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Improve "ask a question " page and Close off Question

Hi,

Would it be better to either embolden the text (Be specific and include what you've already tried). under the title of the page https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/Ask to draw the questioner's attention a bit better as to how they should submit a question to get more relevant answers sooner and not have to have a back and forth dialogue to get information to assist the person answering?

or

That when they go to ask a question that they are directed to the link first https://www.ifixit.com/Info/Asking_Great.... and have to pass through a revised version showing only the section headings, (which perhaps they could click to expand if they wanted more information), with an enter link below to get to the submit question form page before they can submit their question or perhaps to reduce the number of 'clicks' to get where you want to be, have the submit form below the section headings?

I'm thinking that even if they scroll through to enter their question the mind will still take in the information, even if it doesn't 'register' with the person. Hopefully it may either 'remind' them when they write the question or perhaps even 'nag' them into coming back later to edit it in.

Also is it possible to somehow automatically move a comment, which is actually a question, when it is made in a question that has a 50+ string of comments already. Alternatively if the original question is say more than 2 years old that it is prevented from having new comments or answers added to it. In a lot of cases, the person making the comment/answer- which is actually a question, has obviously not bothered to read through the entire page where mostly the answer is provided, possibly because it is too long.

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Good ideas! I'll talk about them with the team and get back to you with what we think.

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I agree with jayeff here closing of old threads to view only would make it less likely for someone to post a question in the answer box instead of starting a new question also the posts that have more than 10 posted answers will never be read if the person wont find the answer in all the "me too" answers. Heres a post with 50+ answers and only a few are actually answers, the second post has a score of 5 and is just a "me too"

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I think there are different issues here, some are more a maintenance thing cleaning up the 12 or more answered Q's. Another is putting an older question and its spawn of answers & comments into an archival state so nothing more is done to it. Both of which I agree needs to be done.

But! I think the other thing here is a synopsis of the question and the best answer and maybe the diagnostic process used needs to be brought forward on the archived question, having this on top with the rest below. These synopsis should be also linked under the given guide/s that it pertains with.

Thus, cutting down on the repeated questions, or can be pushed to instead of re-writing the same answer.

But like all things it's going to take manpower to sift though the older questions and collapse them down to a common framework.

While it many not look it, some of us have punched though a few of these big nasties cutting them down so the 'that a boy' answers are posted as a comment and duplicates are likewise brought down.

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I agree! Going through these massive Q&A takes a lot of time better used in answering questions and doing research.

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HI @danj,

Goodness knows what it would look like if you and @mayer and @oldturkey03 and probably others that I don't know about, didn't do what you do. I for one appreciate it!

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@jayeff Your position as a moderator is still open! None of three of us were asked, it was just given. Maybe @kaykay should just do it and then you can pick up your cross when you get bored ;-)

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I do agree that it is a bit of a PITA to weed through those but I am against closing those. I look at "Answers" as a live entity ( I know this sounds really weird;-). We all have come across Q&A's from years ago that did not have the best of answer accepted as solution, but it was a valid one for that time based on the information that was available. As time and technology changed we did end up with someone answering it perfectly years later. May it be the battery issues we had for years with the iPhone 3 series or our own evolution on how to treat water damage. If we close those questions we potentially limit this evolution. Just my 2 pfennig....

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You have a good point OT on someone seizing an old question with a better answer years later. I would have the synopsis still have active comments to it, just not the lower archived question, answers & comments.

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I would say look at it case by case. Some questions can't be recovered and should be closed off while others may have a reasonable chance. If it has a chance tag someone who has an idea and let them take a look.

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jayeff will be eternally grateful.