Answer Forum: Remove tags and replace with running list of previously-asked questions

Certain questions are asked repeatedly in the Answers Forum. Maybe I'm missing something, but the tag(s) associated with each question really don't seem to offer much value. It seems that having a list of questions that been asked previously provides alot more context than tag words. It might allow visitors to this forum the ability to find answers to their questions without posting the same or similar question more than once.

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Asked Jul 16 at 06:06 PM

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Robin Thomas
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3 answers:

Please, Guru, consider a list of FAQs as Christine suggested or direct new Guru users to the information that is available in the Help topics. Perhaps add a disclaimer at the top of each Answer forum page requesting that the viewer check the Help section before submitting questions. Many questions are asked repeatedly about topics for which information is available.

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answered Jul 25 at 01:11 PM

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Robin Thomas
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I agree, it's almost not worth checking for new questions now because this board has become cluttered with repetitive posts.

Jul 25 at 05:39 PM Betsy Roberts
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Robin, I couldn't agree more. There is a lot of repetition and it could be dealt with easily by having an FAQ section of sorts built into the Answers section.

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answered Jul 17 at 12:11 AM

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Christine R.
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Hi, Robin and Christine.

We agree that there are a lot of repeated questions. We get the same repetition by email. To try to reduce the duplicate questions, we

  • List FAQs (a.k.a. Top Questions) in the Help Center
  • Provide a list of tags sorted by popularity on the right
  • List related questions under the Question box. The list is specific to what the user is typing.
  • List related questions on the right

The "related questions" approach is actually better than FAQs because they are matched to the content of the question being entered or viewed based on content. Honestly, I don't know how much more we can do. The problem is not with a lack of information, it's folks not wanting to take the time to read. Some find it easier to just ask their question than to read what's already been posted.

We are working with AnswerHub (the folks that provided and support this platform) on a "redirect" option that would help us merge or redirect repetitive questions. In the meantime, please do not feel as though you need to respond to the repeat questions. We try to respond to all of the unanswered questions, but due to volume, the repeat questions are a lower priority and often do not get an immediate answer.

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answered Jul 26 at 03:40 PM

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