Just curious …

[Millwab]

Just wondering why the "Scrollers Q&A" page is formatted differently than the rest.  The others list the topic, # of views & replies, and who & when the last reply was from. On the Q&A page it just lists the topic, # of votes, and # of answers (without telling you who or when the answer came).  Also, the other categories show a separator for "unread replies" but Q&A doesn’t.  Why the difference?

[meflick]

Only our esteemed leader and chief bottle washer @Travis can answer why he set up certain things certain ways, but my interpretation of that particular sub-forum was the intent was for people to ask a question, folks to give their answer and then folks reading to “vote” for what they believed to be the best answer provided.

As an answer gets voted on and gains more votes, it gets moved up towards the top as the best answer provided. However, generally I don’t think most who answer in there do it like this, so it doesn’t really work as intended I believe. If that is the case, then it probably is really no different then one just posting in the General Scrollsaw sub-forum or another one and folks giving input/nsight.

[Travis]

@meflickis right.  This is a special forum specifically for questions.  The idea is the best answers float to the top.  The more votes an answer has, the more confidence you'd have in the answer.    Another key feature, the original poster (OP) would choose the answer they used, thereby closing the open question as well as show others people who have the same question what the OP went with.  It's a common forum format for places like support boards, or places like Reddit. 

I don't think most folks use it as intended, though.  I might have to rethink if I want to keep that format for that forum, or merge it into the General Scroll Sawing forum.

 

[Millwab]

7 hours ago, Travis said:

This is a special forum specifically for questions.  The idea is the best answers float to the top … I don't think most folks use it as intended, though. 

I think you’re right as far as using as intended.  If you scroll through the first half dozen pages you’ll find very few "votes" at all.