Hey Askville neighbors,
Ever stumble upon a question that had closed with zero answers that you knew the answer to? No need to worry, because you now will be able to submit an answer to that question even if it was asked 12 months ago! We've changed our rules so that the 7 day period to answer ANY question will not start until after the 1st answer is submitted. So any question that still has zero answers, whether it was asked 1 day ago, 7 days ago, or 1 year ago, is still "Open" for new answers! Only after the 1st answer is submitted will the 7 day period start and all normal rules will then apply (see example below of question that was asked 26 days ago that is now open for new answers):
Q: How about voting?
A: the same voting rules apply - i.e. anyone who posts an answer and the asker are allowed to vote on the question.
Q: For really old questions, the asker probably won't vote so what can I do?
A: Couple of thoughts:
- We will email the asker that he/she got an answer to their question, so hopefully they will vote on your answer.
- You can always appeal your final rating, just like always, and get someone to re-rate your answer.
- With our new homepage, all recently answered questions will show up under the ACTIVE list. So as people start answering old questions, they will "bubble up" to the top of the list. Hopefully others will see that old question and will answer it as well, in which case you'll have other Askville users voting on your answer.
Q: When does voting start?
A: Voting occurs just like any other question - i.e. asker/answerers can vote as soon as they see a new answer to vote on. Voting period will end 3 days after the 5th answer has been submitted or after 7 days have passed, which ever happens first.
Q: Can I use my coin multiplier on these old questions?
A: Absolutely! All questions, new and old, will adopt this new rule change and the coin multiplier will work just like always. P.S. we've *finally* fixed all known bugs related to the coin multiplier so if anyone still sees problems there, please send us feedback ;o)
Q: Can I answer a question that was asked a long time ago that had just 1 answer?
A: Unfortunately, you still can't answer questions that were asked a while ago that had at least one answer. However, you can post your answer in the comments/discussion boards since that question is now "closed".
We hope this will help people find new questions to answer that were previously "closed" and give everyone more ways to share your knowledge to all of Askville :o)
Pagination for you Private Messages has arrived!
Another new feature we've added is pagination for all your private message! So, now if you want to go back to really old messages, you'll be able to page through them (previously we would only display the last 200 messages). To go to the next "page" of private messages, just scroll down your messages, like you normally would do, and at the bottom of the panel you will see the paging option. We've also implemented some performance improvements for everyone's inbox so that your pages will load faster and you can communicate with your Askville friends even easier!
We've actually made several performance improvements which hopefully has made Askville faster to download. Our traffic and user base is growing faster than ever and we want to make sure Askville provides a good user experience as it relates to performance of the website.
Thanks and we hope everyone enjoys the new features and as always - please send us feedback on bugs or improvements!
-The Askville Team
