atr,
Google Answers Researchers have a separate tab on their Google Answers
account page called "Researcher Center" This option includes a
variety of tools and resources for the Researchers. The main option
gives us three special displays:
"Answers That I Have Worked On" shows a list of all answers that we
have answered, ordered by the most recently updated question. "Most
recently updated" means that some action has been performed on this
question, such as a new comment, request for clarification, ranking,
or anything else that alters the content on this page. In this way we
can follow up on questions that may require additional attention.
This list does *not* include questions that Researchers have asked for
clarification on, commented on, or just looked at, only questions that
we have actually answered (if I'm looking for questions that I've
commented on recently, I will usually do a Google Answers search on
"hailstorm-ga" to bring them up.
"Questions Needing An Answer" is where we go when we are looking out
on the entire queue of unanswered questions. It too shows questions
in order of most recently updated to least.
"Category Watchlist" is similar to "Questions Needing An Answer"
except that Researchers can create a custom filter to show only
answers in categories that the researcher has a particular interest
in. Researchers also have the opportunity to be notified via email of
changes to this list on either a daily or weekly basis (or not at all)
Other than our settings on the Category Watchlist, the only other
e-mail updates we receive are for clarification requests to questions
that we have answered. These are sent either in realtime, or
accumulated and sent out once a day based on each Researcher's
preference.
So, to answer your questions:
* Researchers only receive mail updates on clarification requests on
questions they have already answered (on an immediate or daily basis),
or for questions in categories they have set up in their Category
Watchlist (on a daily or weekly basis, if selected)
* Each Researcher has their own personal guidelines for selecting the
questions they answer. As for myself, I generally answer questions
that interest me regardless of price; however, a higher price may
encourage me to answer a question I might otherwise have ignored at a
lower price.
* Again, each Researcher has their own way of searching. However, as
the competition for "good" questions (where everyone has their own
unique definition of "good") amongst hundreds of registered
Researchers can be quite stiff, most will probably refresh the
"Questions Needing An Answer" list from time to time and try to
quickly lock questions that look to be of interest.
* I will look through the "Questions Needing An Answer" list and first
look for question titles that interest me, then at the dollar amount
to determine whether or not I click on the question and look at it
more carefully. If it's something that interests me, I will then lock
the question while I research it.
* Personally, I do not read every question that comes in, but I'm sure
that a good number of Researchers do. As most of us have a great deal
of interest in searching the Internet, we are also likely to browse
some questions that we have no interest in answering, just to see how
other Researchers approach them so that we might learn a thing or two
that will help us in future searching endeavors.
* As mentioned previously, Researchers are notified when an answered
question receives a Request for Clarification. We are not notified
when the parameters of question change. However, when the parameters
change, the question automatically moves to the top of the "Questions
Needing An Answer" list.
* EXAMPLE 1: The best way to get my attention about a pizza question
would be to place the word "pizza" somewhere within the subject. The
only way for me to find your question otherwise would be if I did a
Google Answers search for "pizza", which I generally would not go
through the trouble of doing.
* EXAMPLE 2: Researchers would not receive automatic notification of
the parameters of a question changing. However, the question would
move to the top of our "Questions Needing An Answer" list the same as
a new question would. So your question would have about the same
visibility if you changed the parameters on an old question as it
would if you asked a new question. The one advantage of a new
question is that you could change the subject line to something
different that may or may not catch the attention of a Researcher who
might not otherwise have looked at it.
* BOTTOM LINE: If you can think of a significantly "better" subject
for your question, entering a new question might be warranted.
Otherwise, updating the parameters for a question (or just adding a
comment or clarification) will move it to the top of the "Questions
Needing An Answer" list without costing you an extra $.50 question
listing fee, so using the existing question would be the option I
would recommend.
Unfortunately, we are not allowed to comment on the condition where
some questions are immediately locked after submission, other than to
say that this will happen to some questions if a certain set of
conditions is met.
Sources cited:
My Google Answers console
My personal experience. ;-) |
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