Everyday, when I go to the community dashboard, there are at least 200,000 questions to approve. This is a problem because most questions take forever to be approved then answered. Also, very less people even spend time approving them. Once, I asked a question and it took 3 months for the answer to come. My suggestion is that instead of approving questions, how about changing the purpose to check questions. So all questions are approved, but you can still check the questions and flag them with the Check Questions tool. This will solve the time problem. What I find really funny is how it says “200,000 questions to approve” and “6000 questions to answer.”
Please fix this. It’s a big problem!
JayneG
3
Thanks for your suggestion @WikiaWang
. I know it can seem a daunting task when you see so many questions that need approving. I also understand that it can take a long time to have a question answered, but the Q&A relies on volunteers helping answer questions. We have some really dedicated and impressive answerers, but we really need more!
Though I can see where you’re coming from, the “answer questions” is currently at just over 51,000 and I think it’s unlikely that approving questions automatically will help questions be answered any faster.
However, something that we could do is to set a more manageable goal for the approve questions so it doesn’t show 200,000. Perhaps we could set a community challenge to get 5,000 questions approved, for example. What do you think?
One tactic that Anna used was to break off a bite-sized chunk and put it in a spreadsheet, then invite wikiHowians to finish off that amount and check off. (A non-intimidating number might be 300-500?)
The strategy seemed to work on two fronts:
- Several individuals developed an efficiency and proficiency that allowed them to accurately do an impressive amount.
- The project brought others to the attack front and some of them also developed an interest and proficiency.
Overall, the cadre of proficient and interested individuals grew.
Perhaps software could also be created which offered an individual the opportunity to answer the question as soon as it was approved. Envisioned scenario: A question gets the deciding vote (which approves it), then a pop-up queries: “Do you feel competent to supply an answer to this question?” At this point they could be prompted to answer ‘immediately’ or ‘save for later’.
I like the ideas @Alabaster
is suggesting here - I think having a “Do you know the answer to this question?” button or something similar could help get more answers up. The spreadsheet’s a nice idea, too; I think that could turn out nicely as a community project.
Hey @JayneG
, I’ve watched these numbers grow to absurd levels even after being set to a low number - so changing the number to a better value won’t help. We are gaining questions at a higher-than-high rate and the more we vote to approve (and send to the tool) or disapprove and delete seems to not be enough because as we are answering, we are also gaining tons more - making the number become higher and higher - quickly! Also, this tool isn’t exactly the best tool for me - I’d like to filter these articles down into each individual subcategory so my expertise is more consistent with what I’m seeing in these tools.
Between @Alabaster
's and @HelperOnWikihow
, I think having that spreadsheet might help a teensy bit, though I’m reluctant to say it’d help me with my expertise in my selected areas that I’m knowledgable in. @JayneG
I think @Alabaster
idea will help a bit, but there would still be a whole bunch of answers and questions to approve. Everyday, the amount of questions to answer to and approve are gradually increasing. I have an idea that might help. How about adding a section in each article that reads “Questions to be Approved.” For example, a user asks asks a question on the article How to Tie a Tie, and it still need to be approved. At the same moment, another user sees the question while reading the article and approves it. Then, if the user wants, he can answer it.
I agree with @WikiaWang
's last idea. I think it would be much easier if each article has it’s own “Questions to be Approved” Section so people can just drop by and approve some questions when they are done reading the article. Meanwhile, the “Approve Questions” tool should still be active, so that questions can be approved from articles themselves and the specially designed tool, making the process faster.
JayneG
11
Thanks for all of your feedback on this, it gives me some food for thought!
Nice to know that @JayneG
! I hope this problem is going to end soon!
I can only see the red cross next to questions on this tool. The green okay mark doesn’t show.
JayneG
14
Hi @VY
, that sounds unusual, sorry to hear that’s happening for you! Could you please fill in this form
with some more information about that? I’m able to see the green mark on my devices, so it’d be good to know some details - hopefully we can get it figured out!
forms.gle/9yR6Q3BiMKXJbDNj8
Thanks Jayne. I filled the form.
