If a question is good enough for you to want to answer it, does that make it a great question?

I give a GQ to every question that I answer. It’s just my thing.

EDIT: I had a question last week that is still active that received over 30 answers that got no GQ. I don’t understand it.

If I want to know the answer, and it is a factual question not easily Googled, it’s a Great Question to me.

If it is an opinion question, it has to be a real question, not a statement posed as a question, like “Have you seen this awesome video?”

Conversly, I often give GQs to questions I cannot answer…

The majority of the questions I answer have received lurve from me for being a Good Question. Like @harple, I often give Good Question lurve to questions I’m dying to read answers for but am unable to answer myself (this occurs more often in the General Section.)

I’m not lurve-stingy.

No, only to questions that spark a good discussion or make me go ‘huh..’

No. I answer all sorts of questions on here. To be a Great Question, it has to be something I have wondered about myself, but never asked, or it has to be really thought-provoking.

I answer a gazillion questions (why am I always coming after @marinelife)? I almost never hand out a great question. I do it so rarely, I’m not even sure what the criteria are. I guess it is generally a question that is both thought provoking and very peculiar, fun, and interesting.

No. The lurve business and score accumulations are sort of silly. I have given up on attending the score achievement parties, they are simply ways to accumulate cheap points. I do make exceptions for those I truly respect. So I give GA or GQ when I think they really are, in my humble opinion.

After reading the question and details, like @marinelife , I’ll mark it with a GQ if I’ve wondered about it myself or find it thought-provoking. All GQs get followed, whether I answer it or not.

As for your 3rd question, there are some questions that I’ll answer because I have either a bit of personal experience on the matter or looked up the answer. Or maybe it is a poll, like “How many toes do you have?” Someone obviously wants to know, but it doesn’t necessarily mean it is a GQ in my book.

Sweet holy moly, I am with @Simone_De_Beauvoir it has to be a real innovateive outside-the-box question, something really inovative that most have not covered, something that really makes you go….ummmmmmmm. Oh, and for the the most part logical, at least for me.

I can say that it reflects the personality of the answerer. If a an psychologist meet and answer a question about psychology then he/s will more likely to give lurve to the question due to the fact that he/s has something in common or interest that others may not appreciate.

A general/funny/silly question too,could get more lurve if many of the answerer are fun lover and those who enjoy the question since they share the same interest in the question.

So many questions are just so redundant it is hard to get excited enough to toss out GQ’s all that much. I am more apt to give a GQ to a newbie just as a welcome to the club gesture and also give GQ’s to my friends who I know share the “lurve”. Otherwise giving out GA’s and GQ’s needs to be a killer question and a great and/or funny answer.

Not really. I sometimes like answering even the bad questions. I give a great question if I think it actually is a great question and sometimes I give a great question just because I like it. There are no options for “good enough question,” “pretty good, but not necessarily great question,” “question I really like but no one else probably does,” or any of those. It’s “great question” or nothing at all.

@hawaii_jake, @jaytkay, @muppetish That’s my habit too. If I fail to do so, it’s either because I slipped up, or because I withhold Lurve on certain opinions types of questions. Opinions disguised as questions don’t get Lurve if they express an opinioin I find repugnant. For instance, “How come all ______s are so impolite?” It doesn’t matter what racial, religious or ethnic or minority group fills in the blank, that’s a question that won’t get any Lurve from me. Oh, also easily Googled questions and obvious “Please do my homework for me.” questions get no Lurve. The most I’ll give a do-my-homework question is, if they appear to be really stuck on it and not just lazy, some guidance on how they can do it themselves.

@harple & @muppetish Same here. I’ll give such a question Lurve and click the follow button so I can read the answer when it comes in. Great feature, that follow button. It saves giving a lame answer just to stay in the loop till a worthwhile one comes along.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir, @marinelife, @wundayatta, @rooeytoo, @Pied_Pfeffer, @Hypocrisy_Central, @Cruiser & @lillycoyote Thanks. I haven’t read any guidelines, so I have no idea how Fluther “wants” us to approach the issue. That’s why I asked.

Bless my point-fairy soul, I gave all these answers a GA point because they are all exactly that, what I asked for, how you individually decide.

@Pied_Pfeffer Ha! I don’t think I’d bother to answer a poll about how many toes I have, much less give it a GQ mark.

@Doctor_D Thanks. Good analysis of the psychology behind GQ clicks. :-)

@lillycoyote Interesting thought about multiple ratings.

@ETpro I’m not suggesting multiple ratings, I’m just saying that I might give a question a GQ even if it’s technically not a “great” question, which is subjective to begin with, but just because I like it or find it interesting in some way.

The challenging thing about Fluther is that the initial question posted is sometimes not the actual one being asked. If it piques my curiosity, for whatever reason, it deserves perusal. For example, the “Toe Poll” question was made up, but since a grade-school classmate had webbed toes and her brother had two big toes on each foot, there might be something to contribute to put the OP’s mind at ease. It won’t get a GQ mark though.

@lillycoyote Ha! Well I thought it was interesting even of you did not but decidewd to say it anyway. :-)

@Pied_Pfeffer That’s true. Often the real cruz of the question is in the details provided, but I assume the rating is for the whole package. Some great questions are just way too long to be fully fleshed out in the Question text input alone.

I usually give lurve to most questions I answer. I wouldn’t be interested in answering a question to begin with if it wasn’t worth my while. With some very rare exceptions I usually give questions I answer lurve (or why bother to answer them).

@Jabe73 That was my take too, but I see we are in the minority. Some not the pointlessness of points. Very well. I don’t think they are pointless. They establish how long someone’s been here and how smoothly they interact with others on the site. Lurve shows whether a particular user is more prone to making friends and being amenable or enemies and being argumentative.

But for sake of argument, let’s say that points are indeed pointless. So why then let them control your behavior?

@ETpro Just my ego speaking here, but I’m never opposed to people finding me more interesting than I find myself.

@ETpro But for sake of argument, let’s say that points are indeed pointless. So why then let them control your behavior? Um, I don’t.

@lillycoyote Ha! Great answer. And you might be surprised at how many of us do just that. You certainly don’t strike me as a narcissist.

@Jabe73 I worded that poorly. I should have made it clear I was not talking about you there, but to those who say points are pointless so I don’t give them.

@ETpro I think you can tell by now I do not go out of my way to give the popular or “cool” answer. Just an honest one.

@Jabe73 Roger that.

Maybe part of the problem is in confusing a mark for a GQ and/or GA with Lurve, at least based upon some of the responses this thread. From my understanding, Lurve represents points added to your account by individuals until they get to the point where it would exceed 100 points.

If I like a question, I mark it with a GQ If I like an answer, it gets a GA. I have no idea, nor does it matter if the amount of Lurve has been maxed or not. Who could possibly keep track of that, other than the Fluther database.

A “popularity contest” has cropped up on several Q&As here, and I just don’t get it. Yes, there are several people on this site that I’m more likely to issue a GQ or GA to, but not always. It just means that have a tendency to be in agreement with their thoughts and beliefs.

@Pied_Pfeffer That’s news to me. I had hears several people mention maxing out on Lurve and had no idea what they meant by that. Thanks for the explanation.

It wasn’t clear to me either until I read two posts by long-termers about it that it started to make sense. If anyone watches their point count on the far right and sees a new post under Lurve for a GQ or GA, it doesn’t always increase the count…thus the confusion. I could be wrong…I just don’t watch the count that closely.

I have yet to find an official Fluther reference to it, so I could be wrong. Maybe one of the moderators could clarify.

If i answer i click great question, if someone answers mine, i click great answer, regardless of the comment. If i read great answers within questions when i have not answered that question i also give great answers.

But i agree with you, some are mean with the lurve, i said some not ALL.

It just depends on how it rubs me.

Great question is another thing. If it inspires me. GQ.

Eh, well not really…. I mean I have been asked to check out a few Q’s and okay sure I answer them…some just catch my attention. The great questions are the ones that are really thought provoking…or just damn fun to answer.

I’m stingy with lurve. I need to learn to be more open. :-)

@iammia Thanks. You may be the Lurvingest Jelly on all of Fluther.

@ChazMaz & @Fairylover78 You seem to be in the majority of users. I give out so much lurve I am probably maxed out on most of my friend’s questinos and answers. But still, the GQ and GA number increments in the thread, indicating how I felt about it.

@iamthemob Ha! Well here, have some Lurve from me. :-)

Regarding Lurve, see here.

Thanks, @augustlan, What that doesn’t tell us, and what we can’t even find out is how much Lurve we can give one user before our well runs dry for them. I’ve heard it’s a hundred points, but don’t know if there is any truth to that or if it resets at some point. It’s hard to imagine how anybody racks up 30,000 points if each user can only give them 100.

I just don’t concern myself with it. If I like a question or answer, I click the GQ or GA button and let the points fall where they may.

@ETpro You’ve heard correctly, it is about 100 points per member. That’s why the big lurve milestones really do mean something… your contributions to the community are appreciated not just by old-timers and friends, but newcomers and strangers as well!

We don’t list an exact number for two reasons… with 3 points per GQ, it’s possible that it won’t be 100 points exactly; and the maximum may change at some point. Hope that clears it up a little.

@augustlan

Hmm…but doesn’t that diminish the ability of old-timers to recognize the contribution of other old-timers, when arguably (for lack of a better phrase) they are the “most qualified” to recognize real contributions to the community – and simultaneously privilege new members’ ability to say what contributes to the community when they have yet to master the learning curve (albeit not a steep one) and aren’t really clear on what “lurve” is?

@iamthemob Well, even if you’ve maxed out on someone, you can still give them recognition in the form of a GA or GQ… it just won’t increase their lurve score. We find that new folks soon adapt to the culture here (or they hate it and leave), so things level out pretty quickly. The cap helps prevent gaming the lurve system, which is a big no-no.

@augustlan

Sure, but such recognition is still literally diminished. And technically (although this would require an INSANE amount of attention and research) they diminish the anonymity of the “lurve” process.

Personally, I didn’t know this was the case, and knowing it now frustrates me a bit about the entire process. I get the reasoning…but I think that it assumes that people who are committed to the community will be inclined to game it, which is an assumption generally reserved for new members coming into spam (or should be, in my opinion).

I think I like the point limit policy. I definitely got sick and tired of the constant list of fill-in-the-blank questions just to get points on Answerbag. Points really are pretty pointless if you rack up mountains of them for doing nothing the least bit contributory to the community.

How much value do questions like “I see _____. What’s the first thing you see?” really add?

I like the point restriction as well. The total score is more like a recognition of longevity and an ability to contribute to the site in a way that the general population can agree with versus a few. A GA mark will make me happy…it doesn’t matter if it generates more points or not. The best though is when someone posts on the thread or in a PM that they agreed with or appreciated it and explains why. That makes my day.