Am I in the right category or am I confused (or just going mad)?

[Janetex]

I'm not coping well with AB lately, tho I cannot be the only one, surely. Is it moving along oddly, strangely, quickly, aimlessly?

[smudge]

In what respect?

[coggles]

Hello Janetex, if your are referring to the morons who are posting ******* stupid questions in the wrong catagories, then you are not the only one being driven mad - I am too! Well, madder than usual...

[Donkey]

coggles, you must lead a very stressful life if someone posting a question under the wrong category can wind you up that much .! put your feet up have a beer and chill out

[TommyC]

Janetex, It's NOT just you, really..! I've been feeling exactly the same, for no readily apparent reason, for the past three weeks, almost as if something fairly basic has changed but I just can't figure out quite what it is. Most annoyingly, I've typed several responses to questions that have appealed to me, only to see them repeatedly disappear into the ether; sometimes I've been asked to sign in and sometimes not, completely at random; a number of questions I would have liked to see answers to have been totally ignored by all the regulars, and in the back of my mind I'm dimly aware that I haven't seen hide or hair of sft42, Nedflanders or Quizmonster for at least a month, but nobody else seems to have even noticed !! Thank goodness for Andy Hughes and Smudge keeping it real..!! All that, AND the legions of idle, illiterate, homework-shy, txt-happy teenagers posting some of the stupidest questions I've ever seen..!! At times like this, I start remembering "Invasion of the Bodysnatchers", and wonder what will change next..? :o)

[TommyC]

(No offence to those i,i, h-s, t-h teenagers if they're listening..! Go ahead.. ! Fill the site with junk..! See if I care..!!)

[Quizmonster]

I'm still around, Tommy! Granted, I had a five-day absence from AnswerBank, whilst attending a reunion with old military colleagues, but that ended yesterday. Still, Ned and Sft have been conspicuous by their absence...I agree.

[TRINITY]

Hey Janet long time girl, yup I been quiet enuff said! Hi Quizzie wondered where u were, hope u had fun.

[Quizmonster]

We scarcely drew a sober breath, Trin...so, yes, it was absolutely bloody marvellous! Next year it's to be in Belfast, so I was just wondering whether one can phone an hotel there and ask to make a "Provisional" booking without getting shot on arrival. (That's meant as a joke, Northern Irish folks!) Cheers.

[coggles]

Donkey, firstly, I am trying to keep my children aged 1 and 4 occupied when it is raining heavily outside. Stressed? you decide. Once they are in bed, my husband and me will chill out with some wine for me and beer for him. Secondly, I'm not sure how long you have been on this site, but some of us have been on it for a few years and there have been some changes - good and bad. I 'know' several of the users on here from a splinter group and I was actually speaking 'tongue-in-cheek' to Janetex. Having said that, I can't understand why people post quiz questions in Phrases when there is FINALLY a catagory for Quizzes & puzzles. TommyC, SFT42 is the owner of the other group I visit and I know, as well as several others, why he hasn't been on here lately, which is probably why nobody has mentioned his absence. Quizzy is Quizmonster. I think he mentioned once that he checks in most days but doesn't necessarily contribute. I am glad you had a great time Quizzy and I salute you.

[coggles]

P.S. I say 'Thank god for smudge' too. ;)

[smudge]

TommyC, thank you for your positive comments about me contributing to the site, that's very encouraging. There are two things that niggle me, one is the posting of questions in the wrong categories, which coggles has already mentioned. The other is when questioners don't actually ask a question, i.e., 'I have a ?cm crack in my interior wall', then nothing. Why can't they be be more explicit so that we can perhaps help them further. That's all folks!

[Greedyfly]

I feel it has been since they changed the site slightly - plus the kids are off school - hence some pretty daft Qs

[BenDToy]

Plus a certain Irish radio station which will remain nameless!!

[sft42]

Hey Ho Campers!

It's nice to be missed I must say....I have as dear Coggles has said been somewhat busy of late and have been spending much less time on the PC due to sparking up a new relationship (incidentally with another user of this site - guesses anyone?) and anytime I have checked in I have found that I have only wanted to answer one or two questions at most, which would be easy to pass by, compared to my previous amounts of answers.

I think, getting back to the original question, that this is due to two things: 1/ A general summer lull in the 'bank and influx of kids with nothing better to do than post vacuous questions and summer homework nonsense and 2/ Much more disturbingly a very poor standard of editing since the handover to the new owners of the site...this has manifest itself in double questions remaining in sections for days on end, questions remaining in the wrong sections for ages and dubious questions and postings remaining live for far too long...while the previous editors had their faults at least they were fairly proactive in patrolling the site, our new overlords seem to think that having stuck in the new (useless) profanity filter in and the quizzes section that the site will run itself...sorry but that's not the case.

For anyone wanting to have a more prolonged rant about this site and other crappy things in life in general then your welcome to join in the madhouse that Coggle's was talking about earlier which is the amazing Answerbook

[AB Editor]

Hi AnswerBankers, You have all noticed a variety of changes to the AnswerBank over the past few weeks, some good and some not so good! As many of you know, the AnswerBank was acquired in June by Crystal Guides Ltd, an independent online publisher of sites such UK Net Guide www.uknetguide.co.uk Most of the work we have done so far has been on the technical infrastructure of the site, and so far we have only made minor improvements to the 'front end' such as removing pop-up advertising and creating the Quiz channel. The primary reason for the change in the 'feel' of the site, which many of you regular AB users have noticed, is the increase in traffic. Up until June the AnswerBank was visited by around 10,000 users a month. In July that figure reached almost 400,000! This will inevitably produce a broader range of questions and answers, some of them intelligent, thought provoking and in keeping with the spirit of AnswerBank - and others rather silly or downright bizarre! While we welcome this new level of users it has meant that we have been stretched to the limit as far as editorial resources are concerned and we apologise if certain things have slipped under the radar and not been picked up. This is where the moderating influence of the regular AB users is so important in maintaining the quality of the site. Please bear with us as we adjust to this new found popularity and rest assured that we at Crystal Guides are very committed to developing the site in conjunction with you - the loyal and regular users. With this in mind we are launching a new 'Suggestions' channel next week to open the debate (which has already started in certain areas of the site) on what you want from AnswerBank. From all the team at AnswerBank, thank you for you patience and we look forward to hearing your suggestions! Regards, AB Editor

[smudge]

Well that's very encouraging information AB Editor. We shall all look forward to seeing what else you have to offer, thus making this an even better & interesting site.