7
votes

Here at Stack Exchange, we're serious about improving The Internet. It's not enough to add yet another place to look for answers - if a site isn't making a topic more accessible, informative, useful... Then there's really no point to it. And when that is happening reliably, consistently and frequently, it's time to graduate.

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?

Below, you'll find ten questions randomly selected from your site over the past 60 days.

  • For each question, search the internet for the question as if you were the asker!
  • If our answer(s) is good (complete, well-written, answers the question, useful, found in search results, etc) then vote it up!
  • If our answer(s) is bad (incomplete, poorly-written, off-topic, incorrect, unfindable, worthless, 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.

I've included my own commentary from my run of the review. These are in spoiler blocks. It's up to you whether you look at them post-fact just to see how your perspective compares, versus letting my views shift your opinion of the question.

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!

This evaluation closed on April 20th, 2012

The conclusion: quality is good, but could be better. Strive to be clear, concise and comprehensive in answers.

On a general note, status for the site indicate progress but a site not yet ready for graduation. Traffic (both in terms of visits and questions asked) is still low. There is a dedicated core group of users here who are doing a great job of making it work, and I hope to see it continue to grow.

So long until next time...

8
  • Is this happening on all sites?
    – Reinstate Monica - Goodbye SE
    Commented Apr 13, 2012 at 9:51
  • 1
    0 Catholicism questions 2 LDS questions, could have been a little more or less random.
    – Peter Turner Mod
    Commented Apr 13, 2012 at 13:14
  • 1
    @Wikis: it does happen on all sites, but we haven't been making them public until recently - we plan to build this into the system a bit more formally at some point.
    – Shog9
    Commented Apr 13, 2012 at 13:41
  • 3
    @Peter: well, originally I just linked to this question ten times, but then I thought better of it. If it makes you feel any better, the next 10 picks had two Catholic questions, one from you.
    – Shog9
    Commented Apr 13, 2012 at 13:43
  • 1
    Thanks for the consolation. Initially it didn't make me feel better, then I ate some beans, now I feel better.
    – Peter Turner Mod
    Commented Apr 13, 2012 at 13:52
  • Beans are good for that. Drinking my morning ration as I type.
    – Shog9
    Commented Apr 13, 2012 at 14:13
  • Is it a coincidence that all 10 randomly chosen questions were asked in November?
    – Bruce Alderman
    Commented Apr 14, 2012 at 5:50
  • @Bruce: no, they're pulled from a fixed time period. And yes, this means I'm about 4 months late on posting this. The next eval should be pulling questions (mostly) from March.
    – Shog9
    Commented Apr 14, 2012 at 18:09

10 Answers 10

Reset to default
8
votes

Which denominations use the King James Version?

Good? Bad? GoodBad? Please vote in accordance to the guidelines explained above, and optionally leave a comment if you have something extra to say.

Shog's take: better, but probably only because the answer to the question is "no". Related searches tend to turn up a lot of individual justifications, which is to be expected given the answer here.

2
  • 1
    This question really highlights the benefit of the SE format. Other sites have multiple copies of the question with tons of competing answers. That stuff adds to the confusion for someone who is already has the question.
    – Jon Ericson
    Commented Apr 14, 2012 at 0:14
  • Richard's answer is way better than yahoo answers answer
    – Peter Turner Mod
    Commented Apr 18, 2012 at 3:22
7
votes

According to the LDS Church (Mormons), what role do secret handshakes and passwords play into a person's entrance into heaven?

Good? Bad? GoodBad? Please vote in accordance to the guidelines explained above, and optionally leave a comment if you have something extra to say.

Shog's take: better. There are a ton of references to this, and if you're actually interested in the details of the secrets themselves you'll find them elsewhere. But this answers the (rather rambling) question without delving into the obvious conspiracy theories and anecdotes.

2
6
votes

Is there a basis for Christian holidays in the Bible?

Good? Bad? GoodBad? Please vote in accordance to the guidelines explained above, and optionally leave a comment if you have something extra to say.

Shog's take: same. There is a ton of information on the 'Net about this, and these answers don't really add much to it. But, they are clear, succinct, and easily found via Google, which together counts for a lot.

1
  • I'm not so sure it is likely to be found via Google. I tried a number of variations on this question and rarely found this question in the first page of results. The keyword that brings this question to the top result is "basis", which somewhat limits the question's exposure. David Stratton's answer is clear and to the point, which is unusual among the results I found. I wish the question were less wordy, however--it takes a while to read past it.
    – Jon Ericson
    Commented Apr 16, 2012 at 16:06
4
votes

How are passages vetted for inclusion in officially sanctioned liturgical readings?

Good? Bad? GoodBad? Please vote in accordance to the guidelines explained above, and optionally leave a comment if you have something extra to say.

Shog's take: same. Points to Wikipedia article on Lectionary, which most other phrasings I can imagine for this question turn up directly.

2
  • Our answers are good, the question is too vague but if the answer was more concrete (I.e. looking for the reasons readings are chosen for the Roman Missal, then google would probably be better)
    – Peter Turner Mod
    Commented Apr 18, 2012 at 3:36
  • My answer is probably too promotional. The one thing the question adds is the keyword "vetted". For those of us who are still learning about the church calendar, it seems possible churches who have liturgical readings would have a committee or something to approve the verses. But I agree that this is about the same as what you could find elsewhere.
    – Jon Ericson
    Commented Apr 18, 2012 at 21:47
3
votes

What are common criticisms against using the KJV?

Good? Bad? GoodBad? Please vote in accordance to the guidelines explained above, and optionally leave a comment if you have something extra to say.

Shog's eval: Better - a brief rundown of common criticisms without delving into rants. Somewhat side-tracked by the literal-vs-paraphrase argument. Could be more comprehensive, but a brief search found no better (indeed, searching Google for this quickly leads to being mired in KJV-only discussions).

1
  • +1 for good answer, -1 for being buried in Google. The only way I can get this to show up is by using the exact phrasing of the question, but I suspect most people will type "why not use the kjv" or simply "criticisms of kjv" instead of including "common"
    – Thomas Shields
    Commented Apr 13, 2012 at 0:41
1
vote

Career as a Means of Worship

Good? Bad? GoodBad? Please vote in accordance to the guidelines explained above, and optionally leave a comment if you have something extra to say.

Shog's take: better answer, in that most of the top results for this (and there are many) are long on opinion and short on facts and references. Unfortunately, because so much has been written on this topic, this answer is impossible to find... A better title might help.

1
vote

What is "new" in the New Perspective on Paul?

Good? Bad? GoodBad? Please vote in accordance to the guidelines explained above, and optionally leave a comment if you have something extra to say.

Shog's take: worse. Wikipedia article on NPoP is far easier to read... and find. Caleb's answer is probably the best of the three here, and currently ranks last; that none of the answers seem able to answer the question directly may indicate that the question is somewhat more loaded than it at first appears.

-1
votes

How can one tell if God is in favor of a modern value or not?

Good? Bad? GoodBad? Please vote in accordance to the guidelines explained above, and optionally leave a comment if you have something extra to say.

Shog's take: better. This is not a great question - it is exceedingly broad for starters - but the answer does a reasonable job of addressing both this and the underlying question of, "how do I go about answering specific questions on what God teaches is right?" This also shows up quite well in Google.

2
  • 2
    Ultimately, I downvoted this one because of the question. I know this thread is about the answers (which are good on this one), but I have not managed to think of a way to Google this question without actually using the question's phrasing. Thus, if I can't find what I'm looking for (and I know what I'm looking for), how are other people supposed to find these good answers?
    – El'endia Starman Mod
    Commented Apr 13, 2012 at 6:17
  • While I focus mostly on the answers in my commentary, the questions are hugely important - a poorly-asked question, or a good question with a lousy title, won't be found or shared and therefore even a decent answer does it little good.
    – Shog9
    Commented Apr 13, 2012 at 13:56
-3
votes

What does the LDS Church (Mormon) teach about marriage and polygamy in the afterlife?

Good? Bad? GoodBad? Please vote in accordance to the guidelines explained above, and optionally leave a comment if you have something extra to say.

Shog's take: worse. This information is widely available, with top results on the LDS website (the only source linked to in the answer here). Background information as to the scripture on which this teaching is based is absent.

3
  • Your spoiler raises a good point. Before reading that I voted up because I thought it was an interesting question. Also interesting is currently has +9 votes (no down votes).
    – Reinstate Monica - Goodbye SE
    Commented Apr 13, 2012 at 10:41
  • @Wikis: It's a good answer from an internal perspective in that it answers the question, but it's not so good from an external perspective in that the same information can be found elsewhere.
    – El'endia Starman Mod
    Commented Apr 13, 2012 at 15:05
  • 2
    Or more to the point: it can be found more easily elsewhere.
    – Shog9
    Commented Apr 13, 2012 at 16:02
-4
votes

How are the different covenants related to or different from each other?

Good? Bad? GoodBad? Please vote in accordance to the guidelines explained above, and optionally leave a comment if you have something extra to say.

Shog's take: worse. Answer is based on Wikipedia, and does not really add much or make it more accessible.

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