What is Answerbag?

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Amorphous Blob asks about comically minor transgressions.

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What is Answerbag?
Answerbag is a community where you can ask, answer and interact around questions and answers with thousands of other people throughout the world. If you're registered and logged into your account, you're ready to join us!
How do I ask a good question?

First make sure the question hasn't already been asked! Run a search with a few keywords relevant to your question and you may find it's been asked and answered. If it hasn't, click the "Ask a question" link above the search box to submit your question.

Questions should be clear, concise and stated in the form of a question, though statements with implied questions and clarifying sentences are allowed. Questions are limited to 255 characters. You have the best chance for people to view and answer your question if you use correct spelling, since misspelled or abbreviated words may mean that a relevant question won't be returned in the search results. You should try to submit your question in the appropriate category, which you can do by browsing a series of menus. You can also browse or search the site for the category you know you want, then submit your question from there. That will help put your question in the right place!

How do I submit a good answer?

Answers should address the question being asked, and not violate any other policies listed here. The main things to keep in mind are to make your answer understandable, be polite and considerate to other users, and don't add links or other content that could be construed as spam.

If you've found a question you have an answer for, go to the main page for that question and click the "answer question!" box near the top of the page. When you've finished, you may preview the answer or submit it directly. Your answer will be added to the bottom of the list of answers, but may move up the list according to how many points it receives.

How do I submit a comment?
Click "Add a comment" beneath an answer or existing comment thread. Comments are limited to 1000 characters.
How can I view and edit my user profile and avatar?
Just click on your username and you will be taken to your profile page. Alternatively, you can click on the "View my profile & activity" link beneath your username in the upper right of every page. Use the "Edit my profile/avatar" link to add text to the "About me" section of your profile, and to upload avatar images.
What are points on Answerbag?
Points are just a way for people who submit good questions and answers to be recognized by the Answerbag community. In this way, the best questions and answers as rated by other Answerbaggers—whether they're interesting, useful, funny, or whatever—can be promoted to the top of the results list.
What are levels on Answerbag?

You accumulate points for every question and answer you submit, and you can also receive points for flagging other people's content. As you reach certain numbers of points, you advance in level. It's easy to level up at first, but it gets harder each time, so give as many good answers as you can to level up quickly. When you make it to higher levels:

  • Your Badge may change
  • Your Title may change
  • The amount of points you can give (uprate) or take away (downrate) may change

You can find your level information on the bottom right hand side of your profile page when you click "View my profile & activity." The maximum rating is 5 points per question and 6 points per answer.

A complete list of level titles can be found here:
http://www.answerbag.com/a_view/121301

How do I rate questions and answers?

When other members submit questions or answers, you can rate them using the + and - buttons underneath the point score (you can't rate your own submissions). You can give or take away a number of points corresponding to your level.

You should uprate questions or answers that are useful, funny, interesting, informative, well-written, or otherwise a positive addition to your Answerbag experience. They're your points, and you can award them however you think best. However, to discourage people from uprating particular individuals at the expense of others, each member can rate the submissions of another member up to 25 times in a 7-day period. When your limit is reached, you'll receive a message when you try to rate that person.

Downrating is for the purpose of identifying incorrect, unresponsive or otherwise not useful questions and answers, and should be used very sparingly. Remember that your positive rating percentage is available on your profile page, and constitutes part of your reputation on the site. Downrating because you disagree with or dislike the author is against Answerbag policy. If a question or answer is genuinely offensive, report it to the moderators by flagging it.

What are friends on Answerbag?
No matter which part of Answerbag attracts you, you'll get to know specific Answerbaggers pretty quickly. One easy way to keep track of their activities is to add them to your Friends list. Click on their username to go to their profile page, then click the "Add to friends" link. A notification will be sent to the person the next time they log in, and once they accept your request, their username and avatar will appear in the Friends tab of your profile page.
Why should I flag questions and answers?
To keep the site as clean and useful as possible. Merging duplicate questions, placing questions in their most appropriate category, and removing inappropriate content creates a better experience for everyone, so you can earn 5 points each time a flag you submit is accepted by our moderators. Careful though—if you submit a large number of flags that are frivolous or disruptive, you can lose points, or in some cases have your account suspended.
How do I flag questions and answers?
Clicking "Flag this question" or "Flag this answer" will reveal a pulldown menu with several options. You may flag a question as a Duplicate, Spam/Offensive, Nonsense or Wrong Category. You may flag answers as Nonsense or Spam/Offensive.
What is considered spam?
Spam flags are typically approved when it is obvious that someone is trying to promote a product or a website through posting a question or answer. If a website is posted in relation to a genuine question, the flag will be rejected and the question kept active. Similarly, an answer can contain a website if it directly addresses the question, but if the same link is submitted multiple times, or links to a spam site, the answer will be considered spam and the answer will be removed.
What is considered offensive?

Generally, anything that couldn't be shown on US broadcast television. This includes anything you post on the site: questions, answers, comments, user profile information, links, avatars and usernames. While we encourage our users to express themselves freely, questions on the regular Answerbag site must be appropriate for users age 14 and above. Questions and answers that are sexually explicit or graphic belong in the AB4Adults section of Answerbag. Question context and category is a factor as well: some questions that might be offensive in one category might be appropriate in another.

When content is flagged as offensive, the flag will be approved if the content doesn't meet the broadcast TV rule-of-thumb, if an individual user is being attacked, or when in the opinion of site moderators the question is intended to be malicious or hurtful. Sometimes opinions may seem offensive, and some questions are intended to challenge the way other people think. We tend to be careful about censoring these types of questions, and err on the side of preserving content. Within the larger goal of preserving a useful and harmonious community, we believe in people's right to speak their mind, and we have found that allowing questions which may seem offensive can lead to very informative discussions about why the question is or is not offensive.

We recognize that this is a fine line and can involve some very tough judgment calls. If you feel that a flag was accepted or rejected erroneously, let us know by clicking the Feedback link at the bottom of every page.

What is considered a duplicate?
When two questions ask for identical information. However, we want to keep as many unique questions as possible, so duplicate flags are only accepted if the questions are exactly the same, or if the two questions can be merged without any of the answers seeming out of place. When one question asks about your favorite drink, and another asks about your favorite drink on a summer day, the two questions are not considered duplicates.
What is considered nonsense?
Nonsense flags are typically only accepted when there is definitely no question, problem stated, or request for information. This usually means things like "alfepoai eh agoeapoen a?" can be flagged as nonsense and the flag will be accepted. While a question like, "Do rhinos like to eat peanut butter on sunny days?" may seem nonsensical, it is still a question which may generate some interesting or funny answers. Questions like this are appropriate in the Outside the Bag categories.
When is a question considered to be in the wrong category?
Questions can be posted in one and only one category, and with close to 5,000 question categories, it's not always easy to choose the right category the first time! Generally, wrong category flags will be approved if they propose moving a question from a general to a more specific category, and to one that better suits the topic of the question. Questions which are being moved to less specific categories, less appropriate categories, or to categories which are considered to be a lateral move where there is no significant improvement will not be approved.
How do I suggest a new category?
We generally approve category suggestions if the proposed category is not covered under an existing category, if it makes intuitive sense within its parent category, if there are a significant number of existing questions that would be appropriately placed in the new category. First ladies >> Michelle Obama is an example of an appropriate new category suggestion. However, Telephones >> Wrong numbers would not be appropriate, since the parent Telephones category is all about electronics. This one would best be submitted in Telephone and cell phone etiquette >> Wrong numbers.
Why are some categories approved and some rejected?

Moderators approve new categories if there is some evidence to suggest that the proposed category would be a popularly acknowledged topic or subject, and if a sufficient number of existing questions would be rightly placed in the new category. Evidence might take the form of news reports or online reference works, usually to justify the appropriate name for the category, and its place in the larger category structure.

Many category suggestions that are not approved are in use already, usually under a slightly different name, or elsewhere in the category structure. It's always helpful to do a quick search to see if the category you want to suggest is already in use on the site.

What's the difference between conversational and educational questions?
Some Answerbaggers just want factual questions and answers, while others want to share opinions—most want both! You can help by flagging questions as conversational (opinion-based) or educational (fact-based). From the home page and from every category page, you have the option to "hide conversational questions" via a checkbox.
Who's here to help?

Apart from our thousands of members, here's the official crew:

  • Community Leaders are longtime members who have graciously agreed to help us moderate the site. If you have questions or want to report potential bad behavior on the site, notify a Community Leader and they can intervene. The current Community Leaders are:
    • Galeanda (http://www.answerbag.com/profile?id=150611)
    • Lyn (http://www.answerbag.com/profile?id=46758)
    • Barcaluv (http://www.answerbag.com/profile?id=121546)
    • BigDaddyBS (http://www.answerbag.com/profile/?id=174918)
    Usually the best way to contact a Community Leader is to visit their profile page and leave a comment on a thread in which they're participating, so they receive a notification. For issues requiring immediate attention, post a request on the Answerbag blog (http://www.answerbag.com/blog).
  • Moderators review flags and category suggestions, maintain the category structure and site policies, and help administer the site.
  • Administrators review feedback and bug reports, coordinate the work of moderators and Community Leaders, and work with Demand Media, our parent company. You can send feedback to site administrators through the link at the bottom of every page, or directly to admin@answerbag.com.
  • All moderators and administrators have a username with "AB-" in front.

How can I get suspended (penalty-boxed) or banned from Answerbag?

Here's a list of common site don'ts:

  • Attacking, stalking or otherwise harassing other users
  • Reposting content that has been removed by moderators
  • Posting spam, profanity or other inappropriate content
  • Vindictively downrating all content by a particular user
  • Vindictively or frivolously flagging content
  • Creating multiple accounts (sock puppets) to uprate your main account or those of your friends, or to downrate/attack other users
  • Creating new accounts to get around the penalty box

These and other violations of site policy are reviewed on a case-by-case basis, and will result in either a warning, content removal, account suspension (the penalty box) for a period of time, or the permanent removal of your account. You may appeal a penalty, but the judgment of site administrators is final.

While we know it's tempting to fight back if you feel you've been attacked, the best way to stay out of the penalty box is to report, don't react. Send a message via feedback to site administrators explaining the situation, and we'll review it and take appropriate action.

How can I best enjoy the site?
Answerbag is far more than questions and answers, and far more than the sum of the official rules and tools. In a way, each user and each group of friends creates their own Answerbag experience. Many have created clubs, pages and guidelines of their own to discuss the finer points of Answerbag etiquette, and to make the site enjoyable in many different ways. Have fun exploring!