Question

About great answers...

Answer 1

yeah, I would like to hear!

Answer 2

My ears are open.

Answer 3

My opinion is *inspired* from
http://openstudy.com/study#/updates/549a990ce4b0e4319f8ca80d
Though, all the discussion has been removed by *the* moderator, without informing the answerers and getting their consents.
(PS: According to the moderator guidelines, "all moderators have the ability to, and should, delete offending content from the site by using the delete buttons." For an so-called "irrelevant" discussion, I don't see it as "offending content".)

If you do not want to read the elaboration, please jump to the last paragraph.

If there is a question asking how to solve the quadratic equation x^2 + 2x + 1 = 0 using quadratic formula, a guide to solve the equation using quadratic equation is expected. Will you expect to see someone posting the quadratic formula, together with solving the equation using graphical method and factoring method, or even worse, posting the form how you can find the vertex and asymptotes of the quadratic graph from the equation?
I am not saying it is wrong. It is, indeed, VERY informative. Too informative that most of the content are not what the asker wants.

Similarly, in that post in the feedback group, the asker is just asking what Ambassadors and Moderators are. The first comment given by Abhisar was "Welcome to OpenStudy". Is it relevant to the question? No. But consider the fact that the asker is new, it's ok to greet them. But still, it should be done in private message, in my opinion.

In Abhisar's second reply, he used 2 lines to explain who the Ambassadors are, followed by 10 lines explaining the characteristics of an Ambassador, another 10 lines talking about the advantage of being an Ambassador, and another 10 lines telling the asker the application procedure. Notice that the asker is just of SmartScore 15, which can be hardly be considered in application, if not being qualified to be an Ambassador.

So, back to the question, remember what the asker was asking? He was asking what Ambassadors and Moderators are. In 32 lines of replied (if you count the header, that will be 34 lines), he just used 2 lines telling what Ambassadors are, without even mentioning moderators. So, 1/17 of his answer is the answer to the asker's question. Is he answering the question? Yes, but only part of the question. Was his answer informative? Very informative. Is he answer concise and precise? No.

Oh, one more thing. He just copied from one of Preetha's post. I am not saying it is wrong, as I also did so. Though, I did
1) tell you all that I quoted from Preetha and;
2) Retrieve ONLY the relevant information to answer the question.

From one of the deleted replies, Abhisar said that
'Suppose I would have just told him " Ambassadors are someone who welcome the new users and" Then this is natural that his following question would have been "How to become one?" So what's wrong in providing all the information together at once?'
In my opinion, it is not about right or wrong, but it's about if it is good to do so. If he wants to know more, he will ask. Asking is a learning process. Why don't we give asker a chance to ask? You can still give the information he wants to know, PLUS, giving him a chance to ask. Also, we can see the whole interaction process. Isn't it better? OS, from my viewpoint, is different from other sites because it's more interactive. Why not keep this feature?

Please note that I am just using that post as an example because I have just experienced it. It also reflects 3 problems:
1) irrelevancy
2) answers being too informative
3) plagiarism

In fact, these problems can also be found in other groups. As for answers being too informative, we can give all information at once, without engaging the asker in a interactive process, but in my opinion, this is just like a tutorial post - listing information without engaging the asker in the question-and-answer process. But when you are asking a question, you are not reading a tutorial right? You want something that fits your question, don't you?

For a good answer, it should be concise and precise - not too informative and not like an advertisement and no plagiarism. It should give what the asker needs and what the asker needs to know. It should also leave a room for the asker to think more about it and given him/her a chance to ask. Education is not spoon-feeding, the learner must think and ask if he/she is in doubt.

Answer 4

Wow. If only I had this kind of effort for my essays in school

Answer 5

I know right

Answer 6

Hey there!
Thank you very much for your feedback, I agree with your points and will try my best to adopt them. :)

Answer 7

Just for the Plagiarism point,

I copy pasted preetha's reply on purpose to maintain the accuracy of the topic. I generally forward her reply when someone asks me about Ambassador. :)

Answer 8

yahooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! done :)
i'm agree with you @BrambleClaw :P:DDDDD
and still don't know what about great answers...................

Answer 9

PS: Why I deleted all the discussion we had about my answer,

The purpose of that post was to help the asker understand the original question which was "what are ambassadors and moderators?" and not how to to give good answers or how can I improve my answer. So I deleted all those irrelevant comments including mine and asked you to provide your feedback to me on PM. But I am glad you made this post which can be useful for others too.

Answer 10

I am glad you took that in good spirits Abhisar! :)

Answer 11

^ same

Answer 12

And awesome explanation.. @RolyPoly