Finding The Best Answers To Your Questions
Thinking about questions there is the asking and the answering.
Here at Wealthy Affiliate, we are a bunch of folks scattered around the world, scattered across various time zones, and scattered across many languages, a truly global community.
The main language of wealthy affiliate is English, which can make it difficult for members for whom English is not their first language.
When it comes to questions, from observation it can be a frustrating process. I see some occasions where it is kind of hard to work out exactly what the person is actually asking, the information is scant and it can be hard to decipher exactly what is being asked.
It can be one of those weird English language kind of things where the quality of the question can determine, the quality of the answer.
I think the diplomacy barometer is sitting about right at this stage.
One of the things that gives us as members so much value is the ability to go to the community and ask questions.
They seem to fall into two categories
- Technical questions.
- Survey questions.
Sometimes asking a question can be all about listening or being ready to listen.
Looking at it most of the good questions have one or more of the following words associated with them.
- What
- When
- Where
- who
- Whom
- why
- How
Good Question Good Answer
It can take time to work out the best way to ask a question, one of the best ways is to start with the headline and with that try to be specific keep it on topic. You are having a problem, time to focus on the 5 W's and the H, keep it on your topic.
Express what your problem is and how it is effecting you and what outcome you are looking and searching for.
This has a two-fold effect, it lets folks know what it is that you are asking about, and also your question is archived into the system and it may be of help to folks who may experience the same problem.
So you are helping the whole WA community by asking a question in the first place.
There is nothing worse than trying to guess what you are asking it takes up time and in the end, you may not get a satisfactory answer to your query. Frustrating for both parties
So when it comes to questions don't be shy about giving enough information, about your problem or the issue that you are facing if it is technical in nature, what is the issue that you are facing, how has it affected you, your site, your journey, what solutions are you looking for?
It doesn't have to be that 2000 word gem, just enough to get your message across.
The most important thing is to be specific. both with your headline and the text of the question.
If at all possible perhaps look at adding a screenshot if that will help to get your message across.
Monosnap is a free screen shot tool, used by some folks, you may be able to chime in with your resource of choice, many thanks if you can help out.
A picture paints a thousand words.
On the survey question, give folks a why, you are asking and what you hope to achieve in the answers, you may be doing research be specific, it enables folks to respond and give you quality replies. From observation, a survey question without specifics genders answers that are not congruent with the question being asked.
A fancy way of saying that the respondents don't actually understand what you are asking or why and respond accordingly.
Remember a good question with quality answers benefits the whole community, it is a balance between content, who, what when and the process, how and why.
When thinking of platform questions, can we, could we, should we with an explanation of what you want to do or why you want to do this or that can extract some really positive replies.
We can make it too hard to answer, and then folks will pass on by.
From my observation, folks have been there and done that, are working through it or are coming about the other side. So there is a wealth of knowledge right here inside the community which we can all tap into.
The answering,
Keeping it short and sweet, if you can determine the question and know the answer or you know where to find the answer from the archives then fire away, and post that question busting solution.
If you are a little doubtful and kind of think, you know the answer but have that doubt, then stop short do some research and work it through before you post your answer.
Doing this helps to build your knowledge and confidence, which is a win-win.
If you are answering a question, and it is your opinion or experience qualify your answer by saying so; in my experience or in my opinion, it lets folks know that you are expressing your personal preferences, you are adding to the conversation. Debate is the craddle of new ideas afterall.
Nothing worse than exploding in with that authoritative answer that is off song.
Good questions help everyone and we are a pay it forward community.
Good questions start conversations and conversations are one of the best things that can happen in the online world.
Just some reflections, I would love some feedback.
Many thanks.
Alex.
Recent Comments
73
Thanks for your post I am sure there have been times when I have ask a question that I did not have all the details. I do think the more information you can give the better it helps to get the answers you need.
Hi, Dena,
I have been guilty of that as well, sometimes we are not sure exactly what we are asking especially in the case where we lack that technical understanding. It becomes important that we add enough information in the text of the question that folks can pick up on the points that we are trying to get across.
It definitely helps and it does facilitate better responses just a personal view there.
Thank you for stopping by and sharing your thoughts in this conversation, much appreciated.
Alex
Thank you, Alex, for writing this post.
There is such a high helping culture here, it touches me every time, how (my) questions are answered. On the other hand it is really always very interesting to read the answer of any question. There is so much to learn all the time.
Being specific in a foreign language (sometimes even in one's mother tongue as well) is indeed very difficult, above all at the very beginning, until one has learned how "this" and "that" is called.
Hats off for all of you having so much patience and understanding !
I recently discovered that writing in SiteContent is a great help as it corrects not only the spelling, but also the grammar. In fact I use it only intern, when using English to communicate.
Hi Anne,
You have raised a really valid point, affiliate marketing and I guess WordPress have languages all of their own and in the initial phases it can be really hard to communicate fluently.
It does take time to find that familiarity, I guess for folks we need to be aware of that when endeavoring to answer queries.
The beauty in the question threads is that we can all learn so much, from the inputs of others, it is something that is immensely helpful for all sides of the question.
Ah, Site content what a gem of a platform I am sure it is aiding many of us to exceed our expectations when it comes to creating content.
thank you for your thoughtful response Anne, much appreciated.
Alex
Thanks to you, Alex, I was just rethinking of your post in the evening while reading an answer again, witnessing how we all apprehend a topic from so many different corners, this diversity is a gem.
That is so true Anne, the diversity brings so much value, and it can help us to see something from so many angles which can be so beneficial. thank you for your insights.
This is the thing that makes WA such a great learning platform. There are many, "I didn't know or think about that" learning opportunities. Alex thank you for recognizing and acting upon an issue that is or has been a moment of frustration for many.
Frustration has caused people to lose confidence in the structure of our WA system. The beauty of your post is that you articulated the problem followed by solutions.
Sometimes we don't express ourselves clearly enough to help ourselves or anyone else. Thank you for reminding us about why we are here and a common problem; communications and helping the community.
Hi Vonnie,
Thank you for your thoughtful response, from observation it can be an issue that causes frustration from time to time.
The ability to engage with the community with issues and problems that we face is something that is unique to Wealthy Affiliate, so to get the best out of it we all need to be able to reflect on how we communicate. If we are aware then we can all make an effort to enhance how we communicate and express.
Thanks once again for your insights.
Alex
Great post Alex. :) I also like reading all the responses to questions. Amazing how much one can learn from other people asking good questions too.
~Mark :)
Hi Mark, that is one of the most valuable assets of the comment threads, both one questions and blog posts, it is so good to be able to share ideas and responses. It elevates Wealthy Affiliate into a league of its own, and I am sure that it helps people to grow in knowledge and understanding.
Thank you for sharing how you engage, much appreciated.
Alex
Good one, Alex. It's not always, but I sometimes find that the character limit (60) in the question title allowed is a bit too less. Mind you, this is including the spaces in between. I have been managing to ask within the permissible limit but I sometimes wish I was allowed to add a few more characters to make my question more relevant or meaningful. Of course, I can always elaborate what I actually want to ask in the body area but I have had instances in the past where I found it difficult to write the question title within the limit.
Hi Sukumar, you have raised a really valid point thank you very much, the character limit can cause an issue if you have issues or you struggle to get your point across.
On one side of the coin, it helps us to be specific, using the appropriate keywords to express the problem. but it can limit that expression as well.
I think where it really counts is in the text in the body of the question.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, I hope that others will chime in with their thoughts on the subject of headline character length.
Many thanks, Sukumar.
Alex Evans
Maybe this is the reason I sometimes find questions that do not start with why, how, where, when,.. but are simply general statements with an interrogation mark at the end. So what some people do is write a statement and simply add a question mark (?) at the end in the headline area to ask something. Here also things can get lost in translation at the first glance.
Another very valid point of view Sukumar thank you for sharing your thoughts on this subject.
Hi Jon,
Thank you for your kind words, just reflecting on the question and answer process.
Regards
Alex Evans
Thanks Alex for this great information ,a great deal that i didnt realise about asking questions.
Hi Dimos,
Glad that you found this post helpful. here in WA, there are so many folks and every one of us is on our own particular journey and we are all at different levels of understanding.
If we provide enough information, the person if they are more advanced can tailor the answer to our knowledge or skill set level.
The whole thing about questions is that they help both parties one with knowledge and solutions and the other with a better understanding or a deeper understanding.
Thank you for stopping by and joining the conversation.
Alex Evans
I agree with this totally - sometimes it can be very difficult to understand what people are asking which makes it hard to help them.
Best Wishes
Hazel
It can be hard at times to work out exactly what folks are asking if we provide enough information then it does help other members to be able to step in with some really helpful and relevant information
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Hazel.
Much appreciated.
Alex Evans
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Great points Alex and great post. Thanks for the reflections. I will definitely try and make my questions clearer and with more detail.
Hi Harvey,
I am sure that you do a great job as it is, the thing that came to my mind is that as a community we get so much value from the ability to ask questions but also the ability to be able to engage in the comment thread that ensues from the question asked.
Looking at some questions that I have posted, after looking the other day I concluded that maybe I could have expressed it a little better, I guess that raises another point as our knowledge and skill set increases so does our ability to express ourselves.
Thank you for joining the conversation, much appreciated.
Alex