Hey Askville,
As many of you know, we had introduced a feature that allows newbie users to ask a question by simply typing in an email address. We were hoping this would lower the bar for asking questions and for encouraging newbies to participate in our community. While we have achieved this goal, we also realize that it introduced "fly-by-night" askers who never come back to our site. Moreover, based on the feedback we have received from the community, we have elected to remove this feature. Consequently, newbies who want to ask a question will now be required to go through the full registration requirement just like it used to be - i.e. you need to make a purchase on amazon or verify your identify via a cell phone.
Why did we do it in the first place?
Askville is still a young community that is growing and it is still in beta. While Askville is in beta we are introducing features that may or may not work. In the end, we want to create the best ecosystem and community that will generate the highest quality questions and answers on the web. Some of the features we introduce are immediately successful (e.g. appeal process), while others need more work (e.g. bonus questions), and some are just bad ideas. Reducing the bar to ask a question would fall in the last bucket. We will continue to tweak and improve those features that are "works in progress" and will continue to think of ways to improve Askville. None of this can be done without your continual feedback. We rely on your feedback to tell us what is working and what is not working. We apologize if we aren't moving fast enough, but we are definitely trying our best to make sure that Askville is a great place to ask... answer... meet... play!
Sincerely,
-The Askville Team
