Choosing a best answer for ambiguous questions?

Question

There are many questions asked on here that are pretty simple "yes" or "no" answers -- i.e. is it OK to feed my child spicy food, do 30-year shingles really last 30 years, etc.

Then there are questions that require a detailed correct or incorrect answer with description -- i.e. how do I get bloodstains out of a wedding dress, why does my cat have hair balls, etc.

But there are many questions where there is no "right" answer per se, usually questions around religion, society/culture, etc.

If and when you ask these questions, do you:

a) reward the person who provided an answer that you agree with as "best answer"

or

b) reward the person who argued their point best, although you might not agree with their answer, as "best answer"

As well -- why do you ask these questions? Is it to promote discussion? Observe the opinions of others? Just make your own opinion known via a question (i.e. loaded questions)

Answer 1

I ask questions to make people think a little deeper, doesn't always work but I try. I also like to see other peoples opinions about stuff so I can learn myself.

I give best answer to the deepest answer, or the one that teaches me something new.

Answer 2

i usually reward the person that argues the point the best , whether I agree or not. A lot of people will ask a question, give you their opinion and if you do not agree with them, give you a thumbs down. This I don't understand, we are here to voice an opinion, so don't degrade the person that answers. I rarely give a thumbs down, unless there is a legit question and someone puts something stupid like " bite me" . I ask questions primarily for discussion and oberservations, I like to see how the majority would respond, and i will pick best answers based on the arguement as opposed to my personal opinion. What good is a question if you don't want to hear all sides of the debate. Your question is good, you get a thumbs up LOL

Answer 3

From your list = b = I only ask questions because I want to promote thought on a topic and desire input. May not get the answer I like, that I have an idea about OR may get answers that confirm my idea but make me reflect and go the opposite. Best Answer would be given to the one that input the most thought/gave the most reliable / worthy explanation. Appreciate substantiating info/ sources given. I sometimes have to extend a question to get enough comparable answers to pick one. Questions like "What is your favorite color" I would choose a Best Answer by, again, the thought inputted, towards an innovative answer. Red, Blue, Green wouldn't cut it. Looking at closed questions: many were extremely poor questions with even poorer answers. Also many good questions with good answers but the poorest of those answers was the only voter.
I try to avoid loaded questions. I look at the profile of the asker. Sometimes I will answer just to give another perspective to other respondents. I always look back at what I answered to see what happened and may comment. This is a sift & sort forum. Got to carefully pick your questions & answers.

Answer 4

I choose the answer that's presented the best. Weather I agree with it or not, if someone is willing to sit down and give their argument about the subject, and it makes sense, I accept that answer. I don't care if they agree or not. I choose the best answer as a way of basically saying: "You didn't change my view but you at least took the time to argue your point in a well and thought out way".

I ask these questions for the simple fact of promoting discussion when I'm bored :)

Answer 5

Cool Q. I don't ask Q's like that on serious subjects. If I answer a Q like that I do read the answers to maybe learn something. If I did ask serious Q's like that I wouldn't necessarily give the 10 pts to one who agreed with me if another person had a valid opinion and didn't "yell" while answering.

Okay, I have asked some loaded Q's-not this category-so I could "yell" or give my biased opinion about it. To put it short, I think Americans should buy American cars.

Answer 6

I've only asked a handful of questions looking for opinions rather than facts. In some cases I couldn't choose so I put it to vote. In others, I choose the one which comes closes to answering my question in full.

Or sometimes I choose the funniest one, if nothing else stands out.

But I don't see the point of choosing an answer that agrees with my thinking if that's the ONLY criteria for choosing it.

Answer 7

I don't know why people ask these odd questions. But the kicker was today I was reported for a violation of not answering a question. I clearly had answered the question...what is up with that? I guess I had better not give answers when I am not sure what they are asking. And as you pointed out, that is difficult to know sometimes.

Answer 8

I see a lot of a's going on...
I've busted my something to give good well thought out answers to provocative questions, only to see that the earliest, briefiest reply that seems to agree with the asker's agenda, takes the cake.
For example, there was one question that asked "what religion honors all prophets?"
The first person who answered Islam got best answer, even though some people gave informative, well thought out answers to the effect of that depends on how one defines prophets, how tolorant a religion is toward other religions' prophets, how enlightened a religion is in regard to honoring unrecognised prophets and prophecy, etc, etc. (As for Islam honoring all prophets, how come they persecuted the founder of Bahai, who is regarded as a prophet by his followers as well as by other religions that take a more generous view as to who is a prophet.)
Other popular questions along these lines ask about loaded issues such as homosexuality, non-Christian religions especially neopaganism, etc. No matter how well thought out the discussion, often the first person who agrees with the asker, as briefly as possible, gets the best answer.

There seems to be a lot of this going on in S&R. that's why I prefer the science and math forum, and only come here when I want to take a walk on the lighter side.

Why people ask these questions, I don't know. But then, as a person with Asperger's Syndrome, a mild form of autism, a lot of things that people take for granted as "human nature" seems odd and puzzling to me.

Answer 9

I answer just to see what else is being said. Many times the question is too juvenile to be true, so I reply in kind, or with a witticism. Then in some cases, I try to promote discussion by taking the contrary viewpoint. It is like exercising the brain.

Answer 10

Wow. Well, I usually choose my best answer based on argument. Also, I sometimes ask questions like that to validate my craziness. It's almost as if I want to make sure that I'm not the only person thinking the crazy thought.