What do you think of having another top answerer in the alternative section being voted in, not asker chosen?

Question

everybody gets a thumbs up so far, all good answers. not a personal attack, just wondering.

Answer 1

There are a lot of intelligent people on this site who I am surprised are not ranking higher than they do.

Since I rank pretty high on the list in this section I am going to  give my best guess as to why that is. Since no one can know for sure why one person chooses a particular answer over another - that's why I say its my best guess and not a fact:

Firstly, is that I do my best to answer in a respectful manner. I never insult the questioner or other answerers.

Next I don't give answers on topics I don't know anything about. We can't all be experts in every area. So I leave those questions to people who know their stuff. ( I always make sure to be generous with giving "thumbs up" to interesting answers - even for questions that I also answered)

Lastly I do my best to make sure my answers are relevant to the question. I never give answers like " I dunno" or "good point" since its highly unlikely they would ever be picked as a good answer.

That all being said, after that its just a matter of waiting to see if the asker picks my answer or not. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't.

I also think another reason why there aren't many new top answerers is that there seems to be a very high number of people who come to this section for a bit. Get voted as the top once or twice and then quit answering probably if they kept at it, they would have a much higher score.

Interesting question. I look forward to reading the other responses.

Answer 2

How can you tell someone was voted in? Anyway I found a neat trick how you can vote on yourself without a multiple account and have enough friends in YA.

Everytime you answer a question simply put your initials in the in the know your source and you can actually cast a vote for yourself - when the question comes to that point you see your initials and click ....it's that simple.. And your friends who know you can vote for you, you can also vote for them - thus quickly getting to the top of your category and returning the favor - that's why they keep their info private.

I've noticed this method of cheating for while, I won't mention the offenders... but next time you see their long winded answers with links just look for their initials at the bottom.

Answer 3

I think it's a great idea.I'm much too modest to accept,though.

Answer 4

Hmm...

Well, it seems to me that if the askers would do their job and pick the best answer you wouldn't have had to ask this question.

I hate to see questions go to a vote, but if they do then the most votes wins.

Not much you can do about it.  Gotta accept it.

Hey everybody, when you ask a question pick a best answer, will you?  Don't let it go to a vote!

Answer 5

I don't know how top answerer is chosen...but nuff...I think you're reading my mind. ! I was just asking someone last night if they ever see any answers from our T.A in Alternative. Maybe I just don't notice.  k....where are you???

Edit...Hey! I just noticed something new at the top of this section!!! Congratulations, psi!!

EDIT..nuff...I don't know why anyone would want to be a TC or TA...except for the short lived honor. I was a TC in another section. I was SO EXCITED! Then I found out I had to wear myself out to keep it...and you couldn't have any fun! (What you don't have...you can't lose!)

Answer 6

Yes.  :-)

Answer 7

I don't think it makes much of a difference. The top answerer (TA) can be TA because he/she really gives the best answers. Or, he can be TA because he gives the answers that people most want to hear, and those aren't necessarily going to be the best answers. This is the case whether he's voted in or if the asker awards all his best answers. The only caveat is that with the voting system there is potential for fraud.

Congrats to psiexploration for making TA in parapsychology.

Answer 8

I think the idea is that the asker chooses who has most helped them to a resolution to the question.

If it's popular vote, then it's not the best answer necessarily, it just depends what numbers people with different points of view can muster, eg Christians vs Muslims, Man U supporters vs Arsenal supporters, etc etc.