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Answerbag news, notes, and announcements.

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Lex Friedman	March 19th, 2010 at 7:11 am Fix for answers that wouldn't save After last night's maintenance, we believe we've corrected the issue where some members couldn't get their new answers to save properly. Let us know if your answers still won't save, and have a great weekend! 3 comments \| Post one Comments Lex Friedman: why are questions with an Asker's pick always at the top of the answer list sorted by "Greatness / Likes"? It would seem logical, if an Asker's pick is just 5 points worth, that an answer with only an Asker's pick would be lower ranked than one answer with 8 "Likes". See the answers to this question: Example Also, an user cannot give themselves ratings, so I don't understand why an asker is allowed to give an Asker's pick to their own answer. Report by iwnit 20 hours ago That shouldn't be happening. Report by Unclear 20 hours ago iwnit -- I don't agree -- questions like your example are popularity contests, and I think somebody who asks a question has full right to prefer an answer that might not make sense to the majority of participants... and in my opinion that preference deserves to be clearly noted at the top of the thread. Back in the days of down rating -- it often happened to me: many people would down rate an answer I wrote, my answer was sometimes at the the bottom of the list -- but mine was the only one that had a comment like this: "Thank you! This was just the feedback I needed." -- if there was an askers pick back in those days, my answer probably would have been at the top, despite many answers being much more popular than mine. Just because an answer is popular, doesn't mean it's the best answer. Report by Persky Bunkermeister 10 hours ago
Lex Friedman	March 18th, 2010 at 5:38 pm Scheduled downtime Thursday night; other announcement First and most importantly, Answerbag will be going offline tonight, Thursday March 18th, beginning around 10pm Pacific time. This downtime is to address a serious issue where some members are unable to post answers to questions successfully. We suspect that the downtime will last no longer than two hours. The site will be inaccessible during that time, but when we come back, the impossible answering bug should be fixed. One other announcement: Some of you may see a new(er) version of the question page. We're testing out some refinements, so if you see the page looking a bit different, do not adjust your computer :) We're doing a bit of experimenting. If you don't see the new question page yet, we'll roll it out wider in the future, if it works as well as we hope in testing! We apologize for the downtime and the answering bug; we know both are frustrating. Smooth sailing soon! 2 comments \| Post one Comments Thanks Lex. Report by XT. on March 18th, 2010 Thank you, thank you, thank you for the Professionally Researched answers being put in their own place. Boy are there a lot of members who are going to be happy about that. Arisztid and Brian are you listening??????? And you thought no one was hearing you :) Report by CatLover-The Original is Proudly Canadia on March 19th, 2010
Lex Friedman	March 16th, 2010 at 5:50 pm On a related note... We're making some big shifts behind the scenes here to improve the "related questions" that we show on question pages. Starting today, when you're browsing questions from "Is a giraffe sacred" to "Who invented the zipper", the related questions we show should be more relevant or closely-related than ever before. Certainly, you'll find some questions where the relationship is a bit more tenuous. But on the whole, these related questions should be a major step up from how things were before. Browse around, and let us know what you think! 6 comments \| Post one Comments How is the points fix coming along? Report by RosieGHM Jetpacker on March 17th, 2010 Some inappropriate content was posted here, which I removed along with the responses to it. Posting reports on the blog instead of Contact Us is equivalent to jumping to the front of the line, and should only be done where moderator or CL intervention is required immediately, such as when spam bots are posting dozens of nonsense questions. Thanks. Report by AB-Rich on March 17th, 2010 Rich. you are very tactful. Report by skeeter on March 17th, 2010 Thank you Rich for helping to clean up the site. Report by byankno1 on March 17th, 2010 Oooooh! Now I'm dying of curiosity to know who said what :-p Report by HungryGuy on March 17th, 2010 Ha ha. I know. I copied it. Report by skeeter on March 17th, 2010
Lex Friedman	March 12th, 2010 at 9:00 am Getting to the Points First, I am racked with guilt to push down Rich's post about our newest Community Leaders; Brian I and The Chief are incredible additions, and I hope you'll join me in celebrating their new roles with the site. But, I did want to make an important, twofold announcement regarding points: 1. We've identified the cause of the "points dance," and expect that points will stop jumping around by the end of the day. 2. Whatever point levels you've seen for yourself to date on the new Answerbag, they're likely about to bump a bit higher. We uncovered a bug — my own bug, to be specific — that meant we failed to properly award points for several hundred thousand older question and answer flags. Properly honoring those flags will cause some increases in points and some parallel rejiggering of the Leaderboards. I sincerely apologize for the presence of the bug. I'm delighted, of course, to correct that issue, and expect the site will reflect it within 1 to 24 hours from this post's time. 48 comments \| Post one Comments Good. I am not a moderator but my points change every week. Either I have 4,448 points like today or 4,993 points like shortly before. When think I will be Maestro soon the other day I have to wait much longer for that event to happen. That is no fun. Loyalty can be very stressful. Report by Whitehair on March 12th, 2010 I have zero points a couple of days ago I had over 1400 Report by Thunder_Kiss_65 on March 12th, 2010 Eureka! Yreka! The Promised Land is in sight. Excellent Lex. Full speed ahead...:) Report by RosieGHM Jetpacker on March 12th, 2010 Help! Was a sage but now I have zero points! aah! :P Report by Qwertymuffin411 Loves Being a Sage on March 12th, 2010 Thanks Lex. Report by XT. on March 12th, 2010 Oh? I didn't even notice the points bug :-/ Report by HungryGuy on March 12th, 2010 So is that why I'm suddenly in the top 50 instead of being ranked 140? Report by Google a Foo Fighting COAT on March 12th, 2010 I have not paid attention to the points so I do not know if they are fixed. I did go back to 0 for a moment today but it came back later. I am sure that fixing the bug shall make many happy. Oh the comment thread glitch is back. I have been notified of comment and not been able to see a couple. Report by Arisztid in a COAT of Rromani awareness on March 12th, 2010 So glad I read this instead of panicking and posting a questio "where are my pts" thanks lex :) Report by Marasa on March 12th, 2010 Gosh knows what my "ranking" is anymore - my "points" gain and loose by several hundred every day it seems. But it's cool with me - I'm in it more for the relaxation and the desire to help then to chalk up points. Report by Nightwatchdog on March 12th, 2010 In my Profile I reached Maestro with 5,002 points and in the leaderboard I am Sage with 4,462 points. Happy Point-Dancing!! Report by Whitehair on March 13th, 2010 Congrats Chief! Report by Shania on March 13th, 2010 Thank you, Shania. :) Report by The Chief on March 13th, 2010 Now my points dance even more: today, March 14., I have only 3,946 on my Profile, yesterday I was Maestro. Now I posted 3 times about points. Don't mind me, it is my way of keeping record about the inability of the staff to fix this problem. Report by Whitehair on March 14th, 2010 Well - it seems you did not manage to solve it by the end of that day, or even by the end of the next day! It is now 14 March, and suddenly I have dropped a few thousand points! Not sure exactly how many, because I have no idea how many I should have had. Report by dea_ex_machina on March 14th, 2010 OKey dokey Lex. Your fix ain't fixed. Today is March 15. On my profile March 12 I was at 84.089. On my profile March 13 I was at 79,050. Yesterday, March 14 I was at 84,137. This morning, March 15 my profile is now at 54,477. Three days after your 1-24 hour fix and the fix isn't. Back to the drawing board? Report by RosieGHM Jetpacker on March 14th, 2010 Points still dancing. Report by my2cents on March 14th, 2010 I've been noticing that my points are not updating. it's been taking more than 24 hours for newest "likes from others" to be recorded to my profile, despite the alert of a like being clicked and recorded that way. Either way, I still have a points-dance. Before this update was put through, I was 1300. During the early stages of the update I was 1870, now I'm down to 1700(something). I know I don't loose that many points or likes. Totally impossible, I say! Figure this out, once and for all, Lex. I don't want to sound mean, but that's just my point. Sorry. Report by byankno1 on March 14th, 2010 And also, what's going on with my profile. FOr every answer I answer, one old answer has been removed from view. I started writing answers in late Oct. of last year, and the earliest answer I have in my profile has been answers from near Thanksgiving. It has been doing this, for the past month. I've told you about this problem, since i first noticed it, about 3 weeks ago. I've contacted a few CL's, and they also have said they've got the same problem. These CL's have been here for the past few years, but their situation is a lot worse, with answers from 2005-2006upto and including ones from Nov. 2009, being removed steadily, too. Find out what's chillin, please Lex. I even provided a Forum discussion for this problem: http://www.answerbag.com/forums/topic.php?t=634 Report by byankno1 on March 14th, 2010 Well, I just checked the points, and I dont have what I used to have a couple of weeks ago; Im at least 100 points lacking.. still.....in the grand scheme of things, I suppose it's a trivial complaint. I can make up the points, and Im NOT going to die from it. I think it's just because I hate disorganization and chaos, and there sure has seemed to me LOTS of it here, since I first arrived. Yeah, I know, if I dont like it, I can go elsewhere... Well.. Im a patient cat, we'll just see how the future pans out... Meow... Report by Kattra on March 14th, 2010 Yeah... I dropped 5,000 points since yesterday, after FINALLY being place about where I thought I should have before. Oh, well. They're just points. ;-) Report by BigDaddyBS on March 14th, 2010 March 13th I had 1415 points. March 13th I received 9 likes. March 14th I have 1206 points. According to the Leaderboards March 13th I had 1269 points for answers March 13th I had 259 points for questions 1269 + 259 = 1528 not 1415......except by AB math. Report by Booknight on March 14th, 2010 This whole site is screwed. I don't know about points cause I never check them. But what I do know. It takes a day or two for any new alerts to show up. STILL! Report by skeeter on March 14th, 2010 It appears there is some sort of bizarre Moongrim Virus. Something like agent smith in the matrix. People are turning into Moongrim. Seriously, are you aware of this?: http://www.answerbag.com/profile/1178546 Just in case you do not see what I see it looks like some kind of moongrim virus where this other person's profile is now coming up as moongrim for some reason. This is the second time this has happened with him... Do you know anything about it? I am not claiming that this is moongrim's fault I'm just saying that this has happened twice to me so far, and both times with him http://www.answerbag.com/a_view/8758451 This question was commented on only by rexterdenver (the asker) today I checked and all of the comments were listed as moongrims. When I clicked on moongrims profile from the question it takes me to a profile that says moongrim and has his avatar but this person only has 15 points. I assume that this is rexterdenver's profile but I am not sure. Something is very wrong here please investigate. Buster Report by buster on March 14th, 2010 Yeah. I just checked that fact. I have the page link, that that user links itself to. It's a "FormerMember" page. http://www.answerbag.com/profile/1178546 Report by byankno1 on March 14th, 2010 Here's the real Moongrim profile Report by byankno1 on March 14th, 2010 Comments disappearing AGAIN. Most, if not all comments have disappeared from here. http://www.answerbag.com/a_view/8776054 Report by skeeter on March 14th, 2010 Points are broken ;( Report by Shania on March 14th, 2010 How do we stop spam in our in-box? Report by Shania on March 14th, 2010 Today, our deep thinkers are gone and we are left with fluff. http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1923091 Report by Shania on March 14th, 2010 Oh ty i've lost several points as well..... :D Report by Nemesis on March 15th, 2010 My message link is stuck on. It says 1 New Message continuously. When I get a new message it says 2 new and so forth but after I check them that 1 message stays on. Report by skeeter on March 15th, 2010 Skeeter, have you used ignore? Report by Shania on March 15th, 2010 Ok. I found why it was staying on. I did have a new message from today. March 15. I scrolled back and found it mixed in between Feb. 21 and Feb 25. Weird one. @Shania. What's ignore got to do with it? Report by skeeter on March 15th, 2010 The points are still moving up and down. But, there is an additional and maybe related glitch. I have noticed that when the points go up, I do not get feedback alerts (there is no number of alerts listed). But, when the points go down, I am informed about the number of feedback alerts!. Is this coincidence? Report by dea_ex_machina on March 15th, 2010 Thanks for all the feedback. We are investigating the continued points dance, and hope for a quicker, more permanent fix. We share your frustration. For other issues reported here, please make sure you also send them in to Rich via the Contact Us link in the footer. Report by Lex Friedman on March 15th, 2010 @Lex (whining) .. but ... but .. the blog is faster :P Report by Shania on March 15th, 2010 Lex, AB thought I would be interested in answering http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1954149#ans8780532 This is sick - can I opt-out of that feature? Report by Shania on March 15th, 2010 Shania, I have questions like that along with a lot of incest ones. I stopped checking that feature out. Report by Gingerminx on March 16th, 2010 Hey, Lex... Maybe there should be an option NOT to show Adult questions in that list. Just because you may have answered one or two, or even one that got MOVED there, doesn't mean you should have to see some of the depraved stuff that's in there, don't you think? Report by BigDaddyBS on March 16th, 2010 Hi Lex...so it is now March 16 and you have responded. Thank you. Could you respond daily so we will know you are "on top of" things. Waiting days for a response is not all that satisfying to us. Pretend for a moment you are us and then perhaps you will understand how it is for us who are in the trenches 24/7! Carry on and keep on truckin' and Happy Tuesday and, well, howdy! :) Report by RosieGHM Jetpacker on March 16th, 2010 Exclude me when you refer to Us. I don't want to be included with ya'all in the "Trenches". Report by skeeter on March 16th, 2010 For as long as Firebrand is less than #1 on the Leaderboard --and by a large point margin-- I know that the jiggering and re-jiggering processes remains unfixed and inequitable...with all due respect. To all of us "old guys", Firebrand remains the "Matriarch" of the Site. Notwithstanding her perhaps less than diplomatic "hellfire and damnation", do her a measure of loyal and honored respect. There is a flaw in the point "jiggering". Find it! Address it! Report by ChuckExAnon on March 16th, 2010 I believe it is too late. I think Firebrand already left. The points were important to her as was her position on the leaderboard. Report by Moley the contrary female dragon on March 16th, 2010 Rosie, I can't promise I'll be able to post every day. But Answerbag is my job, and I can promise that I'm working on the site every day. I feel like we're doing a good job of communicating as information/announcements/news becomes available, and we'll keep working to get better and better. Firebrand's contributions to AB have been nothing short of amazing. The rejiggered points system on Answerbag emphasizes different things from the former system. Report by Lex Friedman on March 16th, 2010 @Lex What exactly does the new points system emphasize that is different from the former system? Report by carpe manana on March 17th, 2010 Thanks for restoring my points. I'll be back soon, when I get time to answer and maybe ask a few questions. Be well, Kattra Report by Kattra on March 17th, 2010 I suspect you are right, Moley. Firebrand is likely gone forever, as are hundreds and hundreds of other good folks that once participated daily at the old Site. Fact is, points and Leaderboard position were important not only to Firebrand but to the vast majority of the former AB Family Members, in my opinion...notwithstanding frequent claims to the contrary. People worked damn hard in order to enjoy that sense of achievement. The point system and the Leaderboards were fantastic psychological draws to the Site...and they're what kept a lot of people fighting daily to grow and gain status. It's not unlike why kids work to be on the Honor Roll...collegiates the Dean's List...and working grown-ups job promotions. Most just like that feeling of achievement and success. In my humble opinion, Administration failed to recognize the importance of the point system and the Leaderboards, and it was more than a month after the New AB started before that issue was even addressed...when it probably should have addressed even before the new AB went on-line. Then, when the "rejiggered" WAS presented, it was afoul...downright insulting. It was like saying "Firebrand and others, because of your hard work throughout the years, you were our Number !. Thank you...but now we're demoting you! We just don't care about you." A lot of folks were slapped down like that. Not smart, in my opinion. Not smart at all. A really bad business approach. But, oh well..... Report by ChuckExAnon on March 18th, 2010
AB-Rich	March 11th, 2010 at 9:38 pm Welcome Brian I and The Chief: our two newest Community Leaders! It always sounds a bit odd to welcome folks who have been such an integral part of Answerbag for so long, but please join me in welcoming Brian I and The Chief as our newest Community Leaders! If you're not familiar with what Community Leaders do, they're longtime members who have volunteered to help us moderate the site. If you have questions about how things work, or want to report questionable behavior on the site, notify a Community Leader and they can intervene. The current Community Leaders are: * Galeanda * Lyn * Barcaluv * BigDaddyBS * Brian I * The Chief Thanks to all our hardworking CLs! Rich 22 comments \| Post one Comments All right Brian I and The Chief! Report by XT. on March 11th, 2010 Congratulation you two! I hope together we all can make AB a much better site! Report by Doctor D on March 11th, 2010 Congratulation, to the both of you, The Chief, and Brain I. Report by -Slick- on March 11th, 2010 Two of the best choices you could possibly have made. Congratulations Brian and Chief. I am sure both of them will add a lot to help AB and its members. Good going guys. Report by CatLover-The Original is Proudly Canadia on March 11th, 2010 AB-Rich: bravo! Report by iwnit on March 12th, 2010 AB-Rich: two excellent choices! Report by iwnit on March 12th, 2010 You could not have made two better choices. Bravo! Report by Arisztid in a COAT of Rromani awareness on March 12th, 2010 Congratulations, Guys... Welcome to the club! ;-) Report by BigDaddyBS on March 12th, 2010 Congrats Brian and Chief, good choices. Report by Gingerminx on March 12th, 2010 Hip hip hooray to Brian 1 and TC. This is a very happy event because I know you both and know what a grand job you will do. We AB members need someone close at hand to whom we can go ASAP for help to act as a conduit between us and AB staff . I'm sure AB staff is breathing a collective sigh of relief to have you on board for the assistance you will be able to provide! Welcome to your new job and many mahalos for taking it on! We appreciate your community spirit and of course, Happy Friday to all! :) Report by RosieGHM Jetpacker on March 12th, 2010 Congratzamundo. Now, what all did the CLs do in order to earn CL'ship? Report by 에가오노겐키 on March 12th, 2010 Great choices. Report by skeeter on March 12th, 2010 Welcome Brian and The Chief! I'm sure you both will do an excellent job. Report by Barcaluv on March 12th, 2010 two great choices....but I'm gonna ask the same boring question....I keep clicking on the mute button but I STILL keep getting comments from the link......I've received up to 28 a day from the question......can anybody help me stop this?:) Report by DA BEN DAN yanggui zi COAT on March 12th, 2010 Great choice man \\m// :) Report by Nemesis on March 12th, 2010 Congratulations to both, Brian and The Chief. I'm very pleased to see you gentlemen join the list of community leaders. I can't think of anyone better suited for the job and I have great faith and confidence in you both. Report by Ice man on March 12th, 2010 Couldn't have chosen two better people, They are dependable, thoughtful and just plain nice guys :) Looking forward to working with them for a long time. Report by Galeanda on March 12th, 2010 Congratulations to the "new" ones and appreciating the work of the "old" ones!! I am glad about the wise choices. Report by Whitehair on March 12th, 2010 Thank you everybody! I would like to take the time to let people know to check the profiles of the Community Leaders for information on how to contact us. We love to provide assistance as quickly as possible, and knowing how to contct us is essential to that! I'm looking forward to providing everybody with whatever assistance I am able! Report by The Chief on March 12th, 2010 Congratulations to the new CLs! But there seems to be some names missing from that list. I guess people come and go, eh? Report by HungryGuy on March 12th, 2010 Had a feeling you'd make it Chef. Cograts on AB getting more CLS. Report by Google a Foo Fighting COAT on March 12th, 2010 Great news !! :) Report by Kattra on March 12th, 2010
Lex Friedman	March 9th, 2010 at 6:56 am Featured Questions Yesterday, we launched a new feature that showcases some great questions from the nearly two million that have been asked and answered on Answerbag. Sometimes, we might feature an older question from the archives, and other times it might be more recent. But when you spot the "Featured Question" modle on the question page, feel free to check it out—and even provide an all-new answer of your own! 17 comments \| Post one Comments Lex I have a suggestion for the new Featured Member. It seems a little anti-climatic to see a member featured, read about them, check out their favorite question and that's the end of it. I think it would be nice if you would add an email link so people could send congratulations or acknowledge them in some way. You have a Featured Member on now that I have never come across before. They seem very interesting and I was intrigued to read their write up. I would love to send a note saying nice to know you but there is no way to do that other than to go into their profile and send a message from there. I would never do that because it could be intrusive. A link to their Featured Member item would invite that kind of interaction I think. Report by CatLover-The Original is Proudly Canadia on March 9th, 2010 @Catlover - For those who have an email address in their profile, it would be easy. But why would it be any more "intrusive" to send them a PM through AB than directly with an email? If you feel compelled to, just send it PM. If they want to give you their direct email, then they can. If not, you can converse via AB PM. ;-) Report by BigDaddyBS on March 9th, 2010 Lex, I can't find any Featured Question on the questions page. Report by Gingerminx on March 9th, 2010 Look to the left of the Featured Member on the homepage - Answerbag.com I assume that's them. Report by Brian I on March 9th, 2010 BD my suggestion was directed to Lex. I know all the other alternatives. That wasn't my point nor did I want to debate my feelings about intrusive emails. I happen to think a link directly from the Feature Members site is a good idea. That's all. Report by CatLover-The Original is Proudly Canadia on March 9th, 2010 @Cat Lover - I have read your comments to Big Daddy so this isn't meant to spark of a debate, but I feel compelled to comment that I would be extremely annoyed if I received an email from somebody to whom I hadn't given my address. Report by Brian I on March 10th, 2010 Thanks Brian, I saw them but they say popular questions and I thought they meant somethign different, maybe I am wrong. @Catlover, I agree with Brian, I don't post my email for a reason. Report by Gingerminx on March 10th, 2010 I think there is confusion here. I believe what Catlover means here by email is the PM. Correct me if I'm wrong Catlover but I believe you've said email before and what you meant was PM? Report by skeeter on March 10th, 2010 If that's the case I think a link to send a PM to that member would be a good idea. Report by Brian I on March 10th, 2010 Brian I agree with you totally. I feel sending and receiving an email is rather personal, whether it is done through private mail or the AB mail system. I don't appreciate receiving emails from people who are total strangers and I suspect others feel the same. I got one through PM AB mail from a kid I never heard of before last week that said "hey, how are you, what are you doing right now, wanna talk?" To me that is an intrusion. That is a personal preference on my part. I am aware email messages can be sent through private email and AB mail but I would not do that for this purpose if I don't know the person being featured. Someone on my Friends list is a different story. However as for the Featured Member there may be someone, like this week, whom I have had no dealings with the person, do not know them yet found their information interesting. I would have like to send a quick note saying congratulations, nice to have you on board. Something along those lines. A link which could only be used to send a message to the Featured Member. Do you all remember how we used to have celebration parties when someone reached a certain level. That was fun and you didn't have to know the person to join in. It is that type of interaction I am referring to.For one it would make the Featured Member feel good and it could even lead to friendships. Hope this clears it up. Report by CatLover-The Original is Proudly Canadia on March 10th, 2010 edit. sorry. my computer was in off line mode. Report by skeeter on March 10th, 2010 I see. I always thought - well before we did, too - that when we got forums that the Congrats-type questions could be done there, for those who didn't want to appear to be "points hogs" or whatever people called them. Maybe something like a Topic of "Congratulating Users", with subtopics (can we do those?) of Birthdays, Level Changes, Featured Member, etc. would be a way to do what CatLover is talking about, with the link to their congrats, which would be generalized for Featured Member or anything else the staff wants to congratulate someone for BY staff, so people aren't accused of "sucking up" or trying to "get attention". And, other users could create the congrats for birthdays, level raises, etc., for their friends. This is just an idea. I'm suggesting it as a user, not a CL. What do you all think? Report by BigDaddyBS on March 10th, 2010 I think you are taking a very simplistic suggestion for a link to contratulate a Feature Member and complicating the hell out of it. Report by CatLover-The Original is Proudly Canadia on March 10th, 2010 What's a modal? Report by Mister_Bromide on March 10th, 2010 And how is my suggestion complicating anything, Catlover? They would not have to create a new anything (screen, page, whatever), just include a link to the Congrats thread for that person in the Forums (if they did that) from the Featured Member page. AND, other people could use the Congrats Topic to wish people happy birthday, on raising levels, etc. Seems MUCH easier than creating anything new, doesn't it? ;-) Report by BigDaddyBS on March 10th, 2010 Why is it you always seem to be debating or challenging someone about something? I repeat. My suggestion was addressed to Lex. I am sure he is very capable of figuring out what is best for AB without your input if he wanted to move forward with my idea. Please, give it a rest. Report by CatLover-The Original is Proudly Canadia on March 10th, 2010 @Mister_Bromide - a verb, such as 'can', 'might' and 'must', that is used with another verb to express an idea such as possibility that is not expressed by the main verb of a sentence. However, modle is just module with the u inadvertently missed out. Report by Brian I on March 11th, 2010
Lex Friedman	March 5th, 2010 at 2:38 pm Friday upgrades We've made some improvements sitewide to make things a bit snappier at our peak times of the day. We've also made a tweak to try to notify you even sooner when you have a new "Alert" for answers and the like. A few other changes, requested by AB-Rich, addressed some Mod needs, so now it should easier than ever for them to keep things clean and tidy. Have a great weekend! We expect a full points fix for the dancing numbers by Monday. 16 comments \| Post one Comments Why am I receiving questions under the 'question I could possibly answer", that seem to have been removed? Report by Gingerminx on March 5th, 2010 http://www.answerbag.co.uk/a_view/8751329#postcomment8751329 I was commenting on this question and it appears" frozen" comments wont open, neither will the answer box now. I have put this in contact us but as I never get replies when I use the contact us feature, I am putting it here too. Report by Moley the contrary female dragon on March 5th, 2010 Why is it that when I go to the catagory: Religions / Religions A - Z / Christian religions / The Christian Bible / Christian Bible answers / People - And click on a question listed as in "People" to report is a Wrong Catagory the question is listed where is should be? eg the ? "Do you like Josh Turner? and do you like country music? whats your favorite song? by cloecloe14 on February 22nd, 2010 \| 2 answers \| in People" (1927037) then after clicking it is this: Home / Questions / Entertainment / Music / Music Genres And Artists / Country Music -- There are several question listed in the "People" catagory that are not actually in the People catagory Report by my2cents on March 6th, 2010 I hate to sound like a broken record...but I finally found the mute button to click on....BUT it doesn't stop the comments coming into my alerts????? Report by DA BEN DAN yanggui zi COAT on March 6th, 2010 The Dancing Numbers have provided amusement, if confusion. One day I'm a genius with 77K plus points and the next I'm an Illuminati with 83K plus points. Fortunately I don't live and die by the points or I would have either had a hissy fit or nervous breakdown by now. Keep up the good work Lex regarding the fixes. It is a thankless job but someone has to do it. We're lucky we have you and AB staff to keep slogging through despite the slings and arrows and brickbats you have to duck along the way. Happy Saturday! :) Report by RosieGHM Jetpacker on March 6th, 2010 How do you decide what questions to post in the 'question I could possibly answer"? I am receiving a lot of sexual question which I find offensive. Report by Gingerminx on March 6th, 2010 Hmmmm well Gingerminx I don't know how to break this to you but you must have answered some questions of a sexual persuasion at one time or another. They send you questions based on your past behaviour. See that - Big Brother is watching you, even on AB :) Report by CatLover-The Original is Proudly Canadia on March 6th, 2010 Thanks and you have a good one too Lex. Also I did notice the faster alert, thanks. What did you mean about the mods though? Report by Google a Foo Fighting COAT on March 6th, 2010 I suspect that the questions that are suggested to us are simply unanswered questions in categories where we have given answers that have earnerd a few points or likes - nothing more than that. So it all hinges on the category the asker puts the question in. Report by Brian I on March 7th, 2010 Ginger: We'll work on making sure explicit/profane questions don't show up in that feed no matter what. Report by Lex Friedman on March 7th, 2010 Thank you Lex. Report by Gingerminx on March 7th, 2010 @Lex - That seems extreme. I'm sure there are people, besides me, who don't mind explicit/profane questions. There seem to be a large number who actually enjoy them. BTW, does this mean that all tea bagger related questions will disappear? Or is anything involving bagging considered sacred on AB? Report by Halliburton Shill on March 7th, 2010 I sure do hope that switching to Unicode is one of the updates. If Twitter can have it, then it should be just as easy for Answerbag to. Besides, turning 1 character into 3-5 of them "behind the scenes" costs more data, so imagine how many gigabytes you'd save if you made the switch. Little savings go a long way, you know. :) Report by 에가오노겐키 on March 8th, 2010 @Hal, I don't have a problem with tea bagging questions, I have a problem with the questions from guys asking how they can trick their mothers and sisters into fucking them. And yes, I have had several of that type of question show up. Report by Gingerminx on March 8th, 2010 @Ginger - To me, the problem with questions like your examples are not that they are profane/explicit, it's that they're asking how to commit a crime. I could easily ask those questions without profanity or even being explicit. I'm resisting the temptation at this moment to post examples because I don't want to give malicious idiots any ideas. Any way, I'd consider a simple question like "How do I trick my mother to fuck me?" as an attempt at satire/comedy and simply move it to a joke category that caters to motherfucker type humor. Report by Halliburton Shill on March 9th, 2010 If they moved it to adult or joke would be fine by me because I do not go to either of those areas. Logically then they would not show up for me. But these were in the kids section. Report by Gingerminx on March 10th, 2010
Lex Friedman	March 3rd, 2010 at 3:07 pm A quick improvement for Polls We made a tweak to the Polls page today. Now, as you browse through all the polls on the site, you can see how many votes each poll has at a glance. Cast the tiebreaker! Cast the first vote! Or, just join the chorus of voters on all the issues up for a vote on Answerbag... 17 comments \| Post one Comments Lex Friedman: could we get notified (in the feedback) by rejections? I lately chanced upon some questions - not mine, some that I wanted to answer - where I did not understand why they had been rejected. (I made an individual feedback about each of them) Report by iwnit on March 3rd, 2010 Hey Lex & Rich! I just want to say you're doing something right :-) I logged in today and had 11 new comments in comment threads I'm following! That's still a long way from what I usually got before the upgrade, but things are picking up again! w00t! Report by HungryGuy on March 3rd, 2010 Good idea. I don't go on the Polls page much, so I don't know what this new feature looks a lot like. I normally use the Happening Now bar to watch for the statuses of new questions and other people's answers for questions. Sorry Lex., but I don't think this will do ME any good. But, thanks anyways. Keep up the good work in all the other product-areas. Report by byankno1 on March 3rd, 2010 I have an old old answer which has a link that doesn't work anymore. I found a new one... how do I correct a now useless answer? Report by Max Power on March 3rd, 2010 We (most of us) dream that you put an end to his cruelty, will you now? http://www.answerbag.com/a_view/8747488 Report by Shania on March 4th, 2010 can somebody tell me how to stop getting comment alerts on; http://www.answerbag.com/debates/marriage-sex-couples-legal_1855438 I can't find anyway to stop it...(I got 47 more today)? thanks Report by DA BEN DAN yanggui zi COAT on March 4th, 2010 Click where it says 'Profile' in the black horizontal band near the top of the page and look for where it says 'Mute' after one of the comments. Click on 'Mute'. Report by Brian I on March 4th, 2010 thanks Brian but I don't get anything like that on my screen...I gett the black band..and profile....but there is no 'mute' to click on....Is this because it is a debate? Report by DA BEN DAN yanggui zi COAT on March 4th, 2010 It's tagged on after the notification and isn't particularly noticeable. Having looked at my profile there doesn't seem to be any uniformity about how it's implemented - a lot of the comments I've received don't give the option to mute. Oh, I've just noticed that a lot of comments are reported twice - once to say that so-and-so joined the comments and one to say that the same person had commented (both referring to the same comment) Only the one that says, 'so-and-so joined the comments on an answer' has the mute button tagged on the end. It can't have anything to do with it being a debate because I have a mute thingy on a comment to my answer in a debate. Report by Brian I on March 4th, 2010 Chronic spammer - started July 2009: http://www.answerbag.com/profile/1019411 Report by 에가오노겐키 on March 4th, 2010 just found the "mute" option myself. You are right it is tiny and only there when it says So and So joined the comments. I had to really look hard to find it on a lap top. good luck with that if you are using a cell to keep in touch. Report by Moley the contrary female dragon on March 4th, 2010 By the way I see I am still a neuter on my profile. Report by Moley the contrary female dragon on March 4th, 2010 Lex: Perhaps you should change "Mute" to "Stop Following" or something similar... Report by HungryGuy on March 4th, 2010 I love the mute feature. Report by Shania on March 5th, 2010 Lex: on other sites such as Fluther, upon answering, you automatically follow the question - pretty please to not add that feature here - its annoying. Furthermore, I like "mute". Report by Shania on March 5th, 2010 So how does one check what one has muted and unmute it if so desired? I also agree with iwnit. Notification of rejected questions/answers/comments, even if it's only a link with the content that was rejected, would be very useful. Report by Halliburton Shill on March 5th, 2010 OK I finally found the 'mute' button...thanks everyone:) Report by DA BEN DAN yanggui zi COAT on March 5th, 2010
Lex Friedman	March 2nd, 2010 at 2:07 pm Answer images, easier asking, smarter reporting, and more Some fun stuff today: 1. Answer images. Now, when you're submitting answers to questions, if you want to upload an image, you can! For the time being, this is limited to the answer form at the top of the question page; when you click at the top there to answer a question, you'll see an optional link to upload an image. Yay! 2. Easier asking. In our unceasing quest to simplify the process of asking questions, we've tweaked things and streamlined them a bit more. Let us know what you think! 3. "Report This" context-aware. A common complaint! Now, when you click "Report this" on questions, you'll continue to see the 'Bad tags' and 'Wrong category' report options, but those won't be shown if you're reporting answers or comments, since they don't apply there. We've also made more behind-the-scenes optimizations, and some extra tools to help out our Mods. We're continuing to investigate the points issue I posted about earlier today, and hope to have a fix soon. 23 comments \| Post one Comments Another annoyance you can probably fix relatively easily is to automatically convert ALL CAPS QUESTIONS and answers to sentence case. Don't make us go all caps in your comments. ;) Report by Halliburton Shill on March 2nd, 2010 How about spell check? Report by HungryGuy on March 2nd, 2010 Since when are naked avatars allowed? http://www.answerbag.com/profile/1178442 Report by Shania on March 2nd, 2010 You are so right, but I have no clue. That girl sure is awful-naked! Report by byankno1 on March 2nd, 2010 Shania: They're not. We rely on our members to report them so that they can be handled. Report by Lex Friedman on March 2nd, 2010 Naked avatars would be awesome, unless George W. Bush joined. If only we could all be as fit as Dick Cheney. @HungryGuy - All current browsers already have spell check, so that would just be a waste of AB processing resources making the site slower. Report by Halliburton Shill on March 2nd, 2010 A category finding problem: When you type in climate, climate change, or climate crisis, no categories are suggested. Of course, if you type in global warming, global warming comes up. Report by Halliburton Shill on March 2nd, 2010 Lex: I know all to well; however, the quickest response is on the blog. Report by Shania on March 2nd, 2010 I tried the new "upload an image" feature twice. It failed both times and there is no way to re-post the image in the edit process. Lately, when using the embedded code, images and video don't load the first time around either. At least those can be uploaded by using the edit feature. Report by Ice man on March 2nd, 2010 I cannot see the link to the Forums when using IE 8. It has somehow dropped down from the navigation bar, so has become invisible against the white background. Firefox displays it properly, but I can't use FF because it hangs after opening a few pages. It's not a big problem to me because I found it. However, I'm sure a lot of other people won't find it. Report by Brian I on March 2nd, 2010 In connection to the naked avatar issue mentioned above, at least avatars are so tiny that you have to seriously look at them to see what they are, unlike the Flickr images on the right of the screen. One of those images that I saw yesterday, although not explicit, was clearly a photograph of two men engaged in homosexual sex. Given a choice I know which of the two I find more disturbing - and it isn't a tiny picture that includes a bosom. Report by Brian I on March 2nd, 2010 @Brian - Strange... That's the problem most people have when they've increased the text-size in FF by either ... Zoom Text Size or simply zooming. (In the forums, some have called it the "phantom" options. The color disappearing on the right (so member menu options on the top, and some of the options on the bottom) is what most IE8 people have problems with when Zooming. I can force both of the above to occur, but can't make IE8 expand the navbar text like that. ... Hmmm... And I've been using FF all along, and seldom, if ever, hangs... And when it does, it's usually because I have a number of tabs open, and one of them is actually doing the freezing. (Not saying you aren't having these problems, understand... Just that AB may not be able to reproduce the problem. I sent images, a few days ago, documenting the problems we've had reported, and things I'd noticed. Hopefully those go to the right people! Did they, Lex? ;-) ) Report by BigDaddyBS on March 3rd, 2010 The Forums link is back where it belongs - either a very quick fix or a very short-lived glitch. @Big Daddy - the navigation panel was black all the way across and the links to the right of 'Forums' were all displayed normally. My Firefox problem must be unique to this PC because exactly the same thing happens with Safari, Opera and Google Chrome. I'll probably format the drive and re-install everything at some point. Report by Brian I on March 3rd, 2010 Sounds like fun, Brian... ... ... NOT! ;-) Report by BigDaddyBS on March 3rd, 2010 @Brian, I have the same problem with Firefox, I just recently updated it and it has started doing that so it maybe related to that, not sure. Report by Gingerminx on March 3rd, 2010 @Gingerminx - Yes, my Firefox problems started when I upgraded to the latest version, but I don't understand how that would cause the same problems in the other browsers that I mentioned, unless it's something like a shared DLL. Report by Brian I on March 3rd, 2010 Nothing like that, I don't think, Brian. Rather, some of us get that navigation issue when we have a lot of alerts, and unread messages, and friend requests. Basically, when we run out of horizontal space for the longer versions of the messages we put in the header. We're working on a permanent fix for that issue. Report by Lex Friedman on March 3rd, 2010 Right Lex, that explains why I temporarily couldn't see the Forums link using IE8, but my and Gingerminx's Firefox problems are not related to any particular site - it's just a general functionality problem. Report by Brian I on March 3rd, 2010 I'm still not able to see my forum link, and haven't since the change accrued. I've tried every tip to make it appear but it's still a phantom link. It's there, I just can't see it. This problem is not effected by the amounts of Alerts I have or lack of. Report by Reptar on March 3rd, 2010 Thanks Lex. Report by XT. on March 3rd, 2010 Why do I have to save the image to my computer? Why is the format to different for comments and answers? Report by Shania on March 4th, 2010 Brian, rules are for everyone - if you feel lonely,the net is full of boobies =P Report by Shania on March 4th, 2010 Pictures are not uploading to answers. Report by Shania on March 4th, 2010
Lex Friedman	March 2nd, 2010 at 5:28 am The Points Dance As many of you have noticed, the point totals on the Leaderboards and on your profile have been hopping around a bit day by day, including dropping down. We're investigating what's causing that issue, and hope to fix it quickly. The good news is, we recalculate the overall points from scratch each day, so no raw numbers have been lost. 10 comments \| Post one Comments Moving levels will take forever; therefore, I am not interested. Report by Shania on March 2nd, 2010 I feel less negative about it, I'm sure you'll get it sorted. Get super nerdy on that bug's ass Lex. Report by Johnthehero on March 2nd, 2010 Not caring about levels makes me negative - somethings never change. Report by Shania on March 2nd, 2010 @ Shania: Welcome to Answerbag! I did some calculating when the new points system came out on the subject of how long it would take to move from one level to the next. I'm a Guru. Under the old system, there were ten levels between Guru and Swami, and the level I was on at the time the new format shift occured required me to make over 6,000 points just to go up to the next level. And if I remember correctly, I still had 3, maybe 4 levels to go before I reached Swami. And since each successive level required MORE points to get, the higher I went, the more points it took to move up. So I had to get 20,000 or more points just to reach Swami from where I was at. That's a LOT of work and a LOT of time, even under the old point system. Looking at where I was in the new system, I needed something between 4,000 and 5,000 points to get to Swami. I did the math, playing with numbers and such. Even under this new system, it's going to take me LESS time to reach Swami than before. Any way you look at it, progressing from one level ot the next is supposed to be a challenge. And the higher you go, the more challenging it gets. It doesn't matter whether it is under this system, or the last. Or whatever came before that one. Again, welcome to Answerbag! I hope you're up to the challenge and have fun meeting it! :):) Report by The Chief on March 2nd, 2010 Thanks Lex. So I guess the points I got 6,696, is now what I actually have, just the other day I had 7,100 points, I'm 400 point short than. Report by Slick on March 3rd, 2010 @ Chief, I am here to help, not level-up. Report by Shania on March 4th, 2010 Slick this must be a default of some kind because I was reduced to exactly 6696 as well and I had around 7400. Strange they are the same number. Report by CatLover-The Original is Proudly Canadia on March 4th, 2010 Duplicate - sorry Report by CatLover-The Original is Proudly Canadia on March 4th, 2010 Ok.. something is terribly wrong. My achievement total is now ZERO !!! What happened??? The last time I logged in, I had nearly 500 points. I grant you, it's not THOUSANDS, but I worked HARD for those few hundred points. HELP... What happened to my credits???????? Report by Kattra on March 11th, 2010 I agree with Shania - whether the points jump up or down at the moment is immaterial. There is little point in getting worked up over the points under the new system. No matter what the Chief says in his calculations of how quick it is to move up a level, there seems to be less traffic on the site - and therefore it is slower to move anywhere. The number of visible questions is smaller than previously, and therefore any questions I ask disappear more quickly. if the questions are not seen, they cannot be answered. Similarly, there are less questions available for me to answer - I can sit and watch the question page for ages before something comes up that I actually want to answer. And then there is no point in answering some, as they have been either asked by AB staff, or have been "professionally researched" - in some cases this involves no more than using search engines! So... points? Why bother? Report by dea_ex_machina on March 12th, 2010
Lex Friedman	March 1st, 2010 at 12:56 pm Lots to like, and strengthened spam prevention By popular request, you'll now get alerted on your profile when someone "likes" your questions or answers on the site. That way, you can know more easily about all the likes your content is receiving, and who's doing the liking. Additionally, we rolled out some fancier spam catching tools to make things even more difficult for the evil-doers who attack Answerbag more with bogus questions as the site gets increasingly popular. I can't go into too much detail, but trust that we've stepped things up a notch on our end, although we're resigned to acknowledging that the war against spammers is a long one. More to come! And of course, we hope you like it! ;) 19 comments \| Post one Comments Good to hear Lex. I went to the questions page a little earlier and there were six girl call ads in a row. Report by Gingerminx on March 1st, 2010 Can't wait to see what you've got up your sleeve. I'm getting a few alerts but when I check them, there are no comments again. Report by Galeanda on March 1st, 2010 Oh wait, now I see what happened. Those 'Likes' you've added as showing up in my profile are showing up as alerts. That's confusing. Is there any way that they can be alerted to differently than as an "Alert". I appreciate seeing that something is liked, but if it shows up in my alerts in the same manner as comments and answers, it makes for quite a mess in my feedback. In the old AB it was very easy to differentiate between points (likes) and actual posts by people. I don't really need to see who likes things, just that it was appreciated by someone, either. Report by Galeanda on March 1st, 2010 1- when I have already answered a question why does it still keep appearing under "Questions I could possibly answer" for example "can a catholic person change his religios?" on February 23rd, 2010 \| no answers \| in Theology and man Follow the link and you discover that the question has "4 helpful answers below" three of them, including mine, were submitted on the same day the question was posed "on February 23rd, 2010" and one on the following day. 2- May I suggest that each question under "Questions I could possibly answer" be followed by a"Do not show this question again" option selector. This should stop the annoying repeated display of question the user has no interest in answering and make room for those he is more likely to consider answering. 3- why not let the user him/herself select (and update) categories for "Questions I could possibly answer" Report by borasalama on March 1st, 2010 Interesting little glitch or? I went to a users profile page. Apparently a new member. Date joined. Dec. 31 1969 Last seen. Dec. 31 1969. Before AB was a twinkle in Rich's eye. Probably before Rich was even born. I just saw the member on the Forum. Report by skeeter on March 1st, 2010 Lex: why am I receiving messages from someone on my ignore list? Report by Shania on March 1st, 2010 @Sikeeter... AB-JOEL created Answerbag, and hired Rich a bit later. Technically, you're right - Rich wouldn't have known about AB back then, either, but others may not know that Joel Downs is who created AB. ;-) Report by BigDaddyBS on March 1st, 2010 BD. What do you think about my last comment. I can send you the profile link. Report by skeeter on March 1st, 2010 Oh, and Thanks Lex. (Took me a second, too, Galeanda, to realize that they were LIKES and not comments.) Report by BigDaddyBS on March 1st, 2010 @Skeeter - I believe that the date shown is a default date used by many systems. All that means to me is they are not recording the dates correctly, OR it's being recorded, but not being passed to the profile... at least for those users (and whatever else) with that type of date. Report by BigDaddyBS on March 1st, 2010 tx Lex.... Wow ... that like alert came quick -- I should ask for new features more often :))) Report by Persky Bunkermeister on March 1st, 2010 @Persky - It's been asked for for some time! LOL Report by BigDaddyBS on March 2nd, 2010 Graphics are still taking two attempts to get them posted. And the leaderboards are different again, this time showing the lower numbers on the boards and higher number on profile. They seem to have a rejiggering mind of their own lol!! Report by Galeanda on March 2nd, 2010 Also, I was clicking around Health and Fitness and when I tried to find Alternative Health I got lost http://www.answerbag.com/category/alternative-medicine_81 What came up were some subcategories on Buying a Home and Financing :( But some questions were listed under the subcategories, but there is no way to get to the real ones to sort through all those questions. Report by Galeanda on March 2nd, 2010 Gal: The category page in question has been fixed. The images issue is a tougher one. We know the problem, and even how to fix it, but we're working on the best long-term solution. Report by Lex Friedman on March 2nd, 2010 Thank you very much, Lex :) I appreciate it greatly Report by Galeanda on March 2nd, 2010 Can I make the suggestion that "Pets" be added as a primary category that shows up in the first box, as people just don't know where to look for those categories in "Home and Garden"? Report by Galeanda on March 2nd, 2010 Galeanda. Pets are a main category. Report by skeeter on March 2nd, 2010 Not when you are looking for a place to put them, like asking a question in the drop down boxes. Only in the "Categories" listed across the top of the page is it a main one. But you don't use that one when asking. Report by Galeanda on March 2nd, 2010
Lex Friedman	February 26th, 2010 at 12:26 pm Fixes for likes A few members had encountered an issue where we didn't always properly display their likes on answers. The issue mostly arose when you clicked to "like" an answer on the individual answer "permalink" page, and then checked on the regular full question page. The good news: It's fixed! 37 comments \| Post one Comments So I was using the "Questions I could possibly answer..." this morning, and your right, I love it. It definately could use a little more tweaking but all in all, great idea. One problem though, I just tried to click on it again, and I recieved the message: "Uh-oh! You'll need to answer a few more questions before we can find additional ones that you could potentially answer." If you check my profile I have answered hundreds of questions including a few that AB suggested to me earlier today. I hope you can fix this bug soon as I really enjoy this new feature :-) One suggestion: If there was a way that it could learn what you like, based upon which suggestions you take, and weigh future suggestions in that direction, that would be awesome. Report by buster on February 26th, 2010 I just tried it again and it worked. Although I imagine that there is still a bug in there somewhere. Report by buster on February 26th, 2010 Thanks Lex. Report by XT. on February 26th, 2010 Comments disappearing AGAIN. I'd sent the link to you via contact us but what would be the point? Report by skeeter on February 26th, 2010 On the subject of "likes"... a while back this came up in a blog post you made... a few people, including me (!), missed the feature that told us when people rated our answers -- in fact, I occasionally looked at my "most rated" answers and sometimes updated them, and sometimes saw comment threads that I had unintentionally dropped. Is there any chance of getting these kind of features from the previous version, restored in the new version of AB? Report by Persky Bunkermeister on February 26th, 2010 Lex when I click on "comment" on someone's answer, I never get the box to type the comment in the first or even the second time around. It always defaults to the original question. If I do it 2 or 3 times, eventually the box will open in the correct place for me to type comments. Would it do any good to send the url for the page this when it happens to contact us or is this a problem others are having as well? Report by CatLover- The Original Original on February 26th, 2010 Skeeter: We're continuing to investigate. It's a problem that's plagued each version of the 'bag. We're closer than ever, I think. Persky: Yes. Stay tuned! CatLover: Sounds like a Javascript error. Are you waiting until the page finishes loading before you click? What version of the browser are you using? Report by Lex Friedman on February 26th, 2010 Lex, when I check my answers to see how many liked it, I can not tell because the thumbs up icon covers it. Also today when I try to go to the Debate page or the Poll page all I am getting is blank pages. Report by Gingerminx on February 26th, 2010 Lex you were correct. I was running an old version of Internet Explorer but after reading your comment, uploaded IE8. I tried it and it seems to be fine now. Thanks very much. Report by CatLover- The Original Original on February 26th, 2010 @Ginger - I reported this last night with images... Hope they can get it fixed, now they can SEE the problem. ;-) Report by BigDaddyBS on February 27th, 2010 Polls and Debates pages are fixed. We'll be launching more aggressive anti-spammer tools on Monday. Report by Lex Friedman on February 27th, 2010 Hi Lex...I am still receiving multi alerts to question comments that I no longer am interested in,...27 of them off 1 site today alone.....are we going to be able to unsubscribe to ones we no longer want? thanx Report by DA BEN DAN yanggui zi COAT on February 27th, 2010 Thank you BigDaddy, thank you Lex. Report by Gingerminx on February 27th, 2010 DBD - At the end of comments in your profile, especially those of two or more comments, there is a "[mute]". Click it, and it's supposed to turn off your reception of comments, there. However, be aware that at this time, I'm not sure how to resubscribed to those comment threads... Hopefully, it's as easy as it was before - simply comment in the thread again, yourself. But, if not, I'm sure they will be working on this at some time. ;-) Report by BigDaddyBS on February 27th, 2010 And Ginger - You're welcome. ;-) Report by BigDaddyBS on February 27th, 2010 In box notice is not working. Report by Shania on February 27th, 2010 Several times today when I've tried posting a video or image in an answer it doesn't work the first time. I have to edit and try again. It works the second time. This happened every time I tried. At least 5 times. Report by skeeter on February 27th, 2010 I found that happening last night, too, and reported it. Trick: get the stuff in the answer, select it all, and copy it all to the clipboard. Submit the answer. If it doesn't "take", edit the answer right away, and paste what you saved in the clipboard and submit the change. At least it appears the first edit is "taking". Report by BigDaddyBS on February 27th, 2010 The same thing happens if you apply any *formatting* to your text. Although it worked here without having to edit it. Report by Brian I on February 28th, 2010 thanks BigDaddyBS... Report by DA BEN DAN yanggui zi COAT on February 28th, 2010 but BigDaddyBS I can't find the 'mute' link...all I can find is this:To subscribe to a feed Go to the webpage that has the feed to which you want to subscribe. Click the Feeds button to discover feeds on the webpage. Click a feed (if more than one is available). If only one feed is available, you will go directly to that page. Click the Subscribe to this Feed button , and then click Subscribe to this Feed. Type a name for the feed and select the folder to create the feed in. Click Subscribe. To view your subscribed feeds, click the Favorites Center button , and then click Feeds. Sorry It is probably sitting right in front of me and too much tequila and mexican sun is impairing my vision:) Report by DA BEN DAN yanggui zi COAT on February 28th, 2010 Great, Now we're getting spam crap in our messages. From: daoyen_2006 [Ignore this member] Date: Feb 28th, 2010 at 9:11 AM Hello Skeeter My name's Dao, a student of College of Foreign Languages of Vietnam National University. I know you have had a lot of interesting ideas, so I would loke you to fill out my survey questionnaire. It is very easy and takes little time to do. It is very important for me because I need it for my graduation paper. Please help me. Send me your email and if you agree I will send my survey questionnaire for you. my email is daoyen_2006@yahoo.com Contact me through my email. Thank a lot ! Report by skeeter on February 28th, 2010 Skeeter -- I've nuked that account. Report by Lex Friedman on February 28th, 2010 DBD - What you described, I believe is the RSS Feeds. I don't use those, so can't tell you much about them. Someone who does, or staff, will have to explain that. Sorry. To unsubscribe from Comment Threads, there is a MUTE (which is what I was describing) at the end of comments in which others have commented: And example from my own feedback is: CatLover- The Original is Proudly Canadia joined the comments on an answer to What country are you from. Tell me something very unique about your country. on 02/27/10 at 2:51 am. [mute] (And no, CatLover... Not muting you! LOL) That mute will "unsubscribe" you from the comment thread, meaning you will not receive alerts or notification when people comment on it. (NOTE: Again, I don't use them very often, so it MAY just "mute" notifications of comments from that one person. Will someone clarify, please?) Sorry if I misunderstood to what you were referring, DBD. ;-) Report by BigDaddyBS on February 28th, 2010 Still no fix for random question links going to the home page instead. 1 ongoing and 3 new I've noticed: http://www.answerbag.com/polls/oil-spills-man-made-anthropogenic_1914554 There were 4 answers, none of which I can read now. http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1922114 9 answers 2 likes: http://www.answerbag.com/polls/preferable-option-adopt-torture-murder-7-age-abortion_1920574 6 answers http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1913454 http://www.answerbag.com/polls/oil-spills-man-made-anthropogenic_1914554 Report by Halliburton Shill on February 28th, 2010 If you click on "Mute" to a response that shows up in your Activity page you get a message which says something like "if you mute this response you will not receive any further notifications about this question" I couldn't copy it to paste it here but the bottom line is if you click Mute it doesn't only block responses from a particular person but all further responses posted to the question or comment at hand. You can try it yourself because when the box comes up it has two options - O.K. or Cancel. Report by CatLover- The Original is Proudly Canadi on February 28th, 2010 Halliburton: I wouldn't say anything here, but you seem to insist... Asking here and in the forums NUMEROUS times about these SAME questions: The poll (listed twice) is a rejected question, and I'm sure you know why. (The use of an image that has NOTHING to do with the question, and one with profanity clearly in it, is forbidden, and YOU know that.) The others you listed appear to be rejected, too. I'm unsure if they should be or not. BUT, it might behoove you to actually ask, NICELY - I know... goes against your nature, but you catch more flies with honey than vinegar - the staff via Contact Us to review and unreject them IF they think they should be allowed. (And no, HS, I haven't flagged ANY of your questions... YET.) From what I've read either in the blog or forums, they are working on a more ... "graceful" way of letting people know when questions are rejected, and that that is why they are being sent to the home page. (Personally, I liked the prior version of AB's handling of that!) -- @CatLover - Thank you for your clarification. ;-) Report by BigDaddyBS on February 28th, 2010 @bigdaddyBS some questions already restored, whether it's because I had already used Contact Us prior to posting this I can't say. I prefer an official response as opposed to hypothetical rants that are the custom of biased users: http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1922114 Of those still with a problem, in numbered order for you, so it's simple to follow along: 1. How would you know if the image has anything to do with the question? At best, that's subjective and at worst purely censorship. There's nothing offensive in the image itself. How would you know there's even an image in it (is this your way of saying you're trolling my questions and flagging them)? You didn't mention there's also a news link in it that would help, for certain people with poor image to word capabilities, to explain the point. 2. There's no profanity in any of the questions listed. If that's all it was, I'd repost them minus the word. The still missing questions, as asked, so everyone can review: 1. Are oil spills man-made (anthropogenic)? http://www.answerbag.com/polls/oil-spills-man-made-anthropogenic_1914554 2. Which is the preferable option: adopt and then torture and murder at 7 years of age or have an abortion? http://www.answerbag.com/polls/preferable-option-adopt-torture-murder-7-age-abortion_1920574 3. At what age is it legal to get an 11-year-old girl pregnant and force her to give birth? http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1913454 Report by Halliburton Shill on March 1st, 2010 Spammer - http://www.answerbag.com/profile/1216933 And not a very bright one at that !! Report by Ice man on March 1st, 2010 Shill: I agree with BigDaddy's answers to your question. The questions redirecting to our homepage have been flagged by mods and CLs for various reasons. We're working to make the flagging process more transparent in due time. BigDaddy can see the pictures in your question and the like because Mods and CLs and Staff can still successfully click into your rejected questions. Report by Lex Friedman on March 1st, 2010 Ok,again, The filters used on the questions section are still not working correctly,once checked will there ever be a permanent setting to them or will I forever need to review daily the settings for my filters,,,the religious bs is constant and very annoying. I guess I can leave this one rhetorical also. Report by mtndewman40 on March 1st, 2010 I don't know whether it's only me, but unsubscribing from a comment thread doesn't exist (there's no such button) and I've read somewhere before that it was implemented. Or was I just dreaming? And by the way, comment threads keep disappearing. Report by Anonymous T on March 1st, 2010 I just bought up the question page and there were six call girl questions again. Why are there so many when I never saw any on the old AB? Report by Gingerminx on March 1st, 2010 Thank you, Lex, for explaining... NOTE: That is IF we have a direct link. If it's to an answer in the question (i believe) we are sent to the home page, just like everyone else. And, Hal... Why would I waste my time trolling ANYONE? I have no need, nor desire, to do this. Yes, I might check on someone's prior posts when the questions strike me a certain way, but I don't recall EVER having flagged someone's questions because I didn't like them... ONLY because they SHOULD have been... AND, I don't flag a lot since I've been a CL. I don't get points for that, and others do. I leave it to them, unless it's an adult question (move it to Adult), profanity-laced (and, yes... that picture DID contain profanity, and I'd have flagged it if I saw it first), attacking others, or may be dangerous. But then, that's my JOB as a CL, isn't it? I will admit that we don't see eye to eye on damn-near anything, but then, I don't worry too much about stuff like that. People are allowed to have differing opinions, and some are just not "people persons". So, live and let live, for the most part, is the way I AB. That poll, in and of itself, probably would have remained if not for that image. And again, like them or not, I'd have probably left those other two questions, and am not sure WHY they were flagged. Quit trying to find enemies where there aren't any! Report by BigDaddyBS on March 1st, 2010 @Anonymous T - You unsubscribe the any notifications to a given question (not just the comment threads, apparently) by clicking the MUTE at the end of the notification in your feedback. That's what we have now. I'm unsure if there's any way to reverse it, if you wished, so be "gentle" with it. @Ginger - Got 'im, this time. But, since I flagged them as spam, I'm unsure if anyone else who flagged them will get points. I try not to (see my note to HS, above). I also PBed the member. NOTE: Why are we getting these, now? Because that's one of the things those spammers are pushing at the moment. And why do so many appear? Because CLs need to get reports, many times, to act on something. We are not all on the home page... We are not in every place on AB. We are only FOUR CLs, and can only be where we are, unless we are TOLD about problems and spammers. And, if you read the blog following (the older one "About those spammers..." by Lex, you'll see they are trying to stop them in their tracks. So report spammers via Contact Us (send at least a link to a question, if not to the profile of the spammer), and/or to a CL. We'll get them ASAP. Report by BigDaddyBS on March 1st, 2010 I have a suggestion about the SPAM mail. I think it would be prudent to have one link for SPAM only which would go directly to a CL or Moderator and could be dealt with immediately. As it is now if we happen to catch the attention of one who can zap a SPAM all well and good but we don't always know where you are or how to reach you. People are reporting them in the Bog, in the Forums all over the site. If it is sent through Contact Us, it goes through various people who may have a whole lot of other things they need to tend to. Are we supposed to send the post, the profile page of the sender? Room for much confusion here. I vote for a link for SPAM only so they will get the attention they so justly deserve as quickly as possible. Perhaps you could select a couple of people as monitors for SPAM. SPAM SPOTTERS :) I don't think you would have a problem getting volunteers if that is the only thing they were responsible for. I wouldn't mind offering my time to zap them when reported if needed. Since it isn't a discretionary decision and pretty straight forward, there shouldn't be any problems as a result of adding a few more people to look after this. Report by CatLover- The Original is Proudly Canadi on March 1st, 2010 More spam =P http://www.answerbag.com/a_view/8747970 Report by Shania on March 4th, 2010
Lex Friedman	February 25th, 2010 at 2:36 pm About those spammers... You've seen their annoying, obnoxious posts cluttering up the site, advertising ridiculous things and providing no benefit to our community. I don't want to go into too much detail, but we've taken some steps to make their abuse of our site less bothersome, and we'll continue to monitor that situation closely. We hate those spammers just as much as you do. Grrrr. 14 comments \| Post one Comments Good to know. This is (was?) getting out of hand. http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1932191 I'm sure many people have also been vocal about this and would love to see the spam pest erradicated. Report by Barcaluv on February 25th, 2010 Oh really ?? 22 posts for call girls - http://www.answerbag.com/profile/1213837/questions/ Report by Ice man on February 25th, 2010 That particular account has been dealt with, Ice Man. However, I feel your link is a good example and a warning of how pervasive the spamming has become. Let's hope they deal with this like Lex says. Report by Barcaluv on February 25th, 2010 Thanks for your response Barca, I hope these steps will include the forum pages. Report by Ice man on February 25th, 2010 You've made me very happy, Lex!!! I even found some spam on the Question page, flagged them and they disappeared :) Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!! Report by Galeanda on February 26th, 2010 Drat...there go my spam moderations... ;)~ Report by The Chief on February 26th, 2010 Once again I find the comments on my questions diapering. On my question: http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1847405 I had several answers with VERY long comment threads of fascinating and powerful debate Specifically the answers of "Blessed has a COAT of many colors" and "ladyshakespeare" which had close to 90 very long comments on it! I checked today and they are all gone. This is unacceptable. this was almost 2 months of intense debating lost! I truly hope you can recover this information. Report by buster on February 26th, 2010 Buster: They're back. I guess the 'fleetingly invisible comments' bug remains. We have more tricks up our sleeves though :) Report by Lex Friedman on February 26th, 2010 Lex, I'd like to thank you for another fix to a problem I reported on "Likes" made in permalinks not showing up when viewing all answers...and vice versa. I noticed that when I "Like" an answer as of this morning, it shows no matter how the answers are viewed! THANK YOU very much! :):) Report by The Chief on February 26th, 2010 Thank you very much for your prompt response Lex... Much obliged ;-) Report by buster on February 26th, 2010 Thanks Lex. I know you and the AB staff are doing your best to get rid of this filth. Looks like there at it again. http://www.answerbag.com/profile/1215497/answers/ Report by Slick on February 27th, 2010 Another spammer http://www.answerbag.com/a_view/8734421 http://www.answerbag.com/profile/1194543 Report by Shania on February 28th, 2010 Ha ha - disappearing comments - nothing changes around here. Report by Shania on March 1st, 2010 Lex: More spam =P http://www.answerbag.com/a_view/8747970 Report by Shania on March 4th, 2010
Lex Friedman	February 24th, 2010 at 12:16 pm Fixes, features, and refinements 1. *One of my favorite new features, the Questions I Could Possibly* Answer page, now works a bit better in a couple ways. First, it's now more focused on your favorite categories of questions to answer, rather than your most-highly-rated answers, since that was a bit too easily swayed by question popularity. Second, we now don't show you your own questions to answer! 2. Filters on category pages work better. When you click on "polls" and "debates" filters in a category, it should show you both content types. Previously, it was showing the dreaded "No questions match" message. 3. Categories now show up on the categories page. That sounds a bit redundant. But, for example, the Legal page shows questions that are from deeper categories too, like ("Legal > Divorce > Contesting a Divorce"). Now you can more quickly see precisely which sub-category a question is classified in. 4. Optimizations.** Finally, we made some new behind-the-scenes tweaks that should help prevent the site from lagging at peak times. More soon! 9 comments \| Post one Comments Isn't this counter productive. I don't mean to sound negative but this does not make sense to me. Why would I receive requests to answer questions in my favorite category when that is the category I go to in the first place? The chances are I have already seen those questions and for whatever reason decided not to respond. Wouldn't it be more beneficial to the cause if I were sent questions from categories I don't normally visit? For instance I have been involved in interior decorating but it isn't something I think about much when I come on here because I feel I know more about Pets. However periodically I will respond to something having to do with decorating. Maybe if I saw more question about decorating it would nudge me to answer them. If I receive requests about Pets, I have probably already seen them and did not have a response for the question. Enquiring minds need to know about this :) Report by CatLover- The Original Original on February 24th, 2010 We're aiming to higlight questions you may have missed. If you browse the category pages all the time, then it'll be tougher for us to highlight ones you haven't seen and passed on, it's true. But I think the current, still-new functionality makes more sense than showing you questions in categories you've expressed no prior interest in... Report by Lex Friedman on February 24th, 2010 Thanks Lex. Report by XT. on February 24th, 2010 O.K. thanks for the explanation Lex. Report by CatLover- The Original Original on February 24th, 2010 I really like the possible questions you could answer thingy. Really really. Because I'm not big on categories, and there's less activity from my 'friends'. So the questions I actually want to answer have been not too many. But this is good. Thanks :) Report by Lovehearts on February 25th, 2010 I'm still seeing questions that that don't belong in a category (maybe they have been moved or tagged as Wrong Category already) but they are still listed on that category's page. Examples: On this category page http://www.answerbag.com/category/rabbits_104 There are 2 questions http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1916695 http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1917755 that show they are supposedly in TV troubleshooting http://www.answerbag.com/category/television-troubleshooting_1041 but they are still in Rabbits. I just went back and looked and there are lots of questions all about TVs in that category. Maybe it's some weird glitch that is placing them there. They are by different people Report by Galeanda on February 25th, 2010 Remember the days of Rabbit Ears? (JK) Report by skeeter on February 25th, 2010 Galeanda: I'm working right now on a fix for all those category pages. Within another hour or two, all those pages should reflect the right questions. Stay tuned! Update: We think t hese are working properly now. Let us know! Report by Lex Friedman on February 25th, 2010 Thanks for the category fix, Lex. I haven't looked there yet to see them, but I will soon! Report by The Chief on February 25th, 2010
Lex Friedman	February 23rd, 2010 at 1:29 pm Making little things easier, fixing bugs A host of fixes and improvements to small but frustrating elements of the site went live today: 1. Flagged questions, going forward, should be removed from the Questions page immediately, as soon as the flags are approved by a Mod. Previously, they could stick around that page for far too long even after the questions themselves were removed. We'll expand this fix to other pages (i.e., category pages) soon. 2. Possible fix for disappearing comments. It'll take a couple days to be sure, but we hope to have addressed an issue where comments occasionally disappear from an answer. We inherited this bug from the old version of the site, and we're trying our darndest to eliminate it. 3. Better "dupe check" when you add questions. When you ask a question on Answerbag, we try to show you possible ways that question has already been asked on the site. (We all hate duplicate questions, right?!) Until today, the dupe-checker was resource intensive on your computer and on our servers—and it wasn't especially accurate, either. Now, it's far less intensive, and far more relevant. Win-win! 4. It's now easier to report questions as being in the wrong category. The category search box was too small to use well. Now it's bigger and easier to read. *5. It's now way* easier to flag duplicate questions. We used to require that you paste in the URL of the duplicated question. Now, we'll offer up some guesses about which question the original one duplicates, and you can just click on one to select it as the dupe. 6. If you start asking a question from the homepage,** the character countdown and potential duplicate questions appear instantly on the main ask page, providing a more consistent and accurate asking experience. Plenty more to come! 12 comments \| Post one Comments You guys are doing great! Thanks for the updated updates. Report by Reptar on February 23rd, 2010 Those are really very useful improvements! :-) Report by iwnit on February 23rd, 2010 Another Q&A site has a feature called "Merge Questions" where, if you find a quplicate question, you click on MERGE and click on the duplicate question, and the site automagically moves all the answers onto one of the questions and deletes the duplicate. Leaves it to the members to moderate the site without the admins having to micro-manage things. Just an idea... Report by HungryGuy on February 23rd, 2010 HungryGuy - That may work there, but I've seen TOO MANY questions merged (and that's WITH mod acceptance) that shouldn't have been to NOT have them check it out. One keyword does NOT a duplicate make. ;-) Report by BigDaddyBS on February 23rd, 2010 Thank you, Lex! On the Wrong Category issue... I used to be able to clean house on Wrong Categories. But I simply CAN'T any more. And here's why: I went to the Category page today to see what I could do. I went to "Outside the Bag" and it obligingly provided a list of all the questions in the "Outside the Bag" category, including the various sub categories. However, the questions on that list do not show what category they are posted in. Now, this may sound silly...but this is important because of the SUB CATEGORIES within that category. I couldn't tell without actually opening every single question listed whether or not these questions were in their proper sub category. A "This or That" question, for example, cannot be determined if it's actually in the "This or That" sub category unless I open the question and check it. Now, obviously if a question belongs to another entirely different category (like "Hobbies" for example) then it's easy. Would it be possible to put in a fix for this which would show the category along with the questions listed on the Category Page like they do in the Questions Page? It would be greatly appreciated! Report by The Chief on February 24th, 2010 Chief: Yes. I've put it on the to-do list. Report by Lex Friedman on February 24th, 2010 Many thanks, Lex. Report by The Chief on February 24th, 2010 I seem to have lost my friends Q & A from my profile page....I hope this is just a temporary glitch:) Report by DA BEN DAN yanggui zi COAT on February 24th, 2010 I see all 171 of your friends and lots of feedback. Report by Brian I on February 24th, 2010 DA BEN DAN: Make sure you're looking at your first-person profile (/proflie/) and not your third-person profile (/profile/183454). Report by Lex Friedman on February 24th, 2010 I don't know if it just me, or if anybody else is having the same problem, but the point levels keeps going up and down, my points yesterday were 6,997, and now today they are at 6,606. I'm assuming this is another glitch. Report by Slick on February 24th, 2010 Thanks a lot for the improvements. I am excited to have those spam posts gone. And I like the better duplicate search, though I still prefer just to search for them using the question/search box, which is what I've always done. It's slower but really finds those original questions. My friends also disappear at times, sometimes all of them and sometimes just some of them. I'll try to pay attention to when it happens and which profile I'm looking at. Report by Galeanda on February 24th, 2010

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