Askville FAQ
Experience
Points, Levels, and Quest Gold
|
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 until it gets an answer. Depending on the community’s interest and/or difficulty of the question you will get up to 5 answers back from the Askville community. 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 completely free!
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 Digest?
The Askville Activity Update Digest 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 until someone answers it. Depending on the community’s interest and/or difficulty of the question you will get up to 5 answers back from the Askville community. 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 will remain open until they get at least one answer. 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, 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 3 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 3 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 Save & Preview a Widget - users can preview how a specific widget will look by clicking on the “save & preview” button on a specific widget or can preview their entire answer by clicking on the “Continue” button at the bottom of the webpage.
o Moving Your Widgets - users can move widgets up or down by clicking on the up or down arrow for any widget. If they want to remove a widget entirely they simply need to click on the “X” within a given widget to remove it from your answer.
2. Once I submit my answer, can I still edit or delete it?
No. Once you’ve submitted your answer you can not edit or delete it. You can modify your answer as long as the question is still open and you haven’t submitted your answer. To edit your answer you can go back to the question and click on ”Continue My Answer” which will then send you back to where you left off. You can also go to My Askville and in your Action Items box (located in upper-right hand corner), we will tell you how many “Answers in Progress” you have. If you have any, click on the link we will show you a list of questions you are currently answering.
3. I don’t want to answer a question I accepted. What can I do?
While answering a question, you can abandon your answer by clicking on the “Abandon Answer” button located at the bottom of the page.
4. Why can't I answer some questions?
Each question has a 3 day open period during which people can post answers. A question is closed when either 5 users submitted their answers or after 3 days have passed, after which the question goes into a “voting period”. Users cannot submit answers to Closed Questions. However, you can continue to contribute to a Closed Question by starting a discussion on the Discussion Board section, located right below all the answers. You can start a discussion by clicking on the “Post a Comment” link on the Discussion Board tab.
5. When can you post a comment on a discussion board on a question or give an opinion on an answer?
Any user can post a comment on any question’s Discussion Board at any time by going to the Discussion Board tab and click on "Post a Comment". Users will also be able to give their own opinion on any answer by giving it a “thumbs up” or a “thumbs down”. Once you vote, you will see how others have voted for that answer. Eventually, we will use these ratings to give recognition to popular answers.
6. Why was my question, answer, or comment deleted?
Askville does not edit the content of questions, answers, or
comments. However, we reserve the right to remove content that we
determine, in our sole discretion, to be inappropriate and/or in violation of
the Askville community guidelines in our Terms of Service.
Depending on the level of offense, the offender risks losing Quest gold and/or deactivation of their
Askville account and consequently everything associated with it. If you are
unsure whether your content is appropriate or consistent with these policies,
please err on the side of caution and do not post it on Askville.
7. Can I answer a question anonymously?
Yes. You can now answer questions anonymously to the Askville community by clicking on the checkbox labeled "answer anonymously" on the bottom of step 1 of Answering a Question. If you choose to answer a question anonymously, we will deduct 20 quest gold from your account. This is to limit the use of anonymous answering and to prevent abuse. When you answer a question anonymously, no one will know who answered the question, including your friends. Moreover, it will not show up in your public profile, or any of your public activity reports. You will still receive a final rating and the corresponding gold and experience points. That being said, users will still be able to report abuse on these answers, which will be traced to your account. So please adhere to our community guidelines and our terms of service.
8. Can I change an answer I submitted and make it anonymous?
Yes. Find the question and answer that you want to change to anonymous and go to that question. Once there, you will see an option to change that answer and make it anonymous. It will cost you 20 quest gold to make this change. After you make an answer anonymous, all public records that tie your account to this answer will be removed or changed to anonymous, including public compliments, discussion posts, your public answer history, and your public activity reports.
1. 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
2. How are experience points calculated?
Experience points are calculated after a question has been closed and users have voted on the question. The user that asked the question and the users that submitted answers to the question (maximum of 5 users can answer a question) will have a chance to vote on the question. An answer must get at least 2 votes for it to be rated. Any answer which doesn’t get the minimum 2 votes will be given a default score of “3 stars”. The question asker’s vote on an answer counts for 2 votes. Each user will get the following experience points for their answer based upon how all the users voted:
|
|
Experience |
|
Final Answer Score |
Points Earned |
|
Best Answer Bonus |
Additional 5 points |
|
5.0 stars |
15 |
|
4.5 stars |
7 |
|
4.0 stars |
5 |
|
3.5 stars |
3 |
|
3.0 stars |
1 |
|
2.5 stars |
0 |
|
2.0 stars |
-5 |
|
1.5 stars |
-7 |
|
1.0 stars |
-10 |
We will calculate an answer’s “raw score” by averaging out all the votes and will round up or round down to two decimal points by ½ star increments to get to your final rating (e.g. Answer that has a “raw score” between 3.25 and 3.75 will receive final rating of 3.5 stars. And an answer with a score between 3.75 and 4.25 will receive a final rating of 4 stars.) See chart below for a graphical explanation of how the raw score translates into your Final Rating and your Quest Gold payout:
The answer that gets the highest final rating will get the Best Answer bonus of 5 experience points and 5 Quest Gold. Only 1 answer can receive a Best Answer Bonus. To qualify for the Best Answer Bonus, you need to receive a final rating greater than 3.5 stars, without any ties.
To have a tie, two users would need to have the same exact "raw score", before we do any rounding up or down. That said, if this scenario occurs, there will be no Best Answer Ribbon given, although any user can Appeal their Final Rating, which could potentially lead to a higher “raw score”.
4. Is it possible that no answer gets the Best Answer Ribbon?
Yes. To qualify for the Best Answer Ribbon, you need to have a final rating of greater than 3.5 stars, without any ties. If none of the submitted answers meet these criteria, then no Best Answer Ribbon will be given out.
5. How many experience points do I need to move up a level?
The following table tells you how many experience points you
need to earn in a topic and how many bonus points you can earn per answer once you've reached a certain level:
|
|
# of topic |
bonus |
|
Level |
experience points |
gold payout |
|
0 |
0-19 |
0 |
|
1 |
20-174 |
1 |
|
2 |
175-749 |
5 |
|
3 |
750-1499 |
10 |
|
4 |
1,500-2,999 |
20 |
|
5 |
3,000-7,499 |
40 |
|
6 |
7,500-? |
75 |
Quest gold is a virtual currency on Askville that users can
earn by participating on Askville. To encourage participation and reward
great answers, Askville users can earn Quest gold based on specific actions
you take. The table below summarizes the number of Quest gold you can earn
for different actions. Collect as many Quest gold as you can and show everyone
how active and helpful you've been on Askville. In addition, from time to time,
we may make available special, limited time redemption offers.
|
Action |
Quest Gold Earned |
|
Ask a question |
1 |
|
Submit an answer to a question* |
1 |
|
Use widget in an answer** |
1 |
|
Vote on an answer* |
1 |
|
Login to Askville (once per day) |
5 |
|
Get a Best Answer Bonus |
5 |
|
Get a 5.0 stars rating for an answer |
15 |
|
Get a 4.5 stars rating for an answer |
7 |
|
Get a 4.0 stars rating for an answer |
5 |
|
Get a 3.5 stars rating for an answer |
3 |
|
Get a 3.0 stars rating for an answer |
1 |
|
Get a 2.5 stars rating for an answer |
0 |
|
Get a 2.0 stars rating for an answer |
-5 |
|
Get a 1.5 stars rating for an answer |
-7 |
|
Get a 1.0 stars rating for an answer |
-10 |
* Gold earned by an answerer for submitting an answer to a question and for voting on other answers are revoked if the answerer’s response gets a final score of 2.0 stars or below.
** Gold paid out only if the answer gets a Final Answer Score of 3.5 stars or more.
You can also earn bonus Quest gold based on what level you have reached in a
topic. The following table lists the amount of bonus gold you can earn based
on the level you have achieved in a topic:
|
|
bonus |
|
Level |
gold payout |
|
0 |
0 |
|
1 |
1 |
|
2 |
5 |
|
3 |
10 |
|
4 |
20 |
|
5 |
40 |
|
6 |
75 |
You can only earn bonus Quest Gold for answers that had final ratings of 3.5 stars or more. For example, if you
answered a question in a topic (e.g. music) where you have earned enough experience points to be level 5 in that
topic and you received a final rating score of 4 stars, you will earn 40 bonus gold
on top of your normal Quest Gold payout for that answer. Below is a summary of your Quest Gold payout in this
example:
Level 5 user in topic “music”
5 Stars Answer = 10 Quest Gold + 40 bonus Gold = 50 Quest Gold
4 Stars Answer = 5 Quest Gold + 40 bonus Gold = 45 Quest Gold
3 Stars Answer = 1 Quest Gold + 0 bonus Gold = 1 Quest Gold
2 Stars Answer = -5 Quest Gold + 0 bonus Gold = -5 Quest Gold
1 Star Answer = -10 Quest Gold + 0 bonus Gold = -10 Quest Gold
If a question is associated with multiple topics, we will reward your bonus Gold based on the highest level you’ve achieved in any of the topics. For example, if you were level 5 in the topic “music”, level 3 in the topic “shopping”, and level 1 in the topic “mp3” then we would reward your bonus Gold based on your “music” topic level.
7. Can I redeem my Quest gold for anything, such as money?
Except for any special limited time redemption offers that we may make available from time to time, Quest gold are not redeemable for anything at this moment.
8. What can I do if I disagree with the final rating for my answer?
If you disagree with your final rating, you can now “Appeal” the final rating. This will result in a random selection of other Askvillers to rate your answer. We will give preference to Askvillers who have expertise in one of the topics that were tagged with the question. All appeal votes will be anonymous and they will be added to all existing votes and the final rating of that answer will be recalculated. You can have up to 50 ratings under appeal at any given time and you can only appeal ratings for answers to questions that were asked within the past 90 days (i.e. you cannot appeal the rating for an answer to a question that was asked 91 days ago).
1. When can I vote on a question or answer?
If you asked the question you can vote on any answer that has been submitted at any time. If you submitted an answer to a question you can start voting on the other answers as they are submitted. No one else is allowed to vote on the answers. All questions will enter a formal voting period when either 5 users have submitted an answer or 3 days have passed since the question has been asked and received at least one answer. The formal voting period gives all answerers and the question asker an additional 3 days before voting is closed. If you go to your My Askville page you can see which questions you can vote on in the Questions Need My Vote section.
2. Can I change my vote once I've cast it?
Yes. You will be able to change your vote on any answer until the question is closed for voting.
3. When does the voting period end?
The voting period lasts 3 days from the time that all 5 answers have been submitted or after 3 days have passed since the question was asked and received at least one answer.
4. When will I find out what Score I got on my Answer?
Once a question has entered the voting period, all answerers and the question asker will have an additional 3 days to vote on each answer. Users are not allowed to vote on their own answer. Once all users have voted on every answer or after 3 days have passed, we will calculate the final rating “raw score” for each submitted answer. We will calculate an answer’s “raw score” by averaging out all the votes and will round up or round down to two decimal points by ½ star increments to get to your final rating (e.g. Answer that has a “raw score” between 3.25 and 3.75 will receive final rating of 3.5 stars. And an answer with a score between 3.75 and 4.25 will receive a final rating of 4 stars.)
To have a tie, two users would need to have the same exact “raw score”, before we do any rounding up or down. That said, if this scenario occurs, there will be no Best Answer Ribbon given, although any user can Appeal their Final Rating, which could potentially lead to a higher “raw score”.
6. Can I vote on an answer even though I didn’t submit an answer to a question?
No, but you can give your opinion. Once a question is closed, all users will be able to give their opinion on any answer by giving it a “thumbs up”. The “thumbs up” rating has no impact to an answerer’s final rating. Once you vote, you will see how others have voted for that answer. Eventually, we will use these ratings to give recognition to popular answers.
Answerers can now “Appeal” any final ratings. When an answerer “appeals” a final rating, we will randomly select a group of other Askville users to rate that answer. We will give preference to Askvillers who have expertise in one of the topics that were tagged with the question. If you have been selected to vote on an Appeals rating, it will show up in your green Action Item box located in the upper right-hand corner of your My Askville page. We will reward each Appeal voter with 1 Quest Gold for each Appeal they vote on. All appeal votes will be anonymous.
The Appeal process will last 3 days, after which all appeal votes will be added to all existing votes and the final rating of that answer will be recalculated.
1. What is the Askville Orientation Challenge?
Anyone that completes all five steps of the challenge will be presented with an Askville Orientation Challenge Award. This award will be visible on the private and public profile pages within the Experience box.
The five steps are:
- Ask a question
- Set your profile image
- Post a comment
- Answer a question
- Give a compliment
The Orientation Challenge is offered to all members on their My Askville page and also on the Askville Awards list page.
Askville awards are graphical icons that are displayed on an Askviller's profile pages in the Experience box. A list of all available awards and your current status for each is here.
3. Will there be more Askville awards?
We will be adding more awards in the future based on the feedback that we get.
1. What is Askville’s Privacy Policy?
The Privacy Policy for Askville can be found here.
2. Will my question and answer be publicly viewable?
Yes. Your questions and the corresponding answers will be posted on the web and viewable by the public.
You can block any user from emailing you a message or block them from adding any comments onto your My Profile page. To do this, simply click on the Block User link next to the user you want to block. Blocked users can still view your profile, but they cannot send you a message or communicate with you. There is no way to prevent someone from seeing your profile.
4. Will others be able to see my email address if I ask a question?
No. We do not display anyone’s personal email address anywhere on Askville. Askville respects the privacy of our users and we have a comprehensive privacy policy that we encourage you to review.
1. What happens to users who spam Askville?
Users who spam Askville will have their account revoked. If you see evidence of spamming, please click on “report abuse” in that question and we will investigate the question and if necessary we will revoke the user’s account who submitted that question or answer.
2. How can I report abuse on Askville?
Next to every question, answer, or comment there is a report abuse link. When you click on that link you will have the option of classifying what type of abuse you are reporting. Those options include:
Harassment
Insulting Other Participants
Points/gold Gaming
Invasion of Privacy
Repeated Postings
Spam or advertising
Child pornography or exploitation
Profanity, vulgarity, or obscenity
Soliciting Votes
Abuse of Superpower
Voting Abuse
Other
If you select “Other”, please write a brief description of what type of abuse you are reporting. We will review every report abuse submission and will take appropriate action.
3. What should I do if I find content that might be illegal or in violation of Askville guidelines?
If you discover objectionable content, you can report it to Askville
by clicking on the Report Abuse link next to the question, answer, or comment.
You'll be asked to fill out a short form describing the problem. We will review
each report and takes the appropriate action.
Please check the Askville Terms
of Service for complete content and usage terms.
4. What are considered abusive actions on Askville?
Some of the abusive actions on Askville include but are not limited to
the following:
Profanity
Repeated postings of similar questions
Insulting other Askville users
Explicitly advertising other businesses
Asking/answering questions to game Askville
Asking/answering questions that promote illegal activities
Voting inaccurately to game Askville
5. When questions or answers are reported for abuse, are they automatically deleted?
No. Each abuse report is reviewed by us and we determine the appropriate action. It is not possible to "attack" someone by repeatedly reporting them for abuse, because deletions are not automatic. In fact, if it turns out that you are purposefully “attacking” another user by flagging another user’s answers, questions or comments as “abuse”, we will revoke your account as that goes against Askville’s Terms of Service.
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