Right...I'm going to have a moan!

January 18, 2009 6:16pm CST
Before you read thisi will warn you that this is a general moan about SOME of the people that use MyLot. I went into the questions and answers section about five minutes ago to see if anyone had any interesting looking discussions going on and the first five pages were full of one line questions, some of them almost exactly the same from one person!!!! Why? Why? Why? a) I thought that people had to have reasonably lengthed posts to earn money here on Mylot so theoretically their one line discussion starters wouldn't have earned them anything and b) What is the point! I'm sorry to offend anyone here but it bugs me so much when peple do this. One line discussion starters are pointless as they give absolutely no information as to what the person actually thinks and just makes me realise that people will really do anything to make a few extra pennies here on MyLot! Anyway, that's my moan over...go and have a look in Q's and A's to have a better idea of what I mean! Thanks for reading my rant :)
4 people like this
9 responses
19 Jan 09
Yeah I guess,but most people just ramble on anyway making the post confusing
1 person likes this
19 Jan 09
Lol, microphones in ones hand, keyboard or laptop in the other! Sounds like we could be starting a trend here you know :)
@mysdianait (66009)
• Italy
19 Jan 09
Welcome to the myLot ramblers! Sounds like the name of a pop-group Have fun and happy posting!
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
19 Jan 09
I had a look and understand about the messages you refer to (in fact I noticed them earlier and took a closer look). Despite the fact that they are short, they are on the whole well worded and questions which are mostly likely to elicit more than one line answers. My impression is that they are in the true spirit of discussion and that they are not posted by a 'scammer' but by someone who well knows how to ask questions that encourage good responses. Not all discussions need be lengthy expositions. Sometimes the simplest questions elicit the best responses and, indeed, since many MyLotters have limited English, this may well be a good way to attract their attention and help them to express themselves better.
19 Jan 09
Wow! I didn't expect this discussion to have quite so many replies and opinions! Thanks to everyone that has joined in and had a rant with me, I'm glad to know that it isn't just me that gets bugged by things such as this! I always try and have my say in a discussion that I have started but I must admit, I have started some pretty pointless ones just because it has been on my mind at the time. Perhaps I should take a look back over my own discussions and see whether or not I am a culprit, although I do not think that I am! Anyway, thanks for all of your replies and for letting me know that it's not just me!!! :)
@mysdianait (66009)
• Italy
19 Jan 09
I will put my response here to both your comments. There is something about this particular series of one-liners that makes me think that they are the results of a quiz and I am 'snooping' too, so far with no joy. Must be my Sherlock genes but sometimes I am very suspicious and that long list is one of those times MyLot wants quality and I feel that those sort of so-called discussions are not worthy of being defined as such. Surely a discussion also calls for the user who starts it to state their point of view? I can see what you are saying but I am still not entirely convinced that those can be considered as an example of what users here are happy with either.
@checapricorn (16061)
• United States
25 Jan 09
[i]I've seen a lot of post like that today and I skip from it..Never bother to respond to any of them! I am sure the person is trying to make a lot of cents but I do know if it will help him! LOL! I hope they will take read the guidelines and learn from other members![/i]
@mysdianait (66009)
• Italy
19 Jan 09
Rest assured you're not the only one 'bugged' by this and not only there but in many other interests too. It gets like a quiz show here instead of a site for discussions sometimes and many say 'move on if it's not to your liking' but that's not the point Good to see you even if it is for a rant!
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
19 Jan 09
Mysdianit, I have looked at these questions (and did a little private snooping, too). They may be short but there is far more 'quality' to most of them than the 'I got paid ... did you?' or even than 'What color is your hair?' It is possible that they are copied from a book of 'discussion topics for students of English as a Foreign Language' and I considered that for a while but came to the conclusion that either they were not or that it didn't really matter. They cover a wide range of topics and I found it quite instructive to see which ones had the most responses. Like you, I was initially irritated to see such a collection of one liners coming up but, on looking at them more closely, I couldn't see any way in which most of them could be taken to be against the Guidelines and, in fact became quite impressed at the way that they would tend to encourage 'quality' responses. We shall see, I suppose ... This discussion is, itself, beginning to sail quite close to the wind in some aspects.
2 people like this
@mysdianait (66009)
• Italy
19 Jan 09
... and a heck of a lot of the 'real gems' are plagiarised! Even the responses are total copy/paste from the web! I fear after seeing what happened to a couple of review sites recently thanks to what cheaters got away with
1 person likes this
@mysdianait (66009)
• Italy
19 Jan 09
The face is indeed quite disturbing... but it's the armpits that I find even more off-putting
@sharra1 (6340)
• Australia
19 Jan 09
I know what you are talking about and I totally agree with you. I do not even check it any more as this happens too often. I do not know if they get paid or not as I know they say in the TOS that you do not get paid for only a few words. Maybe they are hoping to make money off all the replies. Unfortunately there seem to be a lot of people on this site who put in as little effort as possible to try and get responses and hope they get enough to make them money. They also rarely ever reply to their replies and that is one thing I hate is people who post discussions but never answer the replies they get. I agree with your rant as I like interesting discussions that I can get something to reply to. One liners are so annoying and I do not answer them. Maybe that is why there are so many unanswered discussions here.
@liquorice (3887)
19 Jan 09
I get what you mean about not knowing how the person asking the question feels about what they're asking, and that used to annoy me as well. But some people are not necessarily here for the money. Some people just like chatting to other myLotters and just want their burning questions answered! Certainly when I want to know the answer to something, or I just want to know what the "general view" is about something, myLot is the first place I come. And if you're just dying to know the answer to something, you might not be bothered about how long your question is or how many pennies you'll get for it. Alternatively, some people genuinely don't realise that asking a longer, more interesting question increases their earnings. A lot of people don't bother reading the FAQs and all the rules and regulations. And my third theory on this matter(!) is that short to-the-point questions do tend to get more answers (- less to read, easier to understand..). This may or may not earn you slightly more than not so many answers, who knows? But, well, there could be a number of reasons why people ask short questions.
@mysdianait (66009)
• Italy
19 Jan 09
Surely a one-liner is not a discussion? Apart from the earning point of view, it gives NOTHING to discuss if only a question is asking for an answer - or not?
1 person likes this
@liquorice (3887)
19 Jan 09
Oh no, I'm not saying that a one-liner promotes discussion, and that's why I used to get slightly angered by this as well. I meant more that if you wanted to know the answer to something, like "Are Apple computers any good?", or "What's the weather like in Cairo?", and you weren't really concerned about earnings, then asking other myLotters would probably get you some quite quick and useful answers. I wouldn't ask such short questions myself (I like to include my views on things and explanations as to why I'm asking my question - yep, I find it difficult to shut-up on here, lol!), but I can see why some people might do this.
@mysdianait (66009)
• Italy
19 Jan 09
There is a sight called Wikipedia for that I too am 'chatty' when I get started and quite honestly would find it very difficult to do a one-liner - even in a response unlòess the topic requires it. The earning part has nothing to do with it though. I just enjoy a good chat Those that do them usually get tired - but they seem always to get replaced immediately by new ones
1 person likes this
• Philippines
19 Jan 09
i really see your point. but maybe there's just this people who do not even care of getting any penny for each of their post. and besides, you know sometimes i find it hard to make a very long response or discussion also. specially when i only want to ask is such simple things. and my only goal is to get other people's point of view about the matter. and i will definitely sound so senseless if i'll only push myself to write things here that doesn't really relate to the topic. anyway, we cannot please every body. if that's what they want then we'll just let them be. anyway, we're not earning for them too. happy mylotting!
• United States
19 Jan 09
Well I just took a look before I responded and took a few minutes to find yours again but I have taken a look and came back to respond. There are lots of small questions and then another question but they did not even answer the question theirself. I do not understand this. Maybe they just wanted to start a bunch of discussions?? Who knows but thanks for the discussion and more than one line. LOL
• India
19 Jan 09
you are absolutely right. it's been over two months i guess that i am a member and find the discussions really shallow, and i assumed, that since the majority of people here on mylot are the one-liner-types,you either had to quit or 'if you can't beat them join them'. So i have not interacted here for quite some time.