(From the Webmaster) Most of the time the questions posted to the website are 2-4 paragraphs long, ramble on and on, and almost never get to a point… If we find a nugget in all that text, we take the time to carve out a question that has wider appeal. We get thousands of visitors and dozens of questions per week to the site…instead of answering every “how do I answer my mom about this very specific issue…”, we try to cast the question as a wider net…that’s what gets posted. So, yes, there is a consistent filter that things are passed through before content makes it to the site…for obvious reasons.

Occasionally, Dan or I will come up with a question that apparently needs answering after we have seen it in several different forms but have opted to not answer any of those incarnations. In addition, sometimes a question will come up at a lecture or public presentation that seems appropriate for the Q and A. In those cases, yes, we “plant” a question.

ID: 397
posted: 01 May 1999
updated: 01 May 1999