Experience
Points, Levels, and Quest Gold
Superpowers!
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About Askville |
Askville is a place where you can share and discuss knowledge with other people by asking and answering questions on any topic. It’s a fun place to meet others with similar interests to you and a place where you can share what you know. You can learn something new everyday or help and meet others using your knowledge. Askville even helps you learn by giving you cool tools to help you find information online while you are answering questions. It’s all about sharing—what you know and what you want to know—so go ahead and meet someone new today and Askville!
Real simple. From the homepage or anywhere else where you see a big white box where you can type in a question:
- Just type in your question in the big box with the blinking cursor and click on the Ask the Community button. Keep in mind you have a 120 character limit for your question title.
- This will send you to the Question page.
- You will have the option of submitting additional details (1,000 character limit) about your question to help the community give you better answers.
- Add as many topics as you think is relevant to your question. You can add existing topics by clicking on the green arrow next to each topic or you can add a new topic by typing it directly in the topic box. Please separate all topics with a comma. You must submit at least 2 topics for each question and there is a maximum of 6 topics allowed per question.
- Click on the "Ask the Community" button and you're all ready to go.
Once you’ve submitted your question, your question will be open for 7 days. Depending on the community’s interest and/or difficulty of the question you will get up to 5 answers back from the Askville community during those 7 days. In the interim, feel free to meet other Askville users who share similar interests by answering a question, or have a discussion with other users in the Discussion Board section for each question.
3. How is Askville different from a message board or chat room?
Askville is a place to share knowledge about any topic versus a message board which is designed to focus on one primary topic. So in one sense Askville is a multi-message board community. However, to help the community find high quality answers in each topic we give experience points to users based on how good their answers are in a particular topic.
4. What are experience points?
Every time you answer a question on Askville you will earn or potentially lose experience points in the topics that were associated with that question. Askville uses experience points to determine how knowledgeable a user is in a given topic. Experience points are broken up into various levels. To reach a certain level you need to have earned a certain number of experience points in that topic. Go to Experience Points, Levels, and Quest Gold in the FAQs to learn more about experience points and levels.
5. Do I need to create an account to use Askville and what do I need to sign up?
If you want to ask or answer a question, you will need to create an account. There is no charge for creating an account with Askville. Everything on Askville is free! Askville is an Amazon.com company so you have the option of using your Amazon login.
6. How much does it cost to ask or answer questions on Askville?
Everything on Askville is free! In fact, Askville will give you Quest gold for providing great answers. Quest gold can eventually be used on an upcoming website called Questville.com.
7. How is Askville affiliated with Amazon?
Askville is a new business launched by Amazon. Askville is a fully owned subsidiary of Amazon.
8. I have multiple Amazon accounts. Can I use these accounts to participate as different people?
No. Using multiple accounts to participate on Askville is a violation of our Conditions of Use and may result in the suspension of your accounts. Please refer to our Terms of Service for guidance on acceptable behavior.
9. How can Askville users contact each other?
Users will have 2 primary methods of communicating with each other:
o Public Comments - Each Askville user will have a public profile page. Any Askville user can comment on other public profile pages by clicking on a user’s profile and then clicking "post a comment". All comments are publicly viewable by the rest of the Askville community. Users can easily report abuse and can even block specific users from commenting on their profile page altogether.
o
Askville Email - Users will have an Askville Inbox where they
can email each other within the community. These emails can only be read by
the sender and the recipient. Users will be able to delete old email messages,
report abuse and also block specific users from sending you emails.
Your personal email address is never shown to the recipient, either on the
email or your profile page, and the only way to reply is by clicking on the
reply link and sending the message through Askville.
Please remember that posting your email address in your questions and
answers are violations of community guidelines, so please communicate to each
other through either the Public Comments or through Askville’s email
features instead.
My Watchlist is a feature where you can “watch” any question or topic that you’re interested in. If you find a question that you’re interested in and would like to see the answers to them once the question is closed, you just go to the question and click on the “Watch this Question” button. Similarly, you can watch an entire topic or set of topics by clicking on the “Watch this Filter” button, located at the top of any topic page. You can view all questions and topics that you are watching by going to your My Askville page and clicking on My Watchlist.
My Discussions is a feature where we keep track of all comments posted to any question you've asked, answered, or discussed. Anytime someone else has posted a new comment on any question you’ve participated in, you will see that question show up in My Discussions and the total number of comments posted to it. We will sort the questions on a weekly basis, based on when the last comment was posted. If you remove any question from My Discussions, we will no longer show you when that question gets new comments. However, if you post a new comment to a question you've removed, we will start tracking that question again in My Discussions. You can get to My Discussions from your My Askville page.
12. What is the Askville Activity Update?
The Askville Activity Update is an email that summarizes all recent activity that is related to any questions you've asked, answered, or discussed as well as any questions you are watching that have new answers you have not seen. We will only email you when there is new activity associated with your account. You can select to get the update either once a day or once a week, assuming that some new activity has occurred since you received your last update email.
13. How do I contact Askville with more questions about Askville?
Submit your question to Askville! Just add the topic askville and we or the Askville community will help you with your question!
14. Where do I find Askville’s Terms of Service?
The Terms of Service for Askville can be found here.
15. I can’t find an answer to my question in the FAQs. What can I do?
Submit your question to Askville! Just add the topic askville and we or the Askville community will help you with your question!
Real simple. From the homepage or anywhere else where you see a big white box where you can type in a question:
o Just type in your question in the big box with the blinking cursor and click on the Ask the Community button. Keep in mind you have a 120 character limit for your question title.
o This will send you to the Question page.
o You will have the option of submitting additional details (1,000 character limit) about your question to help the community answer your question.
o Add as many topics as you think is relevant to your question. You can add existing topics by clicking on the green arrow next to each topic or you can add a new topic by typing it directly in the topic box. Please separate all topics with a comma. You must submit at least 2 topics for each question and there is a maximum of 6 topics allowed per question.
o Click on the "Ask the Community" button and you’re all ready to go.
Once you’ve submitted your question, your question will be open for 7 days. Depending on the community’s interest and/or difficulty of the question you will get up to 5 answers back from the Askville community during those 7 days. In the interim, feel free to meet other Askville users who share similar interests by answering a question or have a discussion with other users in the Discussion Board section for each question.
Each question has to be classified under at least two topics. Topics are how other users in the community can easily find your question. The better you classify your question the more likely it will be answered by knowledgeable Askville users. It’s to your benefit to label your question with as many popular topics as possible since more users will find them.
3. What are Active Discussions?
Active Discussions is a list of the most popular or most active questions based on how recently someone has posted a comment to that question. Similar to a message board, Active Discussions will help users find questions that are seeing a lot of discussion activity.
You can ask any question that can be answered with words, numbers, pictures, videos, maps and/or can be found on the web. Not all of our users are necessarily experts in the field related to your question, but they are pretty good in locating information on the web or in giving their opinion. If the answer to your question is online, chances are pretty good they'll find it. Keep in mind that Askville is not a substitute for professional advice or services, nor will we knowingly provide answers to assist in illegal activities. We reserve the right to delete or reject questions on a case-by-case basis if they do not comply with our editorial policy and guidelines for "Proper Use," as specified in our Terms of Service.
Askville discourages and may remove questions that:
o request private information about individuals
o want assistance in conducting illegal activities
o are meant to sell or advertise products
o refer or relate to adult content
o seek specific information about Amazon or Askville (contact us instead)
5. What are clarification requests?
Once you’ve submitted your question, other users will try to give you good answers. In some cases these users may have follow-up questions to ask you while they are working on answering your question. Users can submit a follow-up question through clarification requests. If a user who is working on answering your question has a follow-up question they will submit a clarification request which you will see on your My Askville page or when you are viewing that specific question. Simply click on reply and then type in a response to the clarification request. Any other user who is working on your question will be able to see the clarification request and your response so that you won’t be asked the same clarification request multiple times.
6. Can I ask a question anonymously?
Yes. You can now ask anonymous questions to the Askville community by clicking on the checkbox labeled "ask anonymously" on the Ask a Question page. If you ask an anonymous question, we will deduct 20 quest gold from your account. This is to limit the use of anonymous questions and to prevent abuse. When you ask an anonymous question, no one will know who asked the question, including your friends. Moreover, it will not show up in your public profile, or any of your public activity reports. However, users will still be able to report abuse on these questions, which will be traced to your account. So please adhere to our community guidelines and our terms of service.
7. Can I change a question I asked and make it anonymous?
Yes. Find the question that you want to change to anonymous and go to that question. Once there, you will see an option to change that question into an anonymous question. It will cost you 20 quest gold to make this change. After you make question anonymous, all public records that tie your account to this question will be removed or changed to anonymous, including public compliments, discussion posts, your public question history, and your public activity reports.
1. How will I know when my question has been answered?
If you have email notification enabled, you’ll automatically get an email when your question is answered. You will receive up to 5 answers per question. Additionally, you can log in to Askville and click on the My History link (found within My Askville). In your question list, you can see how many answers your question has received. To read the posted answers, simply click on the question. To change your email notification settings, just go to Advanced page from My Askville | Settings.
2. What if a question doesn't have a clear answer?
Some questions simply don't have clear, straightforward answers that can be answered through an online search or through another reference source (e.g. "Which is prettier - blue or green?"). In such cases, Askville users will attempt to provide links to useful background information on the question or will offer their own opinion, in which case you may want to look at that user’s experience points in the topic to determine how valued their opinion truly is.
3. How can I tell whose answer is the best?
Askville users will earn experience points in various topics every time they answer a question. Although we cannot validate that a particular user is an “expert” in a topic, if the user has earned a lot of experience points in a given topic on Askville, there is a good chance they have provided good answers to other questions in that topic. Within each answer that was submitted by a user, you will see a list of topics and the level of experience that the user has earned in that topic. The higher the level, the more likely that user will have some knowledge about that topic.
4. What if my question doesn’t get any answers?
Questions have a 7 day open period. If your question doesn’t receive any answers within this timeframe, it will expire and be deleted. If you don’t receive any answers within 7 days you can ask your question again. Please make sure you have properly labeled your question with the right topics, as that will play a big role in how easily users will find your question and which users will answer your question.
5. What do I have to do once my question has been answered?
Once your question has received at least one answer you can vote on that answer immediately. You will only receive a maximum of 5 answers per question. To vote:
o Go to My Askville and at the upper right hand corner there is a green Action Items box. The number of questions you need to vote on will be listed here. Click on the link and you’ll be shown a list of questions that need your vote.
o Within each answer that is submitted you can give the following votes:
1. 5 stars (best rating)
2. 4 stars
3. 3 stars
4. 2 stars
5. 1 star (worst rating)
o Each vote you submit will be used to determine how many experience points each user will earn (or lose) from the answer they submitted.
o Once all users have submitted their answers or after the question is closed for new answers (i.e. 7 days after question has been asked), the question will go into a formal voting period that gives you an additional 3 days to vote on each answer submitted. You and everyone that submitted an answer can change their vote at any time up to when the voting period ends. These votes will be used to determine how many experience points each user earns (or loses).
o If you don't take any actions, the voting period will end after 3 days and experience points will be given based on the votes that were cast by the answerers.
6. What if I don’t like the answers I got? What can I do?
If you receive an answer and are not satisfied with it, you have the option of waiting for another answer to be submitted by a different Askville user (up to a maximum of 5 answers). You can also give a specific Askville user a poor rating by rating an answer either 2 stars or 1 star. By giving a 2 stars or 1 star rating on an answer, the answerer will most likely lose experience points in the topics that were associated with the question. Eventually, if an answerer receives enough 2 stars or 1 star ratings in a given topic, they will not be allowed to answer questions on that topic and can also be banned from Askville.
7. Why do you limit each question to just 5 answers? What if I want more answers?
We’ve placed a limit on the number of answers per
question to make sure you are not overwhelmed with too many answers to your
question. If you want to get more than 5 answers you can simply ask your
question again – it’s free!
Other users are also allowed to submit comments to a question at any time
by going to the Discussion Board tab and clicking on "Post a Comment". The Discussion Board section will allow other users who did
not work on the question to give their opinions about the answers provided
and/or give their own answers to the question.
We hide each user's answers until all 5 answers have been submited or 7 days have passed. We do this so that Askville answerers cannot see other people's answers to a question until after they have submitted their own answer. This prevents cheating (copying/editing other people's answers and submitting it as their own) and also gives each answerer credit if they submit the right answer, whether they were the first, second, or last person to submit the same answer. That said, you can view all submitted answers before a question closes by opting out of answering the question.
9. I want to read the answers, and do not want to wait until the question is closed. What can I do?
Anyone can click on the "Reveal the answer" button, which will allow you to see all submitted answers to a question before it is closed. The only requirement is that you have to sign-in and forfeit your option to answer the question. This is done to maintain fairness of the answering process. However, you can still continue to participate in the discussion board even if you opt out of answering the question
10. Can I vote on an answer even though I wasn’t involved in asking or answering the question?
After a question is closed you can give your opinion on an answer by giving it a “thumbs up” rating. All users are encouraged to voice their opinions on all answers. The “thumbs up” rating has no impact to an answerer’s final rating. However, we will eventually use these ratings to give recognition to popular answers.
11. Can I reward the Askville user who gave me the best answer?
The best way to reward an Askville user is by giving them a “great” vote. This will help them earn experience points in the topics that are associated with the question.
1. How do I answer a question?
Each question has a 7 day "open" period during which you can post an answer. Just go to any question in the Questions That Need Answers section and click on the Answer Question button to start. This will send you to Askville’s Answer Builder page. The Answer Builder page gives you several options:
Step 1: Write a Summary and give some detail of your answer
o Ask a Clarification Request (located right below the green question box) – this allows you to ask a clarification question to the person who asked the original question. The minute you submit a clarification request, all other users who are working on this question will also see your request. This is to ensure that no other user asks the same clarification request twice. Similarly, all responses you receive back from the question asker will also be viewable by the other users working on this question.
o Answer Summary – type in a quick summary of your answer here (limit 120 characters). This is required for all answers you submit. Think of this as the “title” of your answer.
o Mini-word processor (1,000 character limit)– Mini-word processor allows you to type/create as detailed an answer as you want. You can format your answer using common word processing functions (e.g. bold, underline, color code, etc…) as well as other features including uploading any pictures you have on your computer or point to a photo online from any website by clicking on the Image button.
Step 2: Add a Widget to enhance your answer -we have provided some useful tools/widgets for you to use to help build great answers. These widgets allow you to embed useful content from other websites as part of your answer. Once you launch a widget you can click on the question mark on the widget to find out how to use the tool:
o Video Widget - the Video widget allows users to easily add their favorite videos from popular video storage sites such as youtube.com, google video, and bolt.com.
o Amazon Products - this widget allows you to easily add any product that is on Amazon.com. You can either search for a product by typing in the product name in the search box and selecting a product category, or you can click on the Specify Particular Item link and just go to Amazon.com, find the specific product you want to add and copy and paste the url of the product into the box provided. Once you’ve selected the products you want, just click on “add selected items” after which you can move each product up or down by clicking and dragging a product higher or lower. To delete a product just click on the trashcan icon.
o Google Maps - Google Maps allows user to display a map of a location as part of their answer. You must type in an address of a location and click on the “load map” button. This will retrieve a Google map of the location. You also have the option of typing in a caption to describe the location being displayed on the Google map.
o