Community Strategy Insights

The latest insights on community strategy, technology, and value by FeverBee’s founder, Richard Millington

What Is The Best Way To Ask A Question?

Richard Millington
Richard Millington

Founder of FeverBee

…not like that. 

When you ask for the best, you’re going to get the worst information. No-one knows what you mean. 

Does best mean quickest, cheapest, most features, easiest to use, highest performance, most reliable, or something else?

If you want members to share useful knowledge, ban members asking for the ‘best’ and teach them to get specific about their situation and their objectives.

Use the introduction material to explain how to ask better, more specific, questions to get useful information. 

StackExchange has a useful approach here. They use a box above every comment to help you participate. It’s difficult to ignore it. You can do the same.

Screenshot 2015-05-07 22.36.00

I’d suggestion a message such as:

“If you want great information, tell members as much as possible about your current situation, your limitations, and your objective. If you want the cheapest, say so. If you want the most features, say so. The more information you give, the better other members can help you.”

You might just find the quality of information shared increases, the reputation of the community improves, and more people join the community. 

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