MakeUseOf Launches Answers: Get Answers Fast!

Answers05 Since MakeUseOf was established in 2006, it has grown into one of the major technology blogs. We believe MakeUseOf has come this far because we provide the best possible free content and unique features, including the Directory, Geeky Fun, and MakeUseOf PDF guides. MakeUseOf is constantly improving and today we reach another milestone.

During the past couple of months we have been working hard behind the scenes to craft a new website section. And now we are finally ready to launch it!

I am excited to announce MakeUseOf Answers, a place on MakeUseOf for all your tech-related questions and tips. Got a question? Ask it on MakeUseOf Answers. A reader or our authors will likely know the answer. Anyone can ask or answer a question without singing up.

Let me give you a quick MakeUseOf Answers walkthrough.

To access the new website section, click on the “Answers” tab above.

MakeUseOf Answers

Recent questions are shown on top, further down is a tag cloud and a list of the “10 Most Viewed Questions”. You’ll notice a big green “Ask a Question” button, as well as a box called “Questions By Topic” that shows all categories.

How To Ask A Question

To ask a question, click on the respective button and fill in the form.

MakeUseOf Answers 2

Clicking on the button will quickly bring you to the question form where you can fill in your question. No sign up needed.

MakeUseOf Answers - Question Form

Try to give a descriptive title and add all the details in the “Your Question” text field. Don’t forget to choose a category, enter your details, and solve the little math test.

MakeUseOf Answers - Sample Question

Hit the submit button to send us your question. Your question will be published shortly afterwards.

How To Answer A Question

MakeUseOf Answers is powered by DISQUS. To answer questions you do not have to sign up. It will work just like commenting on a regular article. You can, however, sign in with your Twitter, Yahoo, or DISQUS account and track your input.

Whenever you find a good answer in the comments to a question, give it some credits and hit the “Like” button on it. The more people “like” the answer the better it becomes.

You may also list answers by popularity, rating, or date (as shown below).

Sorting Answers

If you know the answer to a question yourself, scroll down to the bottom of the page and leave a comment.

A bonus of signing in with a user account is that the system can track your participation. Fame and glory is to be earned for the most active and most liked members of the community.

As you see, MakeUseOf Answers is very straight forward. So if you have any tech questions, don’t hesitate to ask.

Go to MakeUseOf Answers

Image credits:immrchris

Tagged: announcements • help • Q&A websites • tech support • tutorials

Tina Sieber

Tina is a freelance writer, editor, natural scientist, and cosmopolitan with a strong interest in sustainability. She has been writing for MakeUseOf since late 2007 and also is the Editor for MakeUseOf Answers.

http://www.zippygamer.com jbennett

This is awesome. It’s like a (better) version of Yahoo! Answers. I’m sure it will become a great resource.
mokoshich

Grate work guys… Keep it up
Marco

excellento! I will definitely make use of it
http://www.onthescreens.com Rob

Nice
JK III

Wonderful idea! I hope MUO team will actively moderate it so it doesn’t turn into Yahoo Answers

JK III

After writing the comment above, I checked the section for the first time. Sorry for the hasty comment. Now that I have actually seen the section, things don’t look good

Tina

Why not?
JK III

Well, the first thing that I noticed was that despite just being recently launched, the section is badly cluttered and there were already 19 pages full of questions.

Secondly, when I checked 3 or 4 questions I found a link to existing MUO article in 2 of them. the problem here is that people will definitely ask questions that can be already answered by Google or MUO itself. This needs to be corrected.

But still, I see potential here and hope it will be a success(for both users and MUO team). Good Luck!

Tina

Thank you very much for your feedback!
http://www.zippygamer.com jbennett

Thanks for your feedback, JK. It is very much appreciated.

In regards to the first point, the way it is currently laid out shows the most recent questions on the main page. Users can narrow down to a specific category by using the topic links on the right-hand menu.

In regards to the second point, do you have a suggestion for stopping people from asking a question that can already be answered by a MUO article or Google? I think that’s an issue that has plagued all tech support employees for many years, LOL.

I’m confident that most questions in life can be answered by Google but one goal of having MUO Answers, in my mind, is that the answers here can be easier to find and more helpful than having to (possibly) click through many links on Google.

Thanks again for your kind words and feedback! It’s very helpful.
JK III

I guess you are right about the plague part

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/answers-announcement/ Glenn

G’day

Sorry for being so daft, but I would like to post a question but I cannot find any link to bring up the form?
At the top of this page it says to…To ask a question, click on the respective button and fill in the form….WHAT respective button, WHERE is it? Lol!

Thanks for your patience

Glenn

Tina

It’s the green button on top of the sidebar that says “Ask a Question”.
Glenn

Thanks for that Tina, but I did see that and I did click on it but nothing comes of it. It highlights in a sort of a fashion and a little “drag” window pops up for facebook(don’t want facebook) and that is all that happens?

Cheers

Glenn

Tina

Hi Glenn,

you didn\’t click on the screenshot provided in the article above, did you?

Ok, what you need to do is go to MakeUseOf Answers first. At the very top of the current page, you should see tabs. Right now, we are in the Home tab. To switch to MakeUseOf Answers click the Answers tab.
You can also use this link: http://www.makeuseof.com/answers/

Then, when you\’re on the correct page (now you\’re not), check the sidebar for that big green button. When you click that button, a question form should open to the left. It also closes when you click the button again.

I hope this answers your question.

http://agloco-blog.squarespace.com/customer-acquisition/2009/7/27/customer-loyalty-won-with-good-communication.html David K. Enders, D.C.

I think it is a great to have this site to ask and answer questions, great customer service idea. It may take time to work the “bugs” out, but nothing runs smoothly when you first set it up. This could become a very valuable resource site as more questions and replies are added.