Q: I’m new here. Can I post a question?
A: Yes! Anyone who has signed up for an account can post a question, which will appear on the forum view and be open for answers and discussion immediately.
Q: What if I have a question but don’t want an account?
A: You’re welcome to drop a suggested question into the contact form.
Q: So one question gets posted to the front page each day?
A: Right! Each day, a new Big Big Question is selected by a site moderator from member submissions (or written up by scratch by the moderator).
Q: Is registration required to comment?
A: Nope. Comment away! However, signing up is a good idea if you intend to leave more than one comment: you won’t have to keep filling out all the ID fields, and you (and other readers) will be able to track your contributions on your profile page. Also, as a registered member, you’ll be able to post your own questions.
Q: Are there any rules or guidelines about acceptable commenting behavior or content?
A: Here’s the biggies:
- Don’t be a jerk.
- Don’t go startin’ fights, and don’t go perpetuatin’ them neither.
- Don’t be vile or otherwise gratuitously provocative.
- Read what’s been posted already before you start commenting; nobody likes a repeat.
- If you’re citing an external resource, links or other details are super.
- If you’ve got a problem with the site, take it to the contact form.
- Seriously, just don’t be a jerk, okay? Okay.
Q: Are comments ever edited? Deleted? When, and why?
A: Comments that are broken (e.g. bad html, catastrophic posting failure) may be edited by a moderator for readability; comments will generally not be edited for content. Really problematic comments will likely be removed, as will comments primarily responding to said comments. If you’re overstepping one or more of the guidelines laid out above, you’re in the danger zone; if you’re otherwise making a mess of an answer thread instead of adding to the discussion in a productive fashion, ditto.
Q: Does this site have something to do with Metafilter?
A: The site was created by Josh Millard (cortex on Metafilter, and one of the admins of that site) as an experimental response to a specific niche of questions that Ask Metafilter isn’t really intended to field. Beyond that, Big Big Question has no direct relationship with Metafilter, though we sure hope they can be good friends. For a little more detail, see the About page.