Question

About this trend of posting questions from other groups in Math Section.

Please refrain from this behavior. Lately, I have seen even 99 SS users doing this on purpose. Claiming that none are active on other groups is not an excuse to post all subject questions in Math. This eventually makes these groups even more inactive. Instead, post your questions in right sections, tag users who could help, involve in discussions in these non-math groups. If you find an off topic question, don't encourage them by answering and ask them to post it in proper Section to get your help.

Answer 1

party pooper

Answer 2

I didn't see that coming^

Answer 3

It's not a trend lol it's a glitch

Answer 4

Questions from Math are showing up in the OS feedback section.
Hence why @sammixboo is using @.Sammi. because this is happening on only some accounts.

Answer 5

No its not just a glitch

Answer 6

Not really. There are many users posting "I know this is Math section but there is no one in the other group so help me" type questions.

Answer 7

Oh lol well those are those but if you see math questions in the feedback section it's a glitch.

Answer 8

I think this is more of a result of our inability to maintain people in anything BUT the math section...

Answer 9

http://openstudy.com/study#/updates/575ca985e4b004f3d84660cc

Answer 10

@pooja195 It's not the glitch I am referring to so please.

Answer 11

Poojie me nose but im showing an exampel of one tat is snot a glich

Answer 12

I know that, it's why I wrote "those are those". Didn't mean to frustrate anyone sorry.

Answer 13

It's kind of like saying, yo, we built this site, and you guys are using it wrong, so use it right... I think the problem is more like... Yo, we built this site, and you guys want something else, so we should adjust accordingly because apparently default human behavior violates what we had in mind

Answer 14

For once I think i actually agree with inky :P
People post things in the math section because it's the most active. Maybe we should work on getting users to help out in different subjects.

Answer 15

Of course, as a moderator, you can't just up and change the site, but I'm not sure that fighting it so actively will give you good results

Answer 16

at most you can just ban on sight posts that don't conform to trim the population of non rule abiding users, but this is one of those problems that I think open study has had for a long, long time

Answer 17

Tbh i dont think its much of a big deal posting your question in the right section. Talk to people use your resources to get help.

Answer 18

What I am concerned about more is that after one user posts a question purposefully in a wrong section, another also feel it's okay to do so. So I had to tell this.

Answer 19

that's true, but I think the biggest problem here is that these users have every incentive to break the rules... if I wanted biology help and biology was dead, I'd get more help posting in math than following the rules and posting in biology... It shouldn't be this way

Answer 20

That's understandable but I think OpenStudy has bigger things to worry about lol such as the spamming and trolling and advertising. Remember that the ultimate purpose of this site is to help others and give others help. It shouldn't matter where questions are posted. As long as the user gets help it shouldn't be a big deal.

Answer 21

What i would do is message the people i know are good at bio, i see that not everyone can do that but its summer things are ded.

Answer 22

Indeed. There should be some move from the admins to make the other groups more active.

Answer 23

Or maybe make an "All" subject where questions from every subject are show, recent-oldest

Answer 24

I think that we should add incentive to make people help in sections other than math. As much as math is my favorite subject, I think that's the only solution.

Answer 25

That way users have a variety of different questions to choose from

Answer 26

And I'm sorry to say this but people who help out are becoming rarer and rarer these days compared to those that solicit help. I'm pretty sure that losing that widget on paul's online math notes killed the influx of helpers. The problem with sites like these is that kids can google for help and find us, but helpers generally find the site other ways...

Answer 27

gg inky gg

Answer 28

^Not to mention that with all the accounts that got deleted we lost alot of out higher level helpers who were active and helped in multiple subjects

Answer 29

I agree with @AravindG and @pooja195 .
I know some are prone to thinking "What does it matter if something is in the wrong section, as long as it gets answered."
I can understand the frustration of people not answering your question because user's aren't active over in Chemistry lets say, but its all the more reasons to fan people and make more friends that you can tag to your question. I don't think one should just entirely give up on where to put things, because OpenStudy should be kept organized and easier for all of the user's and ambi's and mods to filter through.
Its kinda like if the traffic lights were out down Washington Road because the power is out all over the city, no one should stop and watch for other cars and still try to use proper traffic etiquette. I mean....the lights are out, so forget it. Lets all just crash into each other and cause chaos!

Answer 30

*

Answer 31

A glitch is a glitch, but the intentional posting in the incorrect group is unnecessary. There are always ways to get help on your thread. Post it on the chat. That normally works.

Why would you need to post it out of section? I understand time constraints but if you're on a timed test then there is no reason to be using OpenStudy during that time. You're not supposed to get help on tests as they are to TEST you knowledge.

Sometimes, for example in history (and the reason why it is one of the most common off topic posts) it may take upwards of an hour to get a reply. Far from instantaneous but you get your help. People get too jumpy to get an answer. Normally, the ones willing to post off topic only want an answer too;. They have to be patient. Yes, it takes a while but the hardest thing on a global site is history since what we study changes from country to country and sometimes even state to state. There has to be some way to solve this problem.

@inkyvoyd @pooja195 @rebeccaxhawaii

This is a real problem that annoys many users. Aside from a glitch which must be recreated, tracked, and fixed. How would you guys suggest we fix this issue? You are three very knowledgeable and active users. You guys have seen moderators in action many times, you have also seen how users best respond. What kind of moderation do you think we could do in order to fix this? How do you think we could best get the point across without seeming too gruff and ticking users off.

Answer 32

I think the real glitch continues to be that Openstudy would rather try to enforce something proving to be unnatural to its users, rather than consider options that would actually solve the problem in the long term. Any sort of multi-topic QA site should allow the migration of questions, just look at stack exchange. A way to vote or to at least give moderators the ability to migrate questions to different subject would alleviate this in my opinion, as well as deal for the time being with the glitch until it is reproducible.

Answer 33

@snuggielad perhaps having an "all" section where all questions can go would really help that way if someone sees something they know they can just go and help. This would also eliminate confusion of where to post a question :)

Answer 34

To address the question, we want first address WHY we have different sections.
The different sections are there so that helpers do not have to waste time to skim through those questions unrelated to their interests, HENCE encourage helpers to spend qualify time working on what they want to work with.

Take the Engineering section. Up to yesterday the last pertinent question was asked 15 days ago. Why? helpers do not see pertinent questions, they stop checking, so the section kind of "dies", fades,...

The same thing will happen to all other sections if people are not encouraged to post in the right section. I have proposed to have a dashboard so helpers can check new questions in their interested sections. From what I infer from @Pooja195, this will be lightyears away. So students post questions where the crowd is, it's becoming a free-for-all.

One day many other sections will die, and math section will be renamed "Math and everything else"!

So do something NOW, before we lose more helpers!

Answer 35

#marvelousmoderators! Thank you for your sensible remarks and guidance.

Answer 36

As far as a "new feature" idea I love @inkyvoyd 's suggestion, being able to move questions instead of delete or close them. I was thinking a notification system as well. Maybe, like the "fans onine" button we put an icon that pops up with a notification for every new question asked in groups you're not currently in.

Answer 37

How would you guys moderate the current system though to get rid of some of these problems?

Answer 38

There is nothing in CoC, so mods cannot do anything.
It's up to certain helpers to do the crusade.

Answer 39

I mean it could be as easy as adding more obvious and noticable signs stating that they are in "whatever" subject, so like where it says "Ask a question... says Ask a Math Question or whatever subject it is in, and open/closed questions can have that feature as well, i mean you could even put it in bold, have a title somewhere that says "You are in the Math section" which changes with every different subject u go to, either that or u add a move subjects button

Answer 40

@SnuggieLad ^

Answer 41

@ilovepuppieslol

I agree with what you say, letting them be aware helps.

However, it's not that they are lost or something. They are attracted by the crowd, the action, in the hope that their question will be answered faster.
I have no objections if they post in the right section in the first place and solicit for help elsewhere, crowd or not.

A dashboard for helpers definitely help, because they will be able to monitor other sections, and people will not be reluctant to post in quiet sections.

An interim solution as suggested by @inkyvoid would be to allow mods to move questions to the right place, but that involves an automated message to the poster that the question has been moved, like..... "you car has been towed to 25th street/59th avenue." lol

Answer 42

Guilty

Answer 43

I think Brainly's way or organizing questions is good, all questions come up, you choose (filter) the subject you want.

I think even better is if a user can filter his/her own preferred subjects. Let's say a user is a potential helper in Math, Chemistry, Physics, he should be able to fill up a preference list, and on the subject pull-down list, the first choice would be "My preferences", in which case the latest math, chemistry and physics questions would be displayed. This will increase visibility even for subjects with few helpers.