Please Answer the Question

[Sylday]

I don't want to mention any names, but I wish those answering questions would not simply provide a link to a web-site, but at least give a brief resum� of the answer as well as the link. After all, if you've taken the trouble to search for appropriate websites, it's not so much extra trouble to see just what jabs are needed for Timbuktu, or whatever. Just quoting the link makes boring reading for the rest of us, and is something like directing someone who asks you the time to the nearest public clock.

[Quizmonster]

I frequently provide such links because they're extremely simple to access for the questioner and whoever else might be interested in the topic...ie whoever has bothered to click into that particular answer-page. I can see no point whatever in summarising what's on the link-page. Surely it's absolutely simple to decide whether you're interested in the web-page's answer or not...and why would the summary be any more interesting than the 'horse's mouth', as it were?

Sorry, Sylday, but I totally disagree with you on this. If someone asks you for the time and you don't have a watch, surely directing them to a public clock is perfectly helpful.

[Wraith]

I must admit I do this a lot. The reason I do it is to allow the questioner to read the full answer, not a brief account of it. As Quizmonster points out I can see no point whatever in summarising what's on the link-page. It also allows the questioner to discover another site that may be useful to them in the future and to verify that the answer given is correct.

If anyone is interested in the answer then they can click on the link too. I appreciate what you say about a brief resume and understand that it would save them having to read through a whole page of information to find the answer, but they wouldn't be reading the answer if they weren't interested. If you note, some of my answers actually direct the questioner to a particular part of the link. i.e. bottom right hand corner of the page etc.

The reason I don't write the web address in the answer is to save time and inaccuracies for both myself and the questioner. Missing a / or a . from a web address can make it unusable, whereas clicking on the link takes you straight to the site. Once at the site the questioner then has the option of saving the address on their favourites list.

Surely this can only make answers more accurate and life much easier for all of us.

[Sylday]

Quizmonster is being untypically obtuse. I obviously meant when you do have a watch.

[woofgang]

sylday, I'm sorry you're bored. If I have an opinion or something to add, then I'll add it, but quite often, the website link is enough. Where the website is huge and I have had to search it for the answer, then I will cut and paste a quote as well as or instead of the link. My expectation is that this will be helpful if the questioner has subsidiary questions, and means they can get their own answers without having to post again here and wait for a reply. I agree with my honourable colleagues on this one.

[pinus]

In areas such as travel health we need to give accurate answers which are not, and don't appear to be, "what I think I remember from the last time I was in wherever" We don't know *anything* about the questioners, such as where they live, what countries they will be travelling through, or the state of their general health (including whether or not they are up to date with their tetanus jabs). We don't know if they will be travelling up-country, thus exposing themselves to different risks. We don't know if they are planning to work abroad, which brings in different considerations. We don't know if an answer will be taken as applying to infants or the elderly. The only safe way to answer is to direct them to a site which alerts them to these points. And before doing so, we should be happy that the site appears to be reliable and up to date. A precis could be bad advice. You will have seen that I usually show how I got to the answer I give. When I put the Google terms I have used, it's not meant as a put down, but as a help in learning another skill. We are pretty adept at Googling, but many are not.

[gerry]

If you leave them the link to the answer they are looking for,why would you want to write part of the answer out for them?.If the link has the answer they are looking for then there is no need to write anything else.

[bernardo]

I agree with Quizmonster, but I sometimes do both, just in order to show off.

[pinus]

We hadn't noticed

[Drewhound]

I agree with the majority above, certainly I think the link is important, even if you give the answer the link serves to confirm its accuracy. I usually do what you say, ie I rarely give the link alone, but I wouldn't get into a tizz about it either way

[Quizmonster]

As Wraith suggests above, I, too, give precise details of where exactly the answer is within a link-page. I do so generally by saying: "Once there, scroll down to the section headed 'Public clocks and private watches'" or whatever.

I truly cannot see how anyone could get bored just by reading about a dozen words - two seconds'-worth of their time, max? - especially after they've seen the 'Click here' suggestion once or twice.

[woofgang]

also, with respect sylday, when someone answers a question, they answer it for the asker. If others want to read the answer, or use it or join in the fun, then they are welcome but when I answer a question, usually, my only concern is to give the questioner the info they hava asked for accurately.

[bernardo]

I suppose it also depends on what type of answer it is. For example, if the answer is a single word, it would make sense to give the word and then give a link to provide detailed explanation. But it the detailed explanation itself is the answer, then a brief summary of the answer couldn't really explain it better than the link.

[Cheesefreek]

Hear Hear, keep posting the links. I find some of them fascinating. Don't go to links if not interested. Simple