Questions About AMA Threads

So I know this has been asked, but I think it needs to be asked until the issue is fixed. Can we request AMA guests to hit quote instead of reply? It's not an inconvenience or rude at all, and I think if they knew what a huge difference it would make for those viewing the thread they would all be on board. It's a pain switching windows and I generally get sick of it within the first 5 or so pages and just end up not reading the thread. I'm pretty sure it's not just me.

I would also like to know what exactly I am allowed to ask. Am I good as long as I remain respectful and within the T&C? The upcoming AMA with Ventura has me really wanting to ask some tough questions, but I worry my posts are just going to get removed as he's the most high profile guest to date. I actually like the guy in a lot of ways and think we have very similar political beliefs. I also think he was a class act for stepping down as Governor for his family.

The request to hit quote is one I loudly applaud. However the members must make their posts short and to the point as requested by ATS otherwise it becomes tedious reading.

aboutface
The request to hit quote is one I loudly applaud. However the members must make their posts short and to the point as requested by ATS otherwise it becomes tedious reading.

Look! Even I can do it!

Did ATS already address this? Did they offer any parameters on how short the post should be? I guess it's probably one of those things where the amount of quote has to be small enough to fit the amount of quote + reply in a single post. Probably impossible to gauge.

I thought we had one guest who picked up on this and did a great job, but perhaps I'm wrong.

I thought about offering to help with a thread that condensed questions and replies for AMAs but it sounds like a nightmare and while I have the time I am far too lazy/easily bored.

I don't know enough about coding and magic but could AMA guests be given an increased character limit for posts so they could actually quote and reply without worrying about hitting the cap? I'm just a simple country boy from the big city and don't understand all the 1 & 0s.

reply to post by Domo1


President comes to your house, do you ask him to take his shoes off?

I think we should afford high-profile guests a bowl of only green M&Ms if that is what it takes to keep them coming - I darn sure wouldn't ask him to bring the M&Ms. na mean?

I agree. This is the only reason why I haven't participated in the AMA threads or even followed them because I have no idea what the guest is answering and it's ridiculous waste of time trying to read through and figure it out. Hopefully this will change, especially with governor coming on. I am definitely looking forward to his AMA.

reply to post by Bleeeeep

President comes to your house, do you ask him to take his shoes off?

Yeah I would if that was my household policy. It's not though. I live in the PNW and my dog and I are ALWAYS muddy. Wipe your feet, get the big chunks off and welcome to my humble abode! Boots and all. I think it's weird when people ask you to take your shoes off.

I don't think we should coddle AMA guests. AMA means Ask Me Anything. If they don't want some tough questions change it to AMST. Ask Me Some Things.

So glad you brought this up! It is confusing to go page after page not knowing what the original question was. I am very excited about having Jesse Ventura on the site!

This has been asked before. It's a simple matter to click on the reply to link and read the question. Not all our AMA guests are computer or forum savvy, and asking them to quote, and then trim the quote down to the relevant part is too much.

Another vote for this from me. It does get tiring having to look back and forth. I assume (yeah.. I know), that the AMA guests agree to come here because they WANT accurate, good, interesting, and meaningful information to be discussed among us all. With that in consideration, I really don't think they would be upset if it was explained that the information is easier to take in if they used the reply button.

JMO

Perhaps introducing the initial method of response as a quote opposed to a reply would help.

I can't help but to think guest themselves sometimes find it frustrating when using reply. After all it's much easier to reply to a question when it can be seen as a point of reference.

Quoting is our friend...

reply to post by Bleeeeep


If the Prime Minister came to my house, I would ask him to pay a cleaning deposit so I could wash his stink out of my carpets. Never respect a position, or a status. Only respect good people, and good values. If both prove absent, then paying respect to a persons station in life merely reinforces an unhelpful, and artificial status quo.

Domo1

aboutface
The request to hit quote is one I loudly applaud. However the members must make their posts short and to the point as requested by ATS otherwise it becomes tedious reading.

Look! Even I can do it!

Did ATS already address this? Did they offer any parameters on how short the post should be? I guess it's probably one of those things where the amount of quote has to be small enough to fit the amount of quote + reply in a single post. Probably impossible to gauge.

I thought we had one guest who picked up on this and did a great job, but perhaps I'm wrong.

I thought about offering to help with a thread that condensed questions and replies for AMAs but it sounds like a nightmare and while I have the time I am far too lazy/easily bored.

I don't know enough about coding and magic but could AMA guests be given an increased character limit for posts so they could actually quote and reply without worrying about hitting the cap? I'm just a simple country boy from the big city and don't understand all the 1 & 0s.

yeah, i had my question to stan friedman absolutely gutted to the point it was not even a question. i was thrilled to be able to talk/ask him a question.

i related a sighting i had and only have heard of one other like it.

TPTB ripped it out and just left my question of "have you heard of other sightings like this?"

he didn't even see/read what i was describing!

just delete my whole post next time. it would have been more humane.

and it does get annoying when people have A B C D or 1 2 3 4 questions in 1 post, tho.

anyway, jessie will be interesting.

Domo1
Did ATS already address this?

Yes, Here


Spiro

Domo1
reply to post by Bleeeeep

 

President comes to your house, do you ask him to take his shoes off?

Yeah I would if that was my household policy. It's not though. I live in the PNW and my dog and I are ALWAYS muddy. Wipe your feet, get the big chunks off and welcome to my humble abode! Boots and all. I think it's weird when people ask you to take your shoes off.

I don't think we should coddle AMA guests. AMA means Ask Me Anything. If they don't want some tough questions change it to AMST. Ask Me Some Things.

yeah i hear ya, but people always do that at my house, but i live in asia. i tell them "hell no!" don't bother.

love that little kitty avi.

don't we have 7500 characters for a post?

that should be plenty for a quote and answer, no?

reply to post by Domo1


As has been posted several times . . .

The PTB on ATS . . . the 3 Amigos . . . have an aversion to including the quote as they see it as cluttering up the AMA in an unnecessary and unwieldly way . . . as I understand it.

IT SEEMS TO ME . . . THAT

IF

the software was altered for an AMA ONLY MODULE . . . that put the quoted question at the BOTTOM of the AMA person's reply, that would adjust the cluttering aspect sufficiently yet solve the issue of readily seeing the question concerned.

It would also be great if the AMA PERSON'S ANSWER was a different color to stand out, making it easier to locate and focus on quickly.


And, IF the software required a 3 line or less length question, that could help streamline things. I did discover with my question of Bill Y's thread that 3 lines in the posting window resulted in about 5 lines when posted. That's not a biggy, to me. 3 lines in the posting window would be short enough, to me.

Alternately, it could be a character limit that prevented going above 3 lines when posted.

I think that unless the software automatically channels posts into the parameters, boundaries desired, it will be a constant challenge to mod such AMA threads to 'ideal' limits.

Any time there are 10 or more people, at least one or more is NOT GOING TO GET THE MEMO and will unwittingly or rebelliously DO THEIR OWN THING almost regardless. I think that with the AMA threads, the percentages of posters posting outside the 'ideal' boundaries will TEND to be fairly significant--probably more than 50% depending on the limits involved.

It seems to me that only automatic software limitations would make modding such threads reasonable--and anything but annoying to exasperating frustration for all concerned.

And . . . if such AMA MODULE software changes were constructed, why not have the module automatically throw the question and the response PAIRED into a sequential LEAN & CLEAN THREAD OF ITS OWN that prevented ANY responses until the AMA thread was closed? This LEAN & CLEAN AMA THREAD could include automatic links in the AMA thread to the responses and questions concerned--and vice versa, imho.

And, the LEAN AND CLEAN AMA THREAD could have the questions in one color [or basic black or white] and the responses of the AMA PERSON in the more vivid, easily located and read color.

= = =

My yet unanswered question to Bill Y included my typical parenthetical phrases. That's my style and preference. Yet, I suppose an argument could be made for asking a simple, clean, straightforward question without such. It may be that limiting the question to 2 lines in the posting window would be desirable. However, I think that would be very frustratingly difficult to comply with for what--at least half the posters? Yet, the result might well be worth it. I don't know.

It seems to me that grammar software could be altered requiring or managing that automatically such that the lean straightforward question was put at the top and the more robust question with the parenthetical phrases put under that.

I think there is something to be said for the lean straightforward question being the ideal when there are so many diverse people confronting the AMA person with a diversity of questions out of a wide diversity of writing & thinking levels and skills.

Certainly the software could readily be constructed to remove everything not in the one sentence with a question mark at the end--if that's a sufficient priority.

The "background" prep many put before their question certainly seems to mushroom for many posters into a soap-box or rant or rambling bunch of blather for many posters. It seems to me that the grammar checking type software could prevent that in the posting drafting window.

On the other hand, some questions may well need to be reconstructed or to include some background data bits in order to be quickly grasped and responded to rationally by the AMA person. Not sure how to suggest handling that. It seems to me that real person human modding of that may well still be required.

= = =

Failing all the above . . . perhaps the INTRO SECTION to an AMA thread should include some lean questions of the standard types:

HOW . . . ?
WHEN . . . ?
WHAT . . . ?
WHERE . . . ?
WHO . . . ?
IF . . . ?

AS A MODEL for posters to follow when constructing their questions. Otherwise, the unwieldly, hard to follow questions will still be a plentiful muddying of the AMA threads, imho.

Even with such models, either software or modding would likely be required until the bulk of the membership were trained to follow the lean type of question construction.

imho, the basic ideal for an AMA thread is to have a wealth of thoughtful questions very briefly and clearly articulated in a way easily and quickly grasped accurately by the AMA person enabling quick and easily articulated clear responses.

At least, that's what affords the reading public the best results for interesting and readily grasped reading, imho.

Anyway . . . it would be great to have the software minimize hassles and improve clarity and brevity for the AMA person AND for the mods AND for the members posting questions and/or reading the questions and responses.

Given the diversity of members and their widely diverse perspectives and personalities, the AMA threads will likely ALWAYS have SOME degree of messiness. That's merely human. But we do have the technology and the smarts to minimize the messiness and improve clarity. Why not use it?

.

Domo1
I thought about offering to help with a thread that condensed questions and replies for AMAs but it sounds like a nightmare and while I have the time I am far too lazy/easily bored.

You may be aware that I did that for 2 AMA threads. It takes a LOT OF VERY TEDIOUS TIME. I thought, in one case, that it was worth it IF the readers appreciated it sufficiently. It was not clear that a significant enough percentage did.

And, there was some . . . quibble . . . with the admin . . . I think the consensus of the admin was that such needed to happen AFTER the AMA thread was closed in order to avoid distracting from the AMA thread.

CERTAINLY, FOR ME, IF my efforts were annoying or the least bit problematic vis a vis the admin AND IF the readers did not find the result THAT worthwhile--THEN it was CERTAINLY NOT worth the bother. I hated the feeling that no good deed goes unpunished. I have enough unwarranted grief in my life, thank you very much!

Nevertheless, I personally think that a lean thread with sequential brief questions and the AMA person's unedited responses is an ideal thing to have for ready and archival reading . . . even if it's AFTER the AMA thread has been closed.

I wonder how many members on this thread would agree with that?
.

reply to post by BO XIAN


You do realize that Skeptic is the only one doing the coding right? And he has other things going on too right?

reply to post by Zaphod58


LOL.

I didn't KNOW that . . . I ASSUMED as much.

However, we all have our priorities . . . and . . . it might well be that some talented and experienced members would be happy to step up to the plate and help S.O. code such an AMA module. Doesn't hurt to ask, imho.

I'm just throwing ideas out. Brainstorming was a strength I was often affirmed for in my PhD program. It's fun to me. And, occasionally, it seems to help in a variety of situations.

However, I also realize that I'm NOT one-size-fits-all.

So folks are quite welcome to scroll on by . . . as many do . . . though some occasionally seem to enjoy sniping as they scroll on by. LOL. And . . . as long as it's not mean-spirited, that's OK, too.

I think if the members were actually able to grasp the point of "1 Question Only" it should be just as easy to hit the quote button as it is the reply button. Surely that shouldn't take up too much space.

I don't know why members feel the need to go the whole nine yards when the foot should suffice for 1 question. That bothers me more then clicking the name to see the question and going back and forth quite frankly.

I also feel these people are our guest and they should be coddled if anyone, not the members. Plain lazy IMHO and that's kind of pitiful.

If people can get their points across in a tweet that only allows so many characters, I think the same should be able to be done forming a question.

Yes, the quote button would be easier for us, but if I really like the guest, I don't mind having to work for it a bit if I really want to know what's being asked and answered. I'm just thrilled they took the time to be here in any capacity.