Should top contributors be obliged to make their questions and answers public?
4 out of 10 top-contributors in the Global Warming section have made their Q's and A's private. Should those who wish to enjoy the status and authority that comes with the title of top-contributor, be obliged to give insight in the questions and answers that granted them this title? Isn't the purpose of this site to share knowledge? What good is a contribution if these contributions then are private? I think this is especially important in the Global Warming section. Something of a debate has started here, and if people claim to be the the "top answerer in the Global Warming section in Yahoo Answers and one of the most knowledgeable people in that subject and Alternative Fuel Vehicles", enter debate with that authority, i think it is essential for the debate to know where such a person is coming from.
What do you think? Would this be fair to ask? Would it help to open the debate? Would this raise the quality of the answers?
2008-11-23T04:54:08Z
I haven't thought about that LittleRobberGirl. But i mean is when you want to have the title "top-contributor", it should be clear what it is that you have contributed. Still, good that you publicized your Q&A! I call on everyone to do that!
2008-11-23T05:22:35Z
I agree with you louiegirl, mostly. What i mean is that the status of top-reporter should not be possible when your Q&A are private. There are quit a number of people here that post "questions" repeat "answers" which are mostly rants. I think they pollute this forum, not because they adhere to different opinions, but because they obstruct open debate. I merely suggest that making your Q&A private, expires your "top-contributor" status.
2008-11-23T07:21:01Z
Osman, what kind of answers would that be then? These are not the CIA files, its yahoo answers. The context of an answer is showed with the question. Waht do you mean?
2008-11-23T10:55:26Z
I added a suggestion at the suggestionboard, on this public private issue. Vote if you support it!
2008-11-23T11:18:32Z
@ Dana: i guess the trolls are really annoying, but what's the damage anyway. If i answer a "denier" question, i will get flagged anyway, and my answer will never be chosen. I still sometimes do, because i feel the debate over the politics of climate change is important.
2008-11-23T11:22:01Z
@ randall E: Allright, that is something that should be fixed then. Trolls who invariably flag your questions should be easily identifiable. I guess it kind of shows if the same person flag 20 odd questions in 5 minutes. But yep, that's annoying. I am posting this in the hope we can build a discussion forum that supports open debate.
d/dx+d/dy+d/dz2008-11-23T06:52:58Z
Favorite Answer
Keeping Q&A public is an accountability issue. I keep mine public because I stand behind all of my answers. Further, I think that the public should be able to assess the veracity of an answer by examining the quality of prior responses. As LRG indicates, there are trolls that disparage good answers with thumbs down. If good answers become private the trolls win. Perhaps YA should identify who gives the thumbs up and thumbs down for each question.
Yes, I agree. The questions and answers section should not be kept private.
That is the reason that I keep all of my past questions and answers open to anyone who wants to look at my past questions and answers.
This does create a problem though. There are a number of Trolls who use the openness of my questions and answers as a means to harass me.
I know that many top contributors have made their questions and answers private for that reason.
Personally I think that all people on this forum should keep their questions and answers open.
Perhaps Yahoo Answers can help us to come up with a solution for all of the Trolls on this site without having to make our questions and answers private.
good question. going along with how our country is, and how it should forever be, which is a republic with constitutional freedoms, i have to say that no one should be forced to publish their opinions on anything, and, should not have their right to publish their opinions taken from them.
it is terrible how many of this forum's membership act like little babies in turning in someone's honest question or opinion in order that such gets pulled by who knows who, in some committee that answers runs. the little cry babies are actually fascists: only THEIR viewpoint counts, not one that differs. that is eroding your freedoms and my freedoms under the constitution, which is the best document that ever was written in our long human history to run a nation.
i have had some honestly good, valid, questions and answers that got pulled off of this forum for nothing. there were no violations to the code of conduct or TOS. but i think outside of a box. and some here don't like that.
it doesn't matter if one is a top contributor or not (it will be taken from you, as my designation was, if you do not continue contributing to the section that you got chosen as top contributor for, in my case, real estate). unless the question or answer is such that it might cause a riot, it should stand.
this forum is read all over the world. all of the questions and answers should stand as they are. the public will thumb down what is not popular or that which is not an answer.
what irritates me when i have my questions pulled is that the "board," or whatever they call themselves at answers.yahoo dot com, thanks to them being turned in from some wacked out cry baby that cannot STAND it if your question does not fit into his little "box" that is acceptable as a question, gets pulled for no reason stated to me whatsoever.
last i heard, a grouping of words that ends in a question mark is a question! i get my questions pulled (many of them with numerous answers that i am not even given the chance to analyze to give out a BA, which means that the population here finds them to be valid questions) for this reason only: "not a question or answer!"
no, anyone that wishes to keep his questions or answers private should be able to do so. that is what is RIGHT. and that is what is FAIR.
In theory, the quality of an answer is what only matters in the process of selecting the best answer and for the thumb up/down rating.
Why would you deny the right of privacy to a member? Under what premises?
Besides, no Q&A are private, they can all be found through a search, we just can't search them by member, that's all....
..edit.. I agree with Mike, I got few unpleasent emails from members out of the blue who disagreed with my opinion and it has stopped since I made my Q&A private.
We all know that the ONLY hoax and scam that is going on here , is the fraud perpetrated by "Dr Jello". The cult of denial has no real understanding of Physics or Earth Sciences. When backed into a corner by scientific logic, they resort to religious dogma for a basis for their not believing science. A circular argument is their style of debate. Throw in a few insults, and you have the "top answerer'! This category has gotten very boring lately. The lack of any real discussion of the FACTS has diminished interest in arguing with ignorant denials. Remember that huge tsunami that hit Indonesia a few years ago? There were some very ignorant folks that saw the receding ocean as an opportunity to run out to gather the exposed fishes. Would you have wasted your precious time to try to convince them that a tsunami was coming? That's how I see these poor fools, they haven't got a clue as to what is REALLY happening on this tiny planet ! We can never convince the deniers , that AGW is real, and it is caused by mans use of fossil fuels. All we can do is ignore them, and continue in our prevention of AGW.