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Closing old Kudoz questions
https://www.proz.com/translation-articles/articles/589/1/Closing-old-Kudoz-questions
Author: Walter Landesman
Uruguay
English to Spanish translator
http://proz.com/pro/100038 
By Walter Landesman
Published on 01/30/2006
 
Helping the Robot.


Closing old Kudoz questions

Every now and then I like to travel back in time browsing old-not-yet closed KudoZ questions. Back 3, 6, 9 months, even 1 to 3 years in the field I choose or that I am most familiar with. I learn, I think, I leave my opinion and comments, give my agrees and disagrees when I think it is appropriate. Or even leave a neutral comment. I might also give a new answer if I don´t find the “right” one there.

These questions were not closed by the asker, but do not have enough agrees for the Robot to do it. Some of these questions date back to 2002.

How the Robot works:
When a question isn't closed and has received answers, an email is sent to the asker reminding him/her to grade. If the question remains open after four such reminders have been sent (over 2 weeks), an attempt is made to select the best answer automatically. An 'autograding robot' makes its selection based on the net number of peer 'agrees' received by each answer, according to the following rules:
- To be considered, an answer must have at least two "net agrees" (agrees-disagrees).
- The answer with the highest number of net agrees is selected
- If two answers have the same number of net agrees, the last one entered is selected. The idea is that if two answers gather the same number of net agrees, the one that did so in a shorter period of time may be better. If no answer has at least 2 net agrees, it remains open.
- Answers that have been declined by the asker do not count, despite the number of net agrees they have.

I found this not only fun, but a very interesting and learning experience. And most of all, in doing so, one acknowledges those colleagues who take the time to answer questions, do extensive searches and help the asker.

Helping to close those questions, we also help to enrich the glossary, one of the most valuable and most used features at Proz. Helping the Robot in his task, one will swim deep and fast into an addictive and rewarding experience.


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