Hi Ed I have posted a few - serious - questions and have received some excellent answers so don't get me wrong I think Answerbank is brilliant - but occasionally we do get wallies putting in their two peneth
What I think would be a good addition is an experts panel - you could put out a questionnaire of some kind to vet people and help you decide that they are indeed an expert in a certain field and make up a panel - they are then awarded a symbol or something next to their avatars or profile name
Then when q's are asked they can be answered by anyone in the normal way - but when an expert answers they will be identified as an expert - we would then know that what they are saying is indeed an experts opinion
-You must have a multitude of professional people giving their advice here everyday - it's just we don't know it xx
knowing a likely answer is occasionally a very good reason not to post it,,,, and it really is just a case of encouraging the Op to contact an expert who has access to proper facilities/tests etc. or putting a link to a reputable website.
"Techy spots string of 1s and 0s before noticing female reproductive functions"
Go figure.
:)
(No you don't have that many, I've bodged the stats for the example)
The point is though, you'd maybe know who was good at what? So if you were completely new to the site you could see that Chuck had given 900 best answers in tech, and go with his advice, rather than AB Editor who only has 3 - and they all related to putting keyboard in dishwashers.
The only problem I can see Ab Editor with naming experts in this that and the other, is that someone will come on with a question. Like the look of certain people and have no way of putting the question to them. You then end up with For the attention of X type postings. Also someone new to the site could be a much better expert but we just dont know it yet! Dont like to see people marked up as experts. After you have been on here a few years we kind of know who they are.
I now know that all questions relating to 'tanning products' should go to tinks, all questions on 'cake' to B00 or fluff, and all questions on 'handbags' to DT and zhukov :)
"Like the look of certain people and have no way of putting the question to them. You then end up with For the attention of X type postings."
This could be a problem, but we suffer from it anyway - so I'm not sure what the actual difference would be?
"Also someone new to the site could be a much better expert but we just dont know it yet!"
We wouldn't just have one "expert" per category, it would be whoever qualifies with the right number. And the answer is in your question: we don't know it yet, and we couldn't know it
"Dont like to see people marked up as experts. After you have been on here a few years we kind of know who they are."
It would be of benefit to newer users who wanted to understand who the people are on the site - we can't expect everyone to hang around for a few years :)
Site members are pretty good at recommending other users to newer posters... Like wait for Sqad... Chuck or Markrae will know...Barmaid is your best person etc
I can see a whole host of problems with this idea.
However, I would be willing to advise anyone with a problem in my area of expertise (my thesis at Uni was on seaweed). If you are having a problem with your bladderwrack, kelp etc, I am the woman to call on.