AnswerMe

Last edit August 24, 2010
A WikiTag for highlighting an outstanding question somewhere in WikiLand.

(To see the list of pages marked with AnswerMe, click on the title at the top of the page. The list is updated nightly.)

See also PleaseComment

To answer the AnswerMe
  1. Click the title to find questions which desperately need answers.
  2. Be sure to remove the AnswerMe WikiTag once the question has been answered.

To use the AnswerMe
  1. Sign your paragraph so that I can notify you that I've answered.
  2. Put the AnswerMe close to your question mark so that I see your question.

To refer to AnswerMe on some page, without adding that page to the list of unanswered AnswerMe questions:
  1. Use SixSingleQuotes in between the "Answer" and the "Me" like this: AnswerMe.

But please consider using PlainEnglish.
  • personal experience: sometimes I'm reading wiki, and I feel an impulse to contribute (out of a sense of community exuberance or maybe latent guilt) but the specific pages I look at don't interest me, and even if by banging on RandomPages enough I may not find those specific. It would help if I could follow a link which provides a summarized list of pages which have specific questions which others also want to know the answer to. -- EricScheid

I've started to use AnswerMe on WikiWikiWebFaq, since there were a bunch of unanswered questions there. This seems like a good use for this tag.

It seems like if too many people use AnswerMe it might become less useful. (There are currently - Apr 2, 03 - only 62 pages with AnswerMe on them. I don't think it's in danger of overuse.)

Also see PromptingStatement and Links not Questions section in TipsFromWardCunningham

I can see how people might not like the tone of AnswerMe. It sounds like a command, when really it's a request. You might consider the PleaseComment WikiTag. I think it would be more universal and also more polite.

I believe that AnswerMe can be used in polite ways by polite people. So, for example, "Could you please be so kind as to AnswerMe if you read this question?"

I suspect that AnswerMe is the same pattern that brought us the ubiquitous ReadMe file. It has its roots in AlicesAdventuresInWonderland (DrinkMe, EatMe).

Perhaps a better tag would be CouldSomeonePleaseExplainThisToMe ;) On first read, AnswerMe seemed a bit too presumptuous or demanding to me although I imagine it wasn't meant so. If the intent is to seek an explanation from one of the experts (something I find myself often wanting to do but reluctant to "impose"), I might have tried something like PleaseExplain.

No, no. Please keep it AnswerMe. I think practical users appreciate its small size. It would be best to inform people to disregard tone in WikiTags. Having long tags would be disruptive to the readibility of the page as you have to use a little more 'brain' to pick apart the words. I'm not saying using more 'brain' is bad, just saying that it's nice to avoid unnecessary disruptions to readibility and save 'brain' for comprehending the subject. -- LeeLouviere.

As a side-note: AnswerMe! is also the name of a zine by Jim Goad, who gained a bit of renown in zineland with his highly confrontational - some say juvenile - writing style.
FYI Tom, I have not had much luck with the AnswerMe tag. I think it's a good idea, but I'm not sure how to implement it. Maybe put the questions temporarily there also? -- MarkDilley

Mark - haven't really used it much myself. Maybe the solution is to have a new role: AnswerMeWikiGnome, who checks all occurrences of that badge (?) and tries to answer. -- TomRossen

I think that would run into the same problem. What do you think about putting the questions on the actual AnswerMe page? -- md

Not sure whether that would be appreciated by everybody, although it does seem like a possibility. But I would definitely recommend putting this issue on that page or on AnswerMeDiscussion if there is such a page or you want to create it. -- tr

I like the idea of having the questions included - having to click through page after page, grep for the AnswerMe, and find out it's something I know nothing about can really kill a random contributory impulse :) Would it be feasible to, for instance, extract everything between a pair of square brackets enclosing an AnswerMe tag and a brief question summary? -- martindemello

Within the currect reflexes, it would make sense to have AnswerCategory page with AnswerCategory[Category] (like AnswerCategoryPearl) pages so people can post their questions there, then place AnswerCategory and AnswerMe at the top. That way people looking at the AnswerMe tag, would see a category for the questions and know whether it's worth it to check the page. People could also check the backlinks for the AnswerCategory page or do a search, to see what categories of questions exist. Any conflicting pre-existing pages can be renamed or merged with another page. -- LeeLouviere

CategoryWikiTag

See: GentlyReduceWikiBadges