Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with answers

How to communicate with a loved one

CollectiveMind — Sat, 23 May 2009 06:50:48 -0800

Is there any reason why some people don't like to be "put on the spot" to answer questions? If it's true that everyone has their own way of communicating, mine is to ask questions. To me, it helps me learn something I didn't know, or solve a problem by asking questions that help me get to its root. But there are a couple people I know that say questions make them feel like they're being forced into an answer. They prefer statements of preference, since they say, statements make others to talk about themselves and their own feelings rather than trying to pull something out of someone else. They say I should ponder their statements and parce their truth from those statements rather than asking direct questions of them that they say make them feel anything from disrespected to attacked. I care about these people, so I'm not trying to make communication difficult, or sabotage it. But I don't see how an exchange of statements, and parcing truth from time spent "pondering" them improves or progresses communication or a relationship. Sometimes, I get frustrated because it feels like they're just dodging what I'm trying to understand, as if they're giving what they want but only on their own terms. But I want to give them the benefit of the doubt, so, I want to know is this common and what can I do to be better at interacting with these folks?

Yes or No? Maybe Maybe!

Psychnic — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 05:56:51 -0800

I'm desperately seeking advice, for a friend. As a gift... Help me make a book of answers! I will be visiting a friend this Christmas, and I bought her a present. It's a small blank paper book and I started writing and drawing answers in it. Like a magic eight ball, opening the book of answers tells you what to do - or maybe not.

Problem is: There are 80 pages, and I have run out of answers. I need yours!

Here are some 'answers' I've come up with:
*Just do it!
*Follow your heart
*It can wait until tomorrow
*Alea Iacta Est
*With a little help from my friends

References to her interests - field hockey, arts, industrial design [her studies], quotes from people, movies or songs - are particularly welcome. Hidden meanings, clever observations, puzzling remarks, and double entendres would be wonderful!

Fees for giving "ask the expert" advice

cherie72 — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 07:30:37 -0800

How much would an online expert expect to be paid? I'm looking to set up an "Ask the Expert" service for my company web site. Some have told me that many experts do it for free, just for the exposure. I'm lobbying to offer a fee or honorarium for answering questions (perhaps five per month). I would filter them and forward them to the right expert, and they would have to respond within 24 hours.

I'm finding lots of sites (finance, health, exercise) that let you email a question and get expert advice, and there are a lot of them with pretty impressive experts. But how can I find the standard fee given to these folks or get a range of fees for reference? We're not even sure if we can afford such a panel of experts, and we certainly don't want to insult anyone by offering them too little.

How can I import and then tag a huge list of items?

mickmel — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 05:28:53 -0800

I have a list with hundreds of items. How can I import/tag them so that I can later view them by tag? Is there a site/software that can do this? We gave a web-based survey to our church and got about 2500 comments (along with the standard check-box answers). I'd like to tag each comment with various things ("steve", "volume", "organ") so then I can give the relevant comments to different people.

I picture it like tagging a WordPress post and then viewing a page with a list of items for that tag, but in a much simpler manner. Any good way to do that?

Where can I pay for expertise? Need a Google Answers-type site with VOIP.

Herr Fahrstuhl — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 15:26:58 -0800

I want to pay money for expertise, but with less hassle than on guru.com. Maybe some sort of cross between Google Answers and Skype Prime. There are all sorts of subjects I would like to talk about with an expert. My needs could range from simple questions ("How does technology X work?") to personal tutoring ("Teach me the basics of counterpoint in music.")

Preferably this should work via VOIP, so either some sort of voice-enabled Google Answers or a Skype Prime marketplace would work.

I could post each and every question on sites like Guru.com, but that would be too much of a hassle in these cases.

Oh hive mind, what canst thou recommend?

On a side note: Why did Google pull the plug on Answers anyway?

(Previously)

AnswersAnswers

Zinger — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 08:09:18 -0800

Yahoo Answers/Quomon.com software clone recommendations? I'm looking for some software that duplicates the question and answer functionality at Yahoo Answers or Quomon.com (or even what happens here at Mefi. Open source would be nice. I've seen Askeet, but it's unclear (to me at least) as to how recently that's been updated and/or whether it's still being maintained.

While it's not as good as AskMeFi...

zardoz — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 20:37:38 -0800

Where can I find a good substitute for AskMeFi? Not that I'm jumping ship, of course. I've used Yahoo Answers a few times but it seems pretty large and unwieldy, and the answers all seem to come from the same snotty 14-year-olds. The Straight Dope has a good forum, but it required a paid membership, and I'd like to find free forums first. Any and all topics. Any suggestions?

I'm lloking for confidential online research services

jpep — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 12:30:00 -0800

I'm looking for something like Google Answers where the answer is kept private. Basically I'm looking for an affordable internet research assistant. Specifically, I'd like to find competitors to an online business and I do not want the answers to be public. Any ideas? Disclaimer: I asked this question on Questionville.com and never got a response. Sorry AskMeFi for straying.

How to get experts to answer my questions?

lunchbox — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 11:04:26 -0800

How can I get experts in a particular field of research to answer my questions? I am a college student doing summer research in the life sciences. In the course of my reading I often need to ask a question to someone knowledgeable in order to clarify something. My adviser is extremely helpful, but my questions are sometimes beyond his field of expertise. I have found several faculty members at other universities who are experts in my field of interest, and who could make my life a lot easier by answering a couple of simple questions for me once in a while. But how can I, as a lowly college student, get them motivated to answer me and not just blow me off? (My boss does not know them, unfortunately.) Is there any strategy (e.g. offering to do something in return, giving a financial incentive, wording the email right), that would improve the chance of these experts being willing to help me out? This research is very valuable and interesting to me, so I'm willing to try different things.

Scrabblegrams puzzle & answer archive?

vanoakenfold — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 02:48:36 -0800

Looking for a site that posts daily Scrabblegrams and answers for previous puzzles. Dozens of newspaper sites post comics and such, but what about word puzzles like this and Jumble? Actually just looking for the answers to March 26, 2006's Scrabblegram, but I figured there would have been a site with current puzzles and previous answers to browse -- which would be better.

Advice for college freshmen?

petah — Mon, 08 Aug 2005 18:34:38 -0800

I'm going to be a freshman going to college in the fall. Any advice, helpful anecdotes, experiences, tips or suggestions? Sorry about it being so broad, I was searching for a college thread like this and couldn't find one, so here we go...

Who advised people to simply hold important questions in their minds?

rwhe — Sat, 04 Jun 2005 02:08:43 -0800

I was talking with a friend who informed me that he had read advice from an important person (as distinct from celebrity) to simply hold a pressing question in your mind and go about your life (though the answer might be years in coming, depending on its depth). Who was this? My friend thought it might be Isaac Newton. Can anyone provide me with a URL to a source? BTW, googling "hold a question in your mind" returns tons of hits on bibliomancy, etc., which is not what I'm after, however mystical the advice I'm describing sounds.