Let's do our best for the Forum

[shermay]

Hi everyone,

As you probably know I don’t ‘do’ polls, but I was wondering what everyone’s reaction to the ‘The Best Answer’?? Was.

I mean, I posted a thread about my Father dying, and Medhelp sent me an email asking who I thought the ‘Best Answer’ was - not very fair, IMO

I didn’t choose anyone, because I personally thought that they were all very good answers.

Many of you have such good knowledge about MS and other medical health issues, that I don’t think it is fair for them to ask us to select a ‘Best Answer’

I may well be wrong, in my opinion, but it would be interesting to know what my Forum friends thought about this new ‘update’ was???

Also the stars:/  Well now if it just down to replying to postings, saying anything you want just to gain  the ‘stars’ do you think that is fair??  I don’t – I mean we could say anything, without any real knowledge and hey ho, we have more stars against our name!  

This appears (from what have I learnt) is the reason for the stars:/

So, from what I have discovered  over the weekend it doesn’t matter what you say, as long as you reply, then you gain stars – duh:/

I hope I have not started up a Hornets nest, but it would be interesting to know what we all think – and I promise I will not put a ‘Best Answer’)))

So, if Medhelp - you get to read this – let’s hope we have plenty of IMO))

Maybe they should be looking at a spell check instead;)))

Hope your all having a good one,

Hugs and love,(and I hope that I have not offended anyone - if I have, then I will say sorry in advance ok?)

Debs xxxxxx

[Lulu54]

Was someone wondering about the "best answer" emails they have received?  Participating in this feature is totally optional - you can not respond to those and it doesn't affect your participation here one bit.  You can also take yourself out of the "expert" categories and receive no questions that need to be answered.

I have done both of those - we have too many questions here that need attention to wander off into other forums to help out.  :-)

One concern the cl's  have voiced about selecting a "best answer" is it bumps that response up and is immediately after  the question.  As most of you know, our conversations here often  build upon the previous answers and moving them out of sequence takes the meaning out of the message.  

Some questions just don't have a BEST answer - like our weekly "what's up" post, but they still send me an email requesting that I select the best answer. They are working on fine tuning all of these features so if you have suggestions please let them know.


that's my two cents tonight!
Lulu

[Mike_Shuswap]

bump for Carole and other new members.

Mike

[RubyWitch]

Thank you, shoshin, for making ONE of my points about this idiotic "rating" system stand out like a sore thumb!
Do NOT be "embarrassed" by your competitive nature.............which in my mind is part of who we are, as I truly believe it's "human nature" to be competitive.  
That you felt "disappointed" that you had only gotten 3 stars is EXACTLY what MH can't seem to get through their ***** coporate heads..........and it's EXACTLY the point I was trying to make..................that people ARE going to feel hurt when they give, and keep on giving, but others, for reasons none of us can fanthom, gather more stars than they deserve, in the opinion of many of us. The entire program is based on competition, but MH will dispute that to the bitter end.  
And the "Best Answer" app.........what an absolute crock! There is one poster here who apparently has no life except to respond to posts on at least 10 forums, at last count! And I'm sure she'll be adding her "expertise" to numerous others when she gets the chance. At last count, she had gained 15 "Best Answer" check marks! What CRAP! She is all over the board, and just now I see that she has aquired a "Best Answer" from................get this............DENTISTRY!
Be proud of your three stars because you earned them the hard way AND the right way...........by giving of yourself to an area in which you know and care about and would rather give the best answer you're capable of then just writing hack to gain stars or check marks!
I think Lulu has the "Best Answer" of all...................screw the stars and the check marks and let's just get back to the REAL reason we're here, which is to help each other as BEST we can!
It's obvious we can't fight City Hall, (MH) so let's just not play their game.
Take those three stars, multiply them by a thousand and THAT'S what I believe your worth!
Peace
Greenlydia
CL/Anxiety Forum

[shoshin]

I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit that the competitive side of me was disappointed to find out that I only got three stars. I got over that pretty quick--I have a lot of other more worthwhile things to stress about--but it does seem to me that this "feature" has more potential to do harm than benefit.

sho

[Lulu54]

Hi kenkeith, I think we would probably benefit by having this discussion over on the cl's forum -  it is more pertinent to the ears of the folks there.    I'll look for you there.  - L

[kenkeith]

I agree with last post by Greenlydia and others regarding stars and best answer categories, and it is not coming from bitterness as I have been doing very well from the beginning 3 years ago and 3 years with another heart forum. And I believe the position of all other CL's...the thank you from an OP is reward enough.
Prior to being selected as CL for HD, there never was an issue regarding my work production.  Now, there is a member who started a few months earlier and has been reported to mods and his posts have been deleted  that leads to a more serious interuptions. Other than being a very rude person, a know it all and argumentative, etc. stated in a (pm) to me and another member (new) to watch for (another member) who will stab you in the back and that he was thinking about quiting because the forum is too political...suggests to me he is a former disgruntled member who has changed his user name! He had been a member for a month or so.
I get along well with other members (10 years, 6 health and 4 computer help forum), but now as CL I had a seldom forum participant who directed a post to me stating (s)he could do as well if he could use his 100 links, and accused me of linking to information for my responses.  Then this disruptive individual from the UK as well posted a sole link and stated that he is giving the link because he wanted to be legal and didn't want to take credit for someone else's work, etc. I responded and the mods got involved.  The mods referenced copyright information and how it should be recognized.  I agreed, and after a few other posts it occurred to me they we were not making a distinction wth protected information and public domain information.  I made the distinction and stated most of my responses were public domain information, and if information is protected I would have followed the proper procedure...response from mod was positive. I would think the moderator would know the difference of protected and unprotected information and not make the issue public. Who mods the mods? Why wasn't there an example presented? I may have made a mistake as I have thousands of responses, but no example forthcoming.

We donate our time, and it serves no one's best interest to rank by stars and a percentage of best answer.  But by establishing stars as an approval and recognization of work (no other reason can be drawn) leads to "ankle biting" at least that has been my experience. Thanks.