions, we make it easier for people to debate the specific answers, and it's through that debate that a consensus on the correct answer can be reached. We won't get there by letting threads sink.
We have a full-time data analyst at TSR who is checking this competition as part of her daily work. Her database query pulls a list of the people who have answered the most unanswered threads in a day, along with the qualifying posts they have made. The query also checks against anyone trying to game the system by answering their own threads with a dupe.
As with any new project, there are changes and updates that we can make to improve along the way, and we will consider all your feedback as we make those changes. Its overall aim is to get more people making the kind of posts that our most helpful members already make - thus creating an even more healthy community. Thanks for helping us towards that goal.
We've got a thriving community on TSR, but one of the biggest challenges is unanswered threads. If a new member arrives on the site, makes a post and then never gets an answer, they might never come back. That bothers us because TSR is meant to be a helpful resource for everyone who wants to use it.
We know that an active minority of TSR members are really engaged with answering posts all over the site - both those that are unanswered and those that have already developed into conversations. You are genuinely the lifeblood of this site - you're the people who have built up the community that we have today. This project is intended to help you by generating interest within the rest of the community to chip in.
In the office, the CT team often go on unanswered thread missions, where we'll give answers to as many as possible. Every time we see the same results. Threads that were previously disappearing with no posts are suddenly noticed again and develop into proper conversations.
We can't guarantee that every response made as a result of this competition will be 100% accurate - but that is the nature of an online community and we believe it's something that our members understand. By increasing the profile of discussions, we make it easier for people to debate the specific answers, and it's through that debate that a consensus on the correct answer can be reached. We won't get there by letting threads sink.
We have a full-time data analyst at TSR who is checking this competition as part of her daily work. Her database query pulls a list of the people who have answered the most unanswered threads in a day, along with the qualifying posts they have made. The query also checks against anyone trying to game the system by answering their own threads with a dupe.
As with any new project, there are changes and updates that we can make to improve along the way, and we will consider all your feedback as we make those changes. Its overall aim is to get more people making the kind of posts that our most helpful members already make - thus creating an even more healthy community. Thanks for helping us towards that goal.
quote list
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by shooks
snip
I have no objection to you doing something about the number of unanswered threads, my issue is that you have framed this as a 'helping competition' which raises its own problems and (in my opinion) devalues the efforts of people who already answer questions even more.
I agree with you that often once a thread receives one post, more soon follow - but why should the person who posted first be rewarded if they haven't contributed anything substantial to that discussion? It will be interesting to see if the winners ever post a second time in the thread they bumped, my guess is they won't.
I thought this was a good idea at first, but now I've seen that the best technique is to find a bunch of threads you can't really help in and offer some generic advice I'm not so sure. I enjoy helping, but maybe you should have given an award out each day based on quality not quantity. I can't really justify helping in a thread unless I really have good advice to give-it's a waste of my time and the person I'm supposed to be helping. And also a lot of threads that could use helpful replies have already been replied to by Study Helper, which means people may be less likely to reply to them because they don't count towards the contest (presumably).
Quick Reply
Related discussions
- Msc medical ultrasound
- What med schools should I apply to?
- How was the AQA AS 2019 paper 1 and 2
- Request for 'latest' feed option
- who wants to talk
- RAF Medical Officer
- Is The Student Room productive for you or not?
- Fast track to HE in nursing
- Music A level for medicine??
- Medicine Manchester - what does "holistic assessment" mean?
- Biomedical science BSc: Northumbria Uni
- Radiographer to Radiologist
- Rules against using chatGPT or similar on TSR?
- Castle Leazes SELF V CATERED
- SQE2 prep course ULaw vs Barbri for SQE2 April 2023
- Sheffield Hallam biomed to Medicine
- Hku and cu mbbs
- Experiences of online courses at the University of York?
- A Guide to TSR
- Competitiveness of medicine next cycle
Latest
Trending
Last reply 1 month ago
The Student Room Update: New Look, New Homepage and More!Trending
Last reply 1 month ago
The Student Room Update: New Look, New Homepage and More!
