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SITE COULD BENEFIT WITH A FEW CHANGES.
Hi Guys!
GREAT SITE! And from what I can tell, a VERY POPULAR ONE AT THAT.
My name is Shelley, a.k.a.(SAMANTHA). I just joined as a a columnist, and in answering questions over the last couple of days I realized that this site could be EVEN MORE beneficial to people and thus MUCH MORE POPULAR with just a few changes, and I wonder if you might humor for just a minute and allow me to share them with you.
Since signing up, I've answered quite a few RANDOM questions, just to get me started, and in doing so, I realized that there is simply NO ORGANIZATION when it comes to how the questions are asked or who they are answered by, and that in and of itself, over time, could have some DISASTEROUS consequences.
Specifically, it is my sincere feeling, that in order for this site to be TRULY helpful to both the users who ask the questions and the advisors who answer them, users and advisors need to be divided up into AGE SPECIFIC categories. What I mean by this, is that you don't necessarily want a TWELVE year old answering a question that was submitted by a FORTY year old, and likewise, you don't necessarily want a FORTY year old to answer a question that might otherwise be more appropriately answered by SIXTEEN year old.
Allowing ANYONE at all to answer ANY question at all is not only CHAOTIC, but FUTILE, and in some instances, it may even PROVE TO BE DANGEROUS.
Therefore, I think that EVERYONE might benefit from a feature that allows both the user and the advisor to CHOOSE an AGE SPECIFIC question or advisor. For instance, I might be a TWELVE year old who is having a FASHION dilemma, and therefore, I think that I would best benefit from getting an answer from ANOTHER TWELVE YEAR OLD, OR SOMEONE AT LEAST CLOSE TO MY AGE. Conversely, I might be a SUICIDAL TWENTY YEAR OLD, who would most likely benefit GREATLY by getting an answer from an ADULT.
You see, the BIG factor here, is that when advisors answer questions, their answers are posted, but their ages are not. And depending on whether or not I choose take the time to find out that the person who told me I was A LOSER for thinking about suicide was only THIRTEEN YEARS OLD, I could be found the next morning with a bullet in my head. You get my point?
Therefore, you could solve this in ONE of TWO ways. Either you add a feature that allows the questioner to choose from what age group he would like to get answers from, OR you could simply sub-categorize your categories to meet specific age groups, and specify that they will be answered by people of that same age, UNLESS they choose to have it answered by someone in a different age group. Such as: RELATIONSHIPS-LOVE LIFE-AGES 16-21, and so on. But either way, HOW OLD the advisor is that answers the question should be left up to the person asking the question. This ensures the user that his or her question will be answered in the way that is most appropriate for them, and ADULT advisors won't necessarily have to spend all their time answering questions about silly crushes from grade school children. Do you understand?
How you do it is best left up to you, but I really think it would be best if you did in fact do it, and the sooner the better, because although I realize that you have a disclaimer that states that your advisors are NOT LICENSED PROFESSIONAL, you still have a level of responsibility and liability to your users, and therefore you're better off safe than sorry.
As well, if you make this one small change, I believe that you find that your site will be MUCH more effective and productive, and that can only mean more satisfied visitors in the long run.
As always, your time and consideration is greatly appreciated.
Many Thanks,
Shelley
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Want to answer more questions in the Sexual Health and Reproduction category?
Maybe give some free advice about: General Sex Questions?
You certainly do write a lot, Shelly.
I still just don't understand why everyone is so hung up on age. I mean, who says a 13 year old can't give advice to a 40 year old? Have you ever talked to a 40 year old? They don't know everything. I think there are some smart, mature columnists on this site who can have real insight into everyone's problems, even if they're older. That's why I'm not dividing questions up into age groups.
Yes, sometimes you ask a question and want an adult answer and there are a great many non-adults on this website, so it's kind of hard. But I don't think it's damaging to get opinions you might not have counted on. We'll work on recruiting more adults if you all work on giving everyone good advice. Maybe I'll add a tidbit to the "question asking" page asking people to please state their ages, would that help?
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