a few new ideas

[Thunderchild]

i have been using AB for a couple of months now and find it very interesting i had been wanting to find a general knowledge forum for some time. i have however some guggestions:

1 we be allowed to display the e-mail address we subbmited when subscribing a sometimes when a matter arises that needs direct comunication this is the easiest and safest way of solving it as having entered the address at registration this must be legitimate.

2 some of the categories could be SubDevided to make it easier to get specific answers and have more of a specific topic on each page for example the body and soul section could be devided between more medical questions and sentimental issues. the science section could be devided into biology, electricity, chemestry .

3 the ability to post even small pictures could be very helpful like in the case of electronics nothing is better that a simple diagram. the limit could be set to say 100 KB per picture and say on picture per user per thread to adviod a situation like lets swap our favorite pics and fill up poors ABs server.

4 a question: i see that like 20 % of my posts r band or so it says in my profile. well i never go against the rules and certainly not that many times (20 out of 91). i think that AB editor should verify why a post has been reported. if someone reports my post just because he don't like it then that is not fair. i only state my opinion without insulting anybody so what is wrong with that ?

[peanut]

yeah right, good luck with that

[paula.e]

post small pictures not a good idea how long before this was abused.good luck . 

[Thunderchild]

well a diagram in back and white can be made very smal

smaller than a decent colour picture so is possible

[IndieSinger]

Part One:

1) Submitting e-mail addresses on sites likes this is dangerous and can be annoying. It would become a prime target for data-miners - robots who scan millions of Internet pages and copy all the e-mail addresses. The addresses would then be sold to spam agencies. I agree with the current policy on publication of e-mail addresses.

2) The problem here, as has been states many times in this category, is that there would be no stopping the category defining. Where are the boundaries? Split Science into Biology, Physics and Chemistry etc. and then Physics into Electricity, Planets etc. and then each of those and so on and so forth. All categories would need to sub-divided in the same way. I agree again that the current umbrella categories suffice.

[IndieSinger]

Part Two:

3) Pictures in posts could be a reality if AnswerBank was prepared to change. As with other Internet sites, they could have a dedicated team of (usually voluntary) moderators. If there were enough, there would be a few online at any given time. These moderators get sent posts (with pictures) to approve or decline. Then if, say, 7 moderators saw it, 6 (for example) would have to approve it before it got submitted to the site.

This suggestion, along with others, would require a site upheaval of the present system, which I don't think Crystal Guides Ltd. are prepared to do.

4) Posts are often labelled "Banned" when they've actually just been deleted. This can sometimes be because you've replied to a message which has been banned. Obviously all the replies get deleted along with it. I do agree with you, though, that the AB Editor should justify his/her actions (but that would be hard if the person doing the deleting is a robot). The AB Editor's decision is final and if s/he believes you have gone against the site's values, s/he will delete them. Again, AnswerBank would, however, need more staff/volunteer moderators if each banning was to be justified. But they're not prepared to change their system for whatever reason.

[Thunderchild]

well as for subdivision of categories not all categories need to be devided just ones that cover magor areas or that cover very different aspects as for your picture suggestion i think that one validation is sufficient and if the size limit was low enough then most pictures that r illegitimate would never be small enough to go up.

I do think that more man power should be enrolled to monitor and improve the service too.

as for my banned post i have never and certainly not 20 times answered questions that violate the rules that is a poor excuse for people reporting post just cause they don't like them and them just getting deleted. by machine

[Thunderchild]

ps my e-mail is available on my web sir�te and has never caused me a problem. also my e-mail is available on other forums with no adverse effect and above all if i put it up then what does the AB care it's my decision

[IndieSinger]

While you choose to use this site, you choose to abide by the site's Terms and Conditions. Them's the rules.

Regarding categories, I still maintain that people would always campaign for more and more sub-divisions. See my answer from one of the other times this was mentioned here.

[Thunderchild]

well some rthings deserve more specification. for example i would realy like to see a seperate electronic section where projects can be discussed and that is where the use of even small pictures is handy. i would love to just sit down and run through all the las 20 electronics questions in a row without having to sift them out of the sience section and i should think that there r many more people out there spe specialised in a particular feild that tend to dedicate themselvse more to that than the other topics.

ps ehat happened to AB editor is he/she frightened that my arguments r too strong hehe

[IndieSinger]

But there are an infinite number of areas in which people specialise. For example, I would love to see any topics concerning foreign languages sifted out of the Phrases & Sayings category and the questions about teaching extracted from Jobs & Careers and threads about MG cars lifted out of the Motoring section etc. etc. Furthermore, everyone else will have different requests.

Sorry, you're still not convincing me!

[IndieSinger]

Also, don't forget pictures can easily be linked to like this.

You could even draw the pictures yourself (on the computer or on paper and scan it/take a photograph of it) and then link them in the same way using a site like www.imageshack.us.

[Thunderchild]

problem there is having somewhere else to load them too. most free server site don't allow what they call file storing as they put adverts on you pages not on a picture tht is also bigger than a page. this is my case if i fill my webspace up with picture to loink to i get banned ! also a minimal category is neccesay

[IndieSinger]

Big pictures like this?

As I said, ImageShack.

[Thunderchild]

ok that is a just reasonable solution (ever tried reading and electronic magazine with the diagram on one page and the explanartion on the other ? well i have and it is very hard !) but as for categories you really want to tell me that science is ONE category. cmon to make things simple a minimal subdivision should be made that goes no further than that second level u know how annoying it is to go thru body and sould for medical questions and find nothing but this like: i like this boy but he don't seem to like me what do i do ?

my main concern is the science category i mean anything wrong with splitting it into: space/astronomy physics/chemistry electicity/electronics biology/nature.

the nature and animals section has actually become a pet section so why the hell not just make a damn pet sction so that those who want nature (or broad biology) don't have to wade therough things like what do i give my canary to eat ? and leave real nature/animal Qs in the correct category

i would not suggest doing a motoring subdivision or a shopping subdivision as they r categories that cover a smal enough area anyhow.

the internet and technology can be split into mobile phones and pc related as there r a lot of mobo phone questions that swamp a specific pc qyuestion i don't know a thing about phones but a lot about pcs but your gotta be joking if i am going to spend the precious little time i dedicate to the AB (time i enjoy and wish i had more of) loading page after page to find the few pc questions and answer some.

i suppose u have broadband and well i have dialup and even with an accelerator (compressor program for the internet) the AB pages r still slow to load so i don't go more than a couple of pages down cause i get fed up with waiting.

i thin k icave kind have made my point now and if i havn't well then i am at the mercy of the AB editor that seems to be advoiding this thread ! perhaps i am too inovative ?

[IndieSinger]

Part One:

ok that is a just reasonable solution

OK. Don't forget the message width size is not very large, and posting big pictures would just break the frames anyway (so opening them in a new page seems sensible to me so that a) they are not hosted on this site; b) they don't break the frames; and c) not everyone is subjected to them (in case it takes a long time for their web pages to load) unless they actively want to see the picture. If you want just small pictures available, then my previous point still stands.

but as for categories you really want to tell me that science is ONE category.

Yes, Science is one category. It is an umbrella heading like the rest of them.

cmon to make things simple a minimal subdivision should be made that goes no further than that second level

I agree to some extent, but we would constantly be inundated with request to split them further. If, for example, Animals & Nature were to be split into Pets and Other (or whatever), then someone would come along and say something like, "the pets devision shud b split into pet health and pet care becos i am a vet and i would love to just sit down and run through all the las 20 pet health questions in a row without having to sift them out of the pets section"

[IndieSinger]

Part Two:

the nature and animals section has actually become a pet section so why the hell not just make a damn pet sction so that those who want nature (or broad biology) don't have to wade therough things like what do i give my canary to eat ?

If other nature questions were left to be put in a category called Biology, then someone, like you have done, would complain that they have to wade through postings about animals and plants when they only want to see posts about the human body. Because every individual has different preferences, it's necessary to keep the umbrella categories. Unfortunately we cannot have a personalised AnswerBank as everyone's requests would be different.

i would not suggest doing a motoring subdivision or a shopping subdivision as they r categories that cover a smal enough area anyhow.

But already other people disagree with you there. As I said, personal preferences differ, which is why people post suggestions like this.

[IndieSinger]

Part Three:

the AB pages r still slow to load so i don't go more than a couple of pages down cause i get fed up with waiting.

Presumably, though, the pages would take just as long to load if the categories had sub-headings? You would spend time clicking through each sub-category to get to the one you wanted.

i thin k icave kind have made my point now and if i havn't well then i am at the mercy of the AB editor that seems to be advoiding this thread !

Don't worry: You haven't done anything wrong by posting this thread. It contravenes no AnswerBank rules. You are merely expressing your personal opinion.

[Thunderchild]

what u say about animals and plants and then someone will want human body is the exact thing that is causing this confusion. there already is a human body section (body and soul) but it is swamped with sentimental Qs for want of a better place for them ! so we just go round inj circles

and PPPPPPPS where is AB editor is he getting all this ? well i'm off to bed so any more considerations will have to await tomorow

[netibiza]

Hear hear - let's all demonstrate and chain ourselves to some railings somewhere.