Unity answers barrier of Entry

Just wanted to comment on unity answers.

  • The barrier of entry is high. You cannot vote, comment or do anything initially.
  • This is a problem because unlike stackoverflow for example, who has a user base which always accepts or upvotes your answer, unity-answers user’s are mostly 1-reputation users, who do not even bother accepting the answers
  • One way of improving this would be to allow users with 11 points (i.e. filled out profile) to at least vote on other users answers, thus enabled people to raise up and be able to comment etc.

I am not sure if anyone else noticed this, or if I am just being to picky.

Hi, welcome to the forum!

I’ve been informed that the reputation levels for the various features in StackExchange are hard-coded (seriously), so it’s not just a matter of setting preferences. However, a feature to remove some of the restrictions will soon be available. In the meantime, UT people are aiming to vote up good answers when they find them, which should help a little bit.

I totally agree. It is not good that a new user cannot comment on answers if they haven’t had 5 up-votes yet (commenting requires 50 reputation points)

However, the way I understand the reputation game, is that if someone answer a question, it must mean that they have an opinion on the question and should thereby leave a vote every time they even read a question.

Another thing is the actual philosophy behind the stack-exchange system. At stackoverflow.com they want their users to ask serious questions - and that is not always easy for new users (all due respect). In this interesting issue of the stackoverflow podcast Kathy Sierra talks about how to build up a healthy knowledge sharing community, and other issues of the podcast many thoughts about getting the best out of the stack-exchange platform is discussed.

… I started drifting again :slight_smile:

My point is that it is not always the best to have new user shooting around comments and other stuff that is restricted by the point system in the stack-overflow platform. The platform is designed to build a strong and serious community for knowledge sharing.

In the afore-mentioned podcast this exact problem is addressed and it is suggested to have a clear distinction between serious knowledge exchange and cosy web-chatter. This is what we try to accommodate with this forum vs. UnityAnswers. Forcing new users to lurk and ask questions silently is a way of educating them in the ways of this distinction.

I see both the problem and the advantages in this configuration.

From my experience with the new answer system to date is that people give inappropriate answers that have nothing really to do with the issue the others vote it up instead of taking the question seriously or quantifying the answer before voting it up which gives both the answer and the voter points, giving new meaning to TITO with points. So now you have trash answers to trash points, and a person who is looking for a valid answer is not allowed to nullify the vote up, and if the answer is not appropriate and no appropriate answer is ever given, then zero points should be given to any answer and to any vote ups.

At least with exper-exchange system, they have real moderators controlling appropriate responses and appropriate points.

So did the requirements ever get changed? It seems that some did - I re-tagged a question, having less than the points required as stated in the FAQ. Does the Answers FAQ need to be updated?

John C>
“For all your days, prepare, and meet them ever alike;
When you are the anvil, bear - when the hammer, strike.”