How does Fluther work, and why?

I’ve been here a while, and I don’t know the answer to any of those questions. Those are actually pretty interesting questions. Maybe Our Founders will enlighten us.

(Oh, wait, I know the profits one: Hookers and beer.)

I know there are algorithms that feed you questions based on your self-identified areas of expertise and then further algorithms based on the types of questions you answer. I don’t know how the software is structured but it was designed by Ben and Andrew. The funding is partially from advertising on the site; additional funds were raised from venture capitalists in the past few years. And I think experts are at the ready 24–7 based on the international nature of Fluther but I don’t believe they plan to formalize this structure.

Don’t know if this info is as technical as you wish; hope it helps.

I hope I am not insulting anybody, but it is not my impression that there are experts here 24/7. I think we have a lot of intelligent and interesting people who can figure stuff out, but, except for maybe some people who answer computing questions (I never check those out), I see mainly amateur generalists here. I could be wrong, or course. If there are any experts, please let me know.

@dpworkin are you assuming no women on the team? No mention of toy boys.

@janbb great help! I am just fascinated about all of this and trying to figure out as much as I can about that man behind the curtain.

@anartist I know who is on the team.

My son went to college with two of the founders so I know a fair bit about the evolution of Fluther; feel free to ask or pm me for more info. As @dpworkin says, we know who the Founders are and they are all male.

@wundayatta I think you are right. I also think Fluther is young yet. Remember when no one took Wikipedia seriously because ANYONE could edit—then when it was taken more seriously but information had to be corroborated at a “real” authority’s website? Schools are now on the borderline of accepting Wikipedia as a legitimate source. That experiment in self-policing expertise worked.

amle @janbb?

@anartist I proofread both before and after posting; it’s edited now.

Damn, where are the lady geeks?

@wundayatta I disagree with you somewhat. We mostly wear our laurels lightly, but Jeruba is a professional editor, @dpworkin is an art historian and appraiser, shilolo is a doctor, I am a librarian, etc…. We may all answer questions outside our areas of expertise but that doesn’t mean we aren’t experts.

@anartist There are lady geeks, just happens that these two founders were male.

@janbb I see. I wasn’t aware.

Are librarians experts? I suppose in knowing how to keep a library. But in other areas?

Librarians are experts on identifying research needs and resources. The profession requires a Master’s degree; there are also clerks employed who “keep the library.”. Perhaps your definition of expert is different from mine.

One potential weakness in developing an image of reliable expertise are the rabbit trails provided by too many questions up front that are outside one’s area of expertise but not of one’s interest and the temptation to drop in and say things like “Bob Dylan’s got no rhythm” just because it is funny when one really should be addressing questions about InDesign or WWII naval history because one does know something there and can contribute to a knowledge base.

@janbb where are you a librarian?

@janbb Where are you? A Jew?

@anartist Part of the fun of Fluther for most of us are the rabbit trails and this is probably why we won’t ever become the next Wikipedia. It has become something of a forum and also a very social site for many of us; we’ve developed connections and internet friendships here.

@dpworkin Gesundheit!

@anartist At a community college

Fluther won’t be much of a Wikipedia without an index of some kind, and a decent search function. Right now it’s more of a conversation pit (and sometimes I mean that in another literal sense: a pit where conversations are buried) and a pastime.

@CyanoticWasp True and we likes it that way, don’t we, CW?

Most of these kinds of sites are primarily social. If I need to do research I go to scholarly journals. If I need help hooking my TV up to my speakers, there is no better place than Fluther.

And if you want to know 19 ways to cook boneless chicken breasts or what kind of rodent you just saw in your back yard, Fluther’s the place for you!

@CyanoticWasp your name fits your comment

@janbb Perhaps so. Perhaps so. Maybe I figure that if I know it, it can’t be that big a deal to learn. My title includes the word “librarian” in it, but I never went to any library science school, and certainly don’t have a degree in it. And when I help people, I hardly do much except ask them questions. Sometimes I go on a rant. It’s fun to be paid to rant.

It’s kind of funny, too. I know a few places where people should look for what they need. As soon as I point those out, they are off and running. I don’t even need to know anything about what they are looking for. Although I can help them use what they find. Again, that’s not an expert kind of thing.

@anartist I’m the Community Manager here (and female!), so I can answer some of the questions you have.

“How much human monitoring goes on? How quickly do moderators pull “inappropriate” comments?” Mods are all volunteer and have no set schedule, so it can be a bit hit or miss. Sometimes there are 5 or 6 mods on the site at the same time, sometimes there are none. That said, we’re usually pretty quick to remove a flagged post (if it actually needs removing… we get tons of flags that can stay, as they fit within our guidelines). We rely heavily on the community to let us know about inappropriate posts. Generally, only minutes pass before we look at anything that’s been flagged. We also actively moderate whenever we’re on site… scanning questions and answers for ourselves. Some things are obvious – like spam or racial slurs or serious personal attacks – while others require a bit of discussion before a decision is made. We have mods in different time zones (and on different continents) to try to have most hours of the day covered, but sometimes things do slip by.

As for directing questions to you, no human intervention is involved. It’s all in the algorithm, baby!

@augustlan Thanks! I am finding this all very interesting.

@anartist Glad you’re enjoying the site!