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One of the most important aspects of being a Stack Exchange site is quality. Yes, there are lots of metrics that one can use to "measure" a site, but we don't really care about those as much as we care about a site providing expert answers to good questions. To that end, we're encouraging self-evaluations on our sites!

And what better time to do this than just following the launch of the new site design? :)

Meta sites often see people discussing specific questions that have been closed to determine whether or not they can (or should) be reopened, but it's rare that anyone looks at questions that are open and answered. Are they better than what the Internet has to offer? Are we making the Internet better?

Here's a rough guide:

  • Below, you'll find ten questions randomly selected from your site.
  • For each question, search the internet for the question as if you were the asker!
  • If our answer is good (complete, well-written, answers the question, found in search results, etc) then vote it up!
  • If our answer is bad (incomplete, poorly-written, off-topic, unfindable, etc) then vote it down!

Comment with anything you feel is worth noting, or to explain your voting choice. We have a rough guide to better/par/worse right here. If your result is par, make a choice to vote up or down.

Remember that our goal is to make the internet a better place. If you find yourself unable to decide how to vote, ask yourself: does this question and/or answer make the internet better? How you answer that question should determine your vote.

Talk to your fellow community members about how your site is doing and what you all can improve. Above all else, remember: this is a team effort!

4
  • Answered 44 Secs Ago...Answered 56 Secs Ago I am skeptic that you did that manually (or you are very fast)
    – ajax333221
    Mar 22, 2012 at 2:08
  • 1
    @ajax333221 I did it all manually. The magic part is that I managed to avoid the captcha on every answer except one. :)
    – Adam Lear StaffMod
    Mar 22, 2012 at 2:10
  • Is it a sign of the site that only 3 of the questions were good questions? We have had so many good questions but is this really indicative of the average quality?
    – Chad
    Mar 22, 2012 at 20:22
  • 1
    @Chad We're experimenting with the idea of recurring evaluations, so over long term it should even out. I agree that one evaluation by itself would not be very representative. Still, this is your chance to look at the questions that aren't very good and see if they can be improved or maybe if there are lessons for the future to be drawn from them, or maybe they just should be closed but were missed when they were originally posted.
    – Adam Lear StaffMod
    Mar 22, 2012 at 20:54

10 Answers 10

3

Does living near a nuclear power plant cause cancer?

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2
  • Haven't voted because of personal bias: I wrote the accepted answer. However, I typed in what I think would be my first search term "nuclear power stations cancer". Skeptics.SE didn't appear until page 3, so it fails the searchability test. The first few links return gave wildly diverging and contradictory answers; the Skeptics.SE answer explains some of the context and explains why to give weight to more recent studies.
    – Oddthinking Mod
    Mar 22, 2012 at 5:19
  • @Oddthinking - The interweb doesn't want correct, in context, or accurate it wants slanted, shocking, and baised. So If the title is OMG We are all going to die, False claims about Nuclear power, or What are the risks... the first 2 get more clicks.
    – Chad
    Mar 23, 2012 at 12:17
2

Did 12 girls from the same high school contract a Tourette-syndrome like illness?

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1
  • Google: top of page 2 (not bad for something competing with mass media); Answer: very good
    – Sklivvz
    Mar 26, 2012 at 23:17
2

Can listening to music through headphones damage my hearing?

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1
  • Google: bottom of page 2; Answer: good
    – Sklivvz
    Mar 26, 2012 at 23:15
1

Is the income of the porn industry 50% of the revenues made on the Internet?

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2
  • The one answer given was poor so I was prompted to add a better one. But the observation that the internet promotes sensational rather than reliable numbers was reinforced by the search process.
    – matt_black
    Mar 24, 2012 at 15:10
  • Google: Top of page 1!; Answer: Very good
    – Sklivvz
    Mar 26, 2012 at 23:19
0

Are red heads more likely to be hot headed?

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1
  • Bad SEO, but great answer.
    – Sklivvz
    Mar 24, 2012 at 14:14
0

Is it illegal to tie campaign contributions to a specific policy goal?

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0

Can acts of IP piracy be more beneficial than harmful?

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1
  • This one is wierd because we have a few good answers but there are plenty of good results on the web that are better.. I think its a push.
    – Chad
    Mar 23, 2012 at 12:33
0

Is there a Chinese boy who can read in almost-perfect darkness?

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0

Do the warm oils penetrate the skin the same way as a normal oil would after manual warming?

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-1

Is there such a thing as an aura?

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1
  • Very low in search results, answer is not so good.
    – Sklivvz
    Mar 24, 2012 at 14:12

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