I have started a new website that was clearly inspired by this one, 
but makes what I feel are some improvements on the overall concept. 
For one, anyone can answer a question. Everyone is an expert at 
something! Too many good questions go unanswered here because they 
fall outside the experience/resources of the admittedly well-chosen 
but numerically limited pool of experts.

Of course, opening it up to anyone means the average answer may not 
be as good -- so the second difference is that more than one answer 
is allowed. Up to five in fact. The person posting the question 
chooses when to close it, and allocates the funds according to how 
he/she likes the answers received. In case the poster procrastinates, 
the question closes automatically when five answers have been 
received, or a month passes since the last answer was posted. The 
poster has one week to allocate funds (if there is more than one 
answer), or else that too will be done automatically. The poster may 
remove an unanswered question at any time.

There are other differences and some similarities, but all that is 
just by way of introduction to my real question:

Have I made any 'fatal mistakes' in how the site operates? By this 
I mean does the site create the proper environment for getting good 
answers and interesting questions? An example of a 'fatal mistake' 
would be if qualified researchers would consider it too risky to 
answer questions when they might not get paid (the person posting 
the question controls which answer(s) get paid and how-much). I 
have a nagging fear there are similar potential problems lurking 
there that I haven't thought of yet...

I suppose it may be considered self-promoting to post the URL 
here, but I don't see how you can answer the question without it, 
so I'll put it here at the end and if they want to remove it they 
can:  http://www.qanswered.com/

I can't speak for other professional researchers, but I would not
participate in this kind of site. I don't work on speculation. Being
one of many "hopefuls" offering my answer in the hope that I might win
some unspecified reward just doesn't appeal to me.

Some of the answers I've posted on GA involved eight or ten hours of
hard work. Would I invest that much time and effort on the chance that
someone might toss a few coins my way? Nope.

Ajmorris --

You have some serious problems for researchers, as my colleague
Pinkfreud as alluded to.  Very serious.

A suggested Google search strategy for you:
"Google Answers" researchers

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

Thanks for your feedback Pinkfreud, and Omnivorous, but I think 
you misunderstand the goal of the site. I don't expect people to 
post questions requiring ten hours of research ... When people 
have those kind of questions I expect them to post easier 
questions that test the expertise of the answerer, which would 
be answered by personal knowledge or a quick look-up. Unlike 
this site, the person asking and person answering are encouraged 
to contact one another for arranging larger projects that might 
take hours of work ... and our site does not get involved with 
those transactions. In many cases the person paying for such 
large projects would rather not have the answers publically 
posted. The site just provides a forum for experts to show their 
stuff. They also retain copyright to their answers, granting us 
the right to post them but nothing more.

If I understand your description, the person who posts the question
gets to choose whom to pay, and how much, AFTER the answers are posted
by the researchers (using the term loosely).

I'm afraid I just don't have enough faith in my fellow man to believe
that this can work to my advantage. It's a bit like a situation
described by another GA questioner, who gave the example of a
restaurant where you eat your meal and then decide how much the food
was worth (or whether to pay at all). There may be some folks who
would find this exciting, but count me out. The prospect of not
knowing whether or not I will be compensated for my work doesn't
appeal to me. Even if the amount of effort is small, there's the
principle of the thing. I take some pride in my work. If I am one of a
bunch of contestants every time I answer a question, I don't think I
would feel pride. I would feel anxiety.

Aside from the issues pointed out above, I need to make the
observation that your site is fundamentally different from google
answers.  We researchers are not necessarily experts in the fields we
research.  We are experts at FINDING material online, and that is all.
 Many researchers could also be considered experts in a particular
field and this is certainly helpful because it makes sorting and
searching through material to find that which is most relevant far
easier, however it is not the researchers' personal knowledge that is
supposed be drawn on as the primary source.

I'll also throw in here, that whether the price is paid before or
after a question is answered, the free-market dynamic is still at
work, which is good.  However, if it is done beforehand, there is no
anxiety on the part ofthe answered, as mentioned before, and also
there is no influence (a very powerful one, i'm sure) for the answeree
to just not pay a dime once he has his information.

All right, here's another 2 cents worth...

You can definitely get folks to answer for nothing...it happens all
the time here in the comments boxes.  A few of them are every bit as
good as what one of the GA researchers might come up with, but that's
more the exception than the rule, I think.

On a very separate note, I took a look at your website, and found it
very hard to get through.  There's something (pardon me) garish about
it, that made me just want to click to another page.  This has nothing
to do with your scheme itself, but a lot to do with how well it's
received, perhaps.

That said...good luck to you.

paf

Apparently your site is down. That will never do.

Be that as it may, I believe you are seriously misguided as to why
questions are not answered here. Reading Pink's comment, you are
probably misguided as to what is required to maintain a group of
qualified researchers as well. Your theory that everyone is an expert
at something is wonderfully fluffy but not practical.

That is just my opinion. 

Questions here rarely go unanswered because they are out of the scope
of our group of Researcher. I'll give you that for nothing. I would
guess, just from the last few years of experience on here, that only
5-10% of the unanswered questions (on any given day) remain that way
for the reason you have latched onto.

Have a great day and good luck to you in your venture. Nothing makes a
good system better, than competition.

webadept-ga

Thanks for all the comments so far. I should have made it more 
clear -- the person asking a question determines how much they 
are willing to pay before asking -- the funds are placed in 
their account so payment is assured. The choice they have 
occurs only when there is more than one answer, they can choose 
how the funds are allocated -- 100% to one, 50/50% to two, etc. 
The total amount MUST be disbursed. There is also a mechanism 
to challenge bogus answers.

BTW: I can't get through to the site now, I suspect it is being 
overloaded by traffic from here (the g.answers effect?) but please, 
I didn't describe every detail, it is far too complex for that, so 
look at the site before you judge how it works!

AJ --

There are some very interesting studies that have been done on Google
Answers, thus the seach strategy that I recommended.  The best
investment of your time that I can recommend is to spend 4-5 hours
reading those studies, as they're more valuable in looking at the
market for paid research services than you'll even find from the "wise
guy" (said with all due respect to the enormous talent here)
researchers.

I have some very strong opinions on GA as a research service -- but
you don't see me starting a competing website.

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

Hi AJMorris,
Having read the pros' comments, I suggest:
Look at what can happen on your system.  Pinkfreud answers the
question -  absolutely perfectly (as usual :-) and then some smart
aleck like me comes along and answers it again, building on Pink's
answer and adding something that wasn't asked but is pertinent or just
catches the fancy of the questioner.  Maybe it is something he didn't
know that he should have asked, but Pink can't know that, but could
have added that to her answer if it had been asked, but Smarty Pants
adds it in the hope of getting a piece of the cake.  That added bit
could be very important to the questioner, so he gives SP an
unjustified portion of the price.  That is unfair to Pink.
Anyone bold enough to post the first answer would know that he was
tempting others to try to "top up" his/her posting.
Maybe if you guaranteed the first answer 75% of the price it would
work, but in practice, a questioner would like to give the other four
answerers something for their effort (and for this reason SP et al.
would always being putting their oar in), so the first one could only
expect the 75%.

The GA system with clarifications avoids this.  
Your question gives insight into how well GA is organized.
Sorry for a nonsupportive comment,
best regards, Myoarin

Thanks for the scenario myoarin, that is exactly the kind of thing 
I was concerned about which sparked the question to begin with. I 
do hope people will follow the guidelines and give credit where 
credit is due -- to the first person if their answer is complete, 
and only to others when they really add something to the answer. 
Your scenario is one I will watch out for, and if it becomes a 
problem I'll look at solutions such as you suggest. Thanks.

BTW: the site is finally 'back up' after nearly 24 hrs downtime, 
maybe I need a different hosting service too...

Dear Ajmorris

As an infrequent visitor (and mere non-researcher) to this service, I
could not help adding my own opinions on your question.
First I wish to offer you all success in your endeavor. I believe you
have made a good starting point (Despite the critisms of the
researchers). There would also  appear to be be very few similiar
services to GA and it is a field which needs some serious competion.
(I know of only two other similiar services to GA and BTW I AM NOT
talking about YAHOO or ASK JEEVES)

Now for the bad news: 
1. GA has been quite successful. To seriously compete with GA you will
need to identify some serious downfalls and flaws in it service and
greatly improve on these.

2. Creating a clever website in itself will NOT create an  answering
service company.
There will be issues of testing , beta testing ,availability of the
site, response time of the site, marketing ,payment process design,
legal issues (which questions can and cannot be answered) and probably
50 other things which I have not thought of.

3. Further to point two this will mean "Lots of Money". Google has a huge 
advantage in that it has very deep pockets. I of course do not know of
your own financial circumstances however I am assuming you have
approached potential partners and Venture capitalists.

Despite my above comments IF your are fully committed you should go ahead. 
It may also be a good idea to seek out some people who have similiar
ideas and can work with you on your project.

Best of luck 

Mongolia

Andrewxmp

"We researchers are not necessarily experts in the fields we
research.  We are experts at FINDING material online, and that is all."

I am wondering if the Google Answer Editors completely agree with your
above comments. While I have received many excellant answers from GA,
I have have also noted some answers which appear to be hastily put
together results of a
quick search for relevant (or somewhat relevant) websites. As some
questioners have noted from time to time , they themselves could have
done this for themselves!.

I would hope that the researchers do develop genuine expertise in
certain subjects. Furthermore It would be reasonable to expect them to
use sources other then the Web (libraries , Goverment sources, Private
companies etc.) when the WEB itself cannot come with relevant
information.

Also having already  a good overview knowledge of any subject will enable
a researcher to put a web site in its proper context. 
I simply cannot agree that your statement "We are experts at FINDING
material online, and that is all" to be considered a competant Google
Answer Researcher.

Regards
Mongolia