To Mods/Admins: Ask Anything Thread?

[Classic Speedy]

I have an idea for a sticky thread that could be put at the top of each forum. Basically, it would be a random thread where you'd ask a quick question that you want a simple answer to. It would pertain to the forum's theme, obviously- you wouldn't ask about Adult Swim shows in the Marvel forum or if a certain DVD is out in the Video Games forum.

Why do I want this? Well let's say, for example, that you want to know what animation studio animated a certain show. Or who voices a particular character in an anime. Or if a show is cancelled. I can't tell you how many times I've started topics asking simple questions like these (see my Y.R. Studios and U.S. Animation, Inc. threads), and they get zero or relatively few responses because A) The question can be answered quickly, and B) Nobody knows or cares. With this system, you could just make a sticky thread and another user could scour the thread, looking for questions to answer. You'd save potential embarrasment by not having to make a topic and have it get zero responses, and there could be less "minor" topics made in the future.

What do you think of this idea? Or would it clutter the top of the forum too much and confuse people easily?

[Red]

I think it would keep the forums less crowded, but some need the crowding, I say leave it as is. Plus some questions could be lost in the crowd.

[Shnay]

I had a similar idea a while back, and I'm really not sure if it would work or not. The thing I was thinking of was a "General Discussion" thread for the Video Game board, but it would work on most of the boards here. Basically, when a small piece of news comes along about (in this case) games, it doesn't always warrant a whole thread, but can still be interesting to discuss for a few posts.

The problem with this is that it can be very inviting to spam posts. Also, this could decrease the amount of good threads on a given board if someone has something interesting to add or ask, but figure they might as well go to the general discussion or quick quesiton thread, where it gets kinda lost in the pile.

I think there's a good number of pros and cons to either a Quick Question or General Discussion thread, and I'd be interested in hearing what some of the mods and admins think about this.

[William C. Maune]

As far as the Toonami Forum goes, I personnally don't have a problem with minor question threads. We try to answer whatever questions that pop up. If a thread doesn't get many responses, that's ok, not all threads are meant to.

[Duke]

Yea, the Toonami Forum is pretty inviting to small threads, as long as they don't end up with spam or some other kind of junk.

[Classic Speedy]

Yeah, I guess it wouldn't be any more practical than just having separate threads. Remember Adult Swim board's The Heap? Not only was it a pain to read (because you didn't know where a topic ended and began), but it made no difference whether its presence was there or not because quick question threads abound no matter what.

[CookieS]

The whole feedback forum is a big "ask the moderators thread" already. Why condense it into one thread? If you have a question, just post it in "Feedback and Suggestions" and someone will tend to it.

[guinaevere]

whoops! Minor problem there. Let me try this post again. :sweat:

CookieS, I don't think Mr Boris was implying that the 'ask any quick question type threads' should or would be directed solely towards Mods & Admins. Rather, they would be specific to the audience of that particular forum. Those who frequent the DVD forum should easily be able to answer some easter egg, bonus feature, or other relevent question.

And while I like the idea of the thread, I think a lot of people would skip right over the sticked thread, negating their whole reason.