no.stupid.answers

And you thought we were done sharing new WikiAnswers site features for the week! You think brand new Community Forums and search with snippets are enough? And you call yourself a Wikiholic…

Another new feature went live on WikiAnswers this week, and this one may just blow your mind. Mine is still splattered all over the living room.

Now, let’s say you ask a new question, like, Once Halloween is over do Americans begin preparing for Thanksgiving? (you can see where my mind is now). On the screen where you are supposed to categorize it, you will see Suggested Categories offered below the search bar. You may get up to three suggestions, and they may be right or wrong, but that’s for you to decide. If you’re satisfied, click Save, and if not, you can choose to categorize elsewhere.

…oh where, oh where does it go? If you’ve been singing the blues over WikiAnswers categorization, you’re not alone. We all have those moments when we ponder over where to place a question. Should it go in Grilling, Recipes… both? Would it be better to place it in Miscellaneous, and just let someone else tackle it? What if there is no perfect category?

Don’t fret. Here are some pointers on getting that question into the right category (or categories) the first time around:

1. Familiarize yourself with the current category tree. Do not assume that a category does not exist as the tree is constantly growing. At first, this might be a little overwhelming, but as time passes you will become more familiar with the tree and recognize immediately what might be a good fit for a misplaced question.
2. Explore possible question placements from different angles. For example, if you have a question about the human body that doesn’t seem to fit into Health, take a look at Science. It might be perfectly suited for Human Anatomy.
3. Leave a message for the category Supervisor or post a message on the Super Forum. Note: Always link the question of concern to better assist in this process.
4. Often using AnswerTips™ can point you in the right direction. Just double-click on any keyword in the question and see what comes up.
5. If the question truly has no home and there are many others with similar qualities, request that a new category be added to the tree.
6. In most cases, Miscellaneous should be used as a last resort. For those questions that are harmless yet will most likely never have a topic that they fit into – opt for Harmless Nonsense - Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar?. Unanswerable Questions to Edit, is reserved for questions that cannot be answered in their current condition and when there is not enough information included for someone else to fix - Why did this happen in WW2?.

Once you’ve found a logical ‘home’ for a question:

1. Place it in the most specific topic as possible. For example, a question about Zebras should be placed in Zebras, not Animal Life, Mammals, Land Mammals, etc.
2. If a question fits logically into two separate unrelated topics feel free to add both. “What is the estimated Zebra population in Ethiopia?” should be placed in Zebras and Ethiopia.

(A big thanks to our wonderful Senior Super Ksmail (Ken) for collaborating with me on this important post… You da’ man, KS!)