Why are there so few Best Answers?

[irvingw]

Why do so many great responses in this forum  never get labeled as the  "Best Answer".  Questioners should realize that many experts give them great advice for free and the least they can do is to show some sort of appreciation by giving a thumbs up.

[CollinJarman]

I think that your mention of poetry actually touches on another semi-imporant point... people respond well to humor/informality.  Professionalism is all well and good, but at the end of the day, someone with a simple question doesn't want to read through a paragraph and a half of SEO jargon and technical advice.

If you can state something simply, do so.  And while you're at it, if you can make them smile while reading, do that too.

[irvingw]

I never realized the behind the scenes efforts you guys put into this forum. Kudos!  Another idea to encourage people to close out their questions and leave feedback is to remind them when they login, that they have X amount of questions that aren't closing and awaiting feedback (like eBay). An email would probably be very effective as well. I wouldn't expect a great response from the initial new answer email as our psyche thinks that someone will come along with a better answer and we wait and forget to come back. and close out the question.

[RobertFisher]

Per Keri's response, I have been amazed for some time by the staff at SEOmoz and their desire to see all questions answered. They are amazing, provide their own qualified insights, and when necessary seek out the expertise of others.

As to Irving's why do more not respond with thumbs and best's, I would say that there have been times that I actually thought I wrote such an amazing answer the entire world would thumb it up only to have...nothing happen. But, there have been others where I was just answering the question and the next day had 4 or 5 thumbs up and a good answer. Sooo, go figure.

By the way, I did have one occurrence when I was (probably unjustly) given some quality thumbs up in an answer where I included poetry... No S%$!.

So, if all else fails and you've given your best,don't feel downtrodden and for god's sake don't rest!

Pick up that pen and write more advice, when the thumbs up finally come, its cause your smart and your nice.

Cheers.

[KeriMorgret]

Thanks for your feedback everyone!We really appreciate hearing how you use Q&A and how you'd like to see it improved.

I do go back at times and ask if people have had their question solved or if they're looking for more help. An automatic way to ask the person this after a certain number of days would be a great feature to have, I agree. Our system does notify people when they get a new answer, and suggests to them to mark an answer helpful.

Even though I don't comment on many of the questions, I do read nearly every question and answer that comes into Q&A. I flag questions that have no answers or questionable answers for another Associate to come and review, I give lots of thumbs up (and an occasional thumb down), and endorse good answers (and need to do that more).

One factor in some of this is that if a person came in on a free trial, asked a few questions and took time to implement them, by the time they figured out if their problem was solved or they needed more help their free trail has expired and they can no longer comment on Q&A questions. When I have extra time, I start looking through questions that are still marked as unanswered that are either 7 or 30 days old, and follow up to see if there is an answer to the question and the OP just didn't mark answered, ask if followup is needed, etc.

Please do continue to give your suggestions here, both for the software system and for the administration. We are looking even if we don't comment, and really do find the feedback helpful.

[irvingw]

I was thinking along those lines as well. SEOmoz needs to encourage questioners to leave feedback and close out their questions by marking Good Answer. I will reach out to Rand and company.

[irvingw]

Based on your response, I am thinking that SEOmoz needs to follow up with questioners after a select time period to close out their questions by marking Good Answer to any answers they feel were truly helpful.

[Marcus_Miller]

Hear, hear! I have personally spent an hour on a response, solved someones problem pretty much and they did not even bother to thumb up. Sometimes SEOMoz staff are on point but really, more often than not, it's not the case.

Q&A can be fun, it's good to share, but it's nice to get a thumbs up for your effort. After all, I would rather be at home with my kids than answering a strangers question so... it really should be encouraged to say thank you, it's only polite after all.

My own theory is that often, people ask questions, and whilst you give the right answer, it is not what they want to hear so they don't thumb up, or mark as a good answer as it was not the 'right' answer.

Really, the Q&A needs more admins to reward the people who put the effort into help others.

As a suggestion, a 'you need to leave feedback' type system could help educate users on the etiquete required to drive the Q&A.

[CollinJarman]

Questioners also probably aren't as interested in the MozPoint system as they are with just getting an answer.

Additionally, inserting yourself into conversations online can be somewhat intimidating to the uninitiated, and it's possible they choose to maintain as low a profile as possible.  Thus, they don't post unless absolutely necessary, and refrain from using the "thumbs up/down" or "best answer" post modifiers.

Just my guess.

Edit: Also, if only the person asking the question can mark an answer as "good," what qualifies them to do so?  They were the ones with the question to begin with, so unless they act on some advice, they can't be sure whether or not it will work.  So, say they act on the advice and it does work... well, they probably aren't as concerned with coming back to SEOmoz just to give some random person +4 points.