I have been thinking a lot about the criticism that was leveled against us in this thread: Is this site exploitive of the WP community?. That was a good conversation and a lot of good ideas were suggested. Mathieu Hallé wrote:
i stop answering on this site because by the time i finish writing my answer, 8 other dev answer about that same response i did.
then i waisted 5-30 minutes of my life (and 6 other dev too.)
I am curious if the experts who post answers really feel their time is wasted if other people also answer at the same time? If so, would it make sense for us to implement a block on answers, for maybe 15 minutes, once someone
starts writing? I am thinking this would be a soft block, rather than a strict block, enforced with Javascript rather than with PHP, so if you wanted to get around it, all you would have to do is turn off the Javascript in your browser. The block would be meant as a courtesy to the expert who arrives second, while someone else is writing their answer – the idea would be to suggest “Hey, you might not want to answer right now, because someone else is already writing an answer.” If 15 minutes seems like too long, what about 5 minutes? Or what about no lock at all, but a pop-up warning that tells you how many other people are currently writing answers? (As a technical matter, we would use Javascript to detect keystrokes in the textarea where you type your answers, and we would use Ajax to convey that to the server, and then more Ajax to convey that information to other people’s browsers.)
As I’ve written before, I do not think our site is exploitive. However, I also feel that we must continually look for ways to help the experts who answer questions on our sites. For instance, in response to that earlier thread, we built in an obvious reminder that askers can split their prize among multiple experts, and since that time the number of questions that have ended with split prizes has increased. I think it is fair that when multiple experts contribute important information, the prize should be split among them.
So, I am curious about what else we can do to make the site better for our experts. And so I ask, would anyone find it useful if there was a kind of exclusive, short-term lock on answering?
One drawback I see to blocking Expert #2, #3, #4. etc. because Expert #1 happened to get there first is that Expert #1’s answer may be way off base and incorrect. Or Expert #1 may be one of the people who just type “contact me”, (like the first two people in this question):
http://www.wpquestions.com/question/show/id/620
An automated system that detects Expert #1 typing and locks out the others, I think, could drastically increase this type of behavior, because experts would just have to get there first and type “hey, contact me”, and they’d know they have a 15 minute window. I can see that being exploited.
Also, in quite a few questions I see the best solution split over multiple answers. Locking out additional answers for 15 minutes can hinder the Asker’s project if the solution ends up being split since they’ll have to wait an additional time.
Maybe a solution would be to not lock out answers from being submitted, but delay answers from being shown, say for 15 minutes after the question was asked. (Similar to “your comment is awaiting moderation.”)
Like so:
1. 10:00 AM: Asker asks question
2. 10:02 AM: Expert #1 submits solution
3. 10:02 AM: Expert #2 submits solution
4. 10:05 AM: Expert #3 submits solution
5. 10:15 AM: answers become available
6. 10:16 AM: Expert #4 submits solution (answer immd. avail. since it’s after 15 minute window)
At 10:15 the Asker can view any submitted solutions and choose accordingly. A few times I’ve seen the Asker go with the first Expert’s solution even though it wasn’t necessarily the *best* simply because it was the first one submitted. Giving time for (x) number of Experts to submit (n) number of answers gives the Asker multiple choices. And when an Asker has a choice between 3 actual submitted answers and 2 “contact me” answers, I’d bet they’d lean toward choosing one of the 3 actual answers.
I endorse any effort where the process is kept transparent as possible. It’s frustrating to see messages like in the question linked above. “Mission completed” doesn’t tell anyone how the problem was solved, and down the line any one of us may encounter the same exact problem. By giving Experts ample time to submit answers, and by giving Askers choices, the process remains profitable, efficient, and fair for all parties involved.
Just my $.02. : )
darrinb, thanks so much for your feedback. You raise a really good point about the poor quality of some of the answers. This may have been one of my dumber ideas. Still, I’d like to do something to meet the objection that Mathieu Hallé raised.
Perhaps it would be enough to simply have a small, Ajax powered warning somewhere that says “3 other people are writing answers right now.” And then you, as an expert, have the choice to contribute your answer to the fray, or to invest your time elsewhere, knowing that 3 other people are already working on it.
Potentially, too, that Ajax warning could tell you who the other 3 experts are.
How does that strike you?
First off, no such thing as a dumb idea! Actions are dumb, ideas are just thoughts. : )
The issue I take with Mathieu Halle’s statement is that there is this supposition that time is wasted because other people were also working on the problem. To that I say, “and?”. The very nature of online support forums–paid or otherwise–is a community of askers and answerers. No one’s reinventing the wheel here, we’re just sharing ideas and solutions.
I understand the frustration with taking the time to provide a solution only to have 4 other experts do it as well, but how is that any different than interviewing for a job? Or submitting a bid for a new project?
I can’t tell you how many questions I spent time answering only to have A: the asker choose someone else’s, B: someone come up with the exact same answer as mine, or C: someone come up with a WAY easier solution than mine. But that’s the choice I make when I decide to take the time to answer.
With specific regard to this part of his statement:
1- Submit question and how much your willing to pay.
2- Dev reply saying i’ll do it and for how much.
3- The person who asked can chose who he want to solve the problem.
4- if the problem is solved, Dev get paid.
There are a few issues:
1. The Asker has no idea about the quality of work of the Expert who replies (step #3)
2. Allowing Experts to state a price opens the potential for bidding wars (step #2).
3. It adds an entire step to the process; waiting for the Asker to choose the Expert (step #3).
4. What if the answer provided by the Expert (step #4) is wrong? Sure, he doesn’t get paid, but the Asker wasted time waiting for the answer. Further, all the other Experts will have turned away from the question once the Asker chose the Expert (step #3), so now how would you go about alerting them that the question was still open?
Personally, I think the most transparent solution is the one I mentioned previously in combination with yours: a 15 min window before answers are revealed and an AJAX notice that (x) amount of other Experts are currently working on answer. That way, Experts get a fair shot AND can choose if they even want to answer the question at all (since they can see the # of other Experts working on it).
It could go like this:
1. 10:00 AM: Asker asks question
2. 10:02 AM: Expert #1 submits solution
3. 10:02 AM: Expert #2 sees a notice above textarea, submits solution
4. 10:05 AM: Expert #3 sees a notice above textarea, submits solution
5. 10:15 AM: answers become available
6. 10:16 AM: Expert #4 submits solution (answer immd. avail. since it’s after 15 minute window)
Screenshot: http://darrinb.com/media/screenshot_wpquestions.jpg
This is what is so great about the WP community, the exchange of ideas!
darrinb, thank you for taking the time to write such a thoughtful reply. It helps us think about this issue, to hear from people who are using the site. Your experience on the site, and your willingness to share it, is worth a lot to us.
Your response to Mathieu Hallé is interesting. In particular, when you write “but the Asker wasted time waiting for the answer” I think you are hitting on the worst aspect of adding extra steps. Codewi.se sites need to be about getting information to the asker, as fast as possible.
Regarding the notice that you’ve designed, so long as everyone can see who else is working on a solution, does it matter if 5 or 15 or 0 minutes go by before the answers become visible? Or rather, assuming everyone takes 5 minutes to write a reply, there won’t be anything to see for the first 5 minutes. But once people post an answer, why shouldn’t we make it visible? Everyone else is also writing an answer will be notified, via Ajax, that an answer has been posted.
“But once people post an answer, why shouldn’t we make it visible?”
I was just continuing off of my original comment regarding locking out answers for 15 minutes. Initially, the question posed was about granting exclusive 15 minute blocks for one expert to write one answer. Holding off on showing answers for 15 minutes was offered as an alternative to this for the various reasons I mentioned.
I personally don’t have a problem with how the site is set up as-is. Other than the whole “contact me privately” replies that are used by some experts, I think the site is great and serves a useful purpose to all who get involved in it. That said, if adding an AJAX alert is going to encourage more experts to get involved and promote the site, I say go for it.
darrinb, thanks again for writing a thoughtful reply. I’ve just now been re-reading your comments. I think you have made a good case against anything like a 15 minute lock. The points you raise about poor quality answers and wasting an askers time are persuasive. I apologize for my original suggestion of imposing a 15 minute lock on questions. You’ve convinced me that my initial reasoning was flawed. I sometimes come up with very dumb ideas, and this may have been one of them. Your suggestion of a 15 minute blind period is interesting, though it is different from what I was first suggesting. We will wait and see how others respond. If few people feel that the site needs to change, then we would hesitate to make such a large change as the one I suggested above.