Blurtit Blog

Blurtit Is Entering Beta Mode To Test Promised Quality Changes

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 12:47:05 +0000

Here at Blurtit, we’ve been talking about changes to the site for some time now. We've taken all your feedback on board, and have been looking at and considering the ways that Blurtit is currently used. In particular, we paid attention to:

What it looks like
How easy it is to use
What works well
How high the quality is
How useful it is

As a result of this research, we came to believe that Blurtit has a lot more to offer in terms of both content, and a sense of community - so we’ve been busy working in the background to make improvements. This is why you may have noticed that our presence and changes to the site have been minimal over the past 18 months.

What do we aim to achieve through these improvements?

To have a modern, up-to-date design that is easy to use
To have helpful content
To have a helpful community

Overall, we hope Blurtit can become the Collaborative Handbook For Life - full of useful answers, hints and tips from a trusted and helpful community.

What happens next?

Within the next few weeks we will limit the functionality of Blurtit, which means that visitors will be able to read content on the site, but won’t have the ability to log in, ask or answer questions. This will also apply to our current logged-in community.

This may seem to be a drastic measure but, with so many improvements to make, we need to keep Blurtit static for a while. The reason for this is that we will be in what is known as ‘Beta mode’. Trying to make improvements with the site running normally would be like trying to change a tyre on a moving car - and we also want to test the new system and ensure that it works perfectly for our users.

In order to maintain the highest quality, we will add our current users slowly back into this ‘Beta’ - starting with those great Blurtit members who have contributed the most positively over the past few years. We still have the feedback form on the right should you wish to get in contact with us.

For those of you who have stayed with us, thank you so much for all the suggestions that you’ve sent us, and for using Blurtit regularly. We will be emailing all users in due course, and look forward to hearing your thoughts on our new and improved site.

Username Rollout

Mon, 08 Oct 2012 07:50:03 +0000

Over the coming months, you will see some changes being rolled out across Blurtit, which will give you a first glimpse of some of the new features that we have been working on behind the scenes.

Our aim is to make Blurtit a really fun and sociable site, as well as one that - most importantly - offers its users a place to ask and answer questions easily.

For our most devoted users, we realise that Blurtit has changed considerably over the past year, which may have been a little confusing for you, and we’re sorry about that!

The reason for this is that we have been testing the site for quality control purposes and, although our changes may have temporarily made your experience of the site worse, they are intended to build a much improved site in the longer term. Many new features will be coming soon - and we’d welcome your feedback on these.

The first change we’re making - and which is taking place at the moment - is to revive usernames. We feel that anonymous answers aren’t always very helpful to users, and feedback we’ve received shows that Blurters prefer usernames to real names.

On signing up, you will now be able to choose a username of 10 characters, provided that the name you’ve chosen hasn’t already been taken by someone else. Usernames will be subject to moderation, meaning that any offensive names will be disapproved.

We’d suggest that you choose a name that gives a clue as to your area of expertise, as this will help your readers to trust your answer.

Don’t worry if you change your mind, though, as your username can be edited once you have signed up.

Thanks for using Blurtit, and please keep an eye out for exciting changes in the near future!

Another New Feature

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 12:54:01 +0000

We have now introduced the facility to ask and answer questions anonymously.

Of course, we have many knowledgeable users who want their contributions to be visible. However, if the question is of a sensitive nature, Blurters can now choose to post as Anonymous.

Simply click the 'Options' link above the ask or answer box and you can choose to post anonymously.

New Helpful Ratings On Answers

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 15:08:58 +0000

We have been looking at ways to make Blurtit more useful. Part of this is to show people how helpful answers are. This should help readers and allow the answerer to see how appreciated their answer is.

This is a rating on this answer specifically, not on the Blurter overall.

Why might the Best Answer have a lower percentage than some below it?

This is because the order depends on how many votes have been received.

For example:

1 helpful vote and 0 Unhelpful votes = 100%

but,

7 helpful votes and 3 unhelpful votes = 70%

The second of these two is still considered to be more helpful even with 70% as it has helped more people.

This is a change from simply showing you the number of 'Helpful' Votes as we used to. We think a percentage figure more accurately reflects people's opinion of the answer.

If you haven't yet uploaded an avatar, please do, so that people can see who it is that is being so helpful!

There are more changes to come with Blurtit. These have been some time in developing and we are looking forward setting them live. Stay tuned!

Sign In To View Profile Pages

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:26:44 +0000

We recently changed the rules about who is allowed to access profile pages on Blurtit. Now, you need to be already signed in to Blurtit to view anybody's profile page.

If you previously promoted your Blurtit profile on other websites, email signatures, etc, anyone following that link will now see a sign-up page. We would be interested in hearing your thoughts on this, and whether it impacts your use of Blurtit in the broader community.

What level of privacy do you prefer for your own profile page? Publicly viewable, only visible to the Blurtit community, or maybe individual choice?

Great Changes To Come To Blurtit

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:03:48 +0000

This is an early notification to let all of our fellow Blurters know that there are going to be some exciting new changes made to Blurtit in the near future.

These include:

New Quality Guidelines
New Profile Pages
New Contributions Dashboard

New Quality Guidelines:

In addition to our standard terms and conditions, please check out our new uploaded guidelines at http://www.blurtit.com/support/guidelines. Our aim is to provide great answers for users and as such we will be moderating the site very much in line with these new guidelines.

New Profile Pages:

We have developed a new feature for our fantastic Blurtit fanatics, those of you who keep Blurtit alive by using the site day in and day out. Rather than having to submit your personal questions such as "Hey you guys, what's been happening on here recently?" as a question for the World Wide Web or through 'Shouts', you will be able to ask these questions on your profile and keep track of all the answers and comments this way. The new profile wall has a great user interface and we think you'll love using it.

Site Contributions:

Ever read a question or answer and thought, 'This needs a picture', or 'the spelling in this is all wrong'? Well soon we will be allowing users to make such amendments or at least flag them up as area that need attention! We have designed a dashboard with areas to add personal questions, add a full 'Community answer' to bring together all the best bits of the personal answers. 'Adding an image', 'Sorting Tags' and 'Tag Moderation' are all areas that you will be able to partake in.

We are really excited about these upcoming changes and we have designed them all with making the site easier and more fun to use for all.

Keep an eye out for more updates!

The Blurtit Team.

Changes To The Question Tagging System

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:31:51 +0000

Hello all!

We've made a few changes to the way in which you tag your questions over the past few days, so we're here now to clear any worries you may have!

We are now asking that our Blurters select 3 - 5 tags on each question they ask. This is because we want you to have your questions seen as clearly and by as much of the community as possible, in the hope that you will gain an answer quicker!

You must now select between three and five tags before your question is posted.

The more appropriate and accurate the tags are, the more likely it is that they will appear to a fellow Blurter - perhaps someone with an avid interest in that field - which will hopefully bring about quicker and more helpful answers among the community.

If you have any questions, leave them as a comment on this blog, or contact us on the usual channels.

Thanks!

We Did It!

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 10:39:54 +0000

Hey Blurters!

You may remember a couple of weeks ago we posted a blog, threatening to hurl ourselves out of a plane in order to raise a bit of money for our favorited charity, Kitale School Uganda (official website HERE).

Well, we only went and did it didn't we?! And we are glad to report that each and every one of us made it back alive, despite a few dicky tummies after free-falling two miles through the sky.

We managed to raise a grand total of £5.3k for Kitale, a charity which provides an education for Ugandan orphans, giving them a better chance in life.

Now we have the fundraising bug, have our Blurtit users got any ideas as to what we could do next for a charity stunt? Comment below with your suggestions!

Cheers,

Blurtit Team.

Blurtit Skydiving! Help Us Raise $5,000 For Charity!

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 14:33:31 +0000

Hi everybody!

Here at Blurtit we like to have fun. Y'know, push it to the wall, risk life and limb, that sort of thing. So we've decided to embark on a little skydiving trip. All for charity of course!

That's right, on Sunday 18th September, we will be heading to our local Ellough Airfield (look it up on Google Maps) and hurling ourselves out of plane 2 miles high in the sky!

We will be attached to a qualified professional of course, but don't let that detract from the fact that we will be in free fall for 50 seconds doing speeds in excess of 150mph for the first mile of the dive, before we deploy the parachutes and glide the 7 minute journey back to terra firma.

Now, here's the serious part. We're doing this all for a good cause of course, and that good cause is Kitale School Uganda, a charity championed by us all here at Blurtit.

Kitale School in the Mukono District of Uganda provides education and support to orphans. They do their best to set them up for a better life through schooling and later by offering support for their business ventures. The school was set up in 2006. More info HERE.

If you would like to help us to support this more than worthy cause and sponsor us on our perilous descent, please head to http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/blurtit, and give generously!

We aim to raise a total of $4,200 by the date of the jump!

Don't worry, there's only a 1 in 100,000 that we won't make it back to look after the site, so don't panic!

Cheers,

Alex.

Blurtit Content Administrator

Change Is Coming To The Helpful System: Today!

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 08:19:51 +0000

Hey guys and gals,

Just a quick heads up to let you know that we shall be making a few changes to the Blurtit helpful system over the course of today (08/05/2011).

Firstly, whereas before at the bottom of each answer you would normally see a 'Helpful answer' box, this is being removed to be replaced by a small box asking you 'Was this helpful?'. Clicking the green 'yes' option will award a helpful as usual, but clicking the red 'no' button will drop down that answers quality rating. Depending on whether you deem an answer helpful or not determines where it will be shown on the page. This is being implemented into all answers across the site.

Another small change to be made is we will no longer be showing the helpful count under the avatar of the user who posted the answer in question. Instead, answers will be automatically listed by helpfulness, with the most helpful at the top, and the least helpful at the bottom.

Don't fret though, you will still be awarded a helpful when someone clicks on 'yes' to show they found your answer helpful, and your helpful count will still be visible on your profiles for all the world to see!

The new system will go live at some point today, but any questions or problems, you can contact us at the usual places!

Thanks guys!

Alex.

How Many Questions Does Blurtit Have?

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 15:11:55 +0000

This is an interesting question as it doesn't really have a definitive answer. In order to keep the quality of the site high and the content interesting to our visitors, we are constantly updating and reorganizing our database. We like our community to see good quality questions without having to trawl through a raft of dubious quality questions - we have had some questions in the past along the lines of "How big are my dog's feet?" which is really only a question that the owner of said dog can answer (and is likely to be the only one interested in the size of the dog's feet also!).

From time to time, we scan our database for questions that are similar. For instance, you might ask a question such as How far is the Sun from the Earth? But someone else might have previously asked how far is the Earth from the Sun? Technically, two different questions, but actually only the one question. So, in this instance, we would look at this and decide that as its really the same question, we would merge it into one.

In May 2011, we had in the region of 2 million questions, but over the course of the next few months, we have merged, quality-controlled and retired some questions so that, as at July 2011, currently there are around 600,000 questions, but, we hope, questions worth reading. Retired questions are ones that are not currently active on the site, but have been taken down due to low numbers of visits over a set period of time. But, they aren't lost altogether, far from it - they can be reinstated with the click of a button and put back into circulation.

Blurtit Spring Clean

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 10:51:15 +0000

Perhaps more of a Summer clean, than Spring, but whats a couple of months between friends?

We like to think that your time on Blurtit is better spent looking at good quality content, rather than having to wade through a raft of random questions that aren't really relevant to what you're looking for. So, from time to time, we have a bit of review of the questions and take down ones that have not proved to be particularly popular over a period of time.

We occasionally get it wrong (we are human, after all) and take down a question that, although it hasn't had much action for a while, it may come into its own during a seasonal event such as a public holiday like Independence Day in the USA or a big music festival such as Glastonbury in the UK. Have no fear though, if we do take a question down, it's not lost forever, it's just relaxing in a quiet area of our server and can be put back into circulation very easily.

If there is a particular question that you know has been taken down and perhaps should not have been, please let us know by using our Contact Form http://www.blurtit.com/support/contact/ and letting us know as accurately as possible what the question is (or, ideally, but we realise, unlikely, the question number in the address bar: http://blurtit.com/[question number will be here]

Unsubscribe Button Update

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 10:10:32 +0000

Hey guys,

Just a quick blog post to let you all know that the 'Unsubscribe' button has been reinstated into everyone's profiles.

We'd been noticing a number of questions pertaining to the whereabouts of the button, but it wasn't until recently that we actually picked up on the problem due to a small bug at our end.

But it should all be sorted now, and the button can be found in the right hand side-bar of 'Settings' (which can be found at the top-right of your homepage).

Sorry for any inconveniences, and if any of you guys have any further problems or queries, don't hesitate to head to the contact form (bottom of the page) to fire us off an e-mail and we shall see what we can do. If you are thinking of unsubscribing, we hope you enjoyed your time with Blurtit.com. Happy travels!

Thanks,

Alex.

Blurtit Gets Engaged

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 12:46:12 +0000

Well, socially engaged, at least.

You may have noticed that we've recently introduced social media buttons such as the Facebook Like, Google +1 and Tweet to all of our questions to enable our army of Blurters to easily share something they like with their own network of friends and colleagues.

Admittedly, we were a little on the sceptical side at first, that folk would actually want to share what they've seen on Blurtit with their wider networks, but, we here at Blurtit Towers have been really impressed at the interaction and sharing thats been going on. In the first day alone, we saw over 200 Likes, +1 or Tweets.� It just goes to show what a caring, sharing bunch you really are!

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Facebook seems to be the most popular social engagement tool, followed by Google +1 and finally, Tweets, complete the set.

Popularity breeds popularity too.... Imagine you're reading a question that has zero Likes, +1's or Tweets - this says that either, you’re the very first person to have clapped eyes on it or, more likely, its not actually the greatest piece of content. Are you more inclined to carry on reading to the bottom? Will you share this content with others if no-one else has? I'��m guessing perhaps not.

We have a way to go yet, but I think we might run a sweepstake here in the Blurtit office, as to which question is going to be the first to reach 1,000 interactions!

Out in front at the moment, is What Are The Laboratory Apparatus And Their Users? Any thoughts on which one you think it might be ...? Any personal favourites?

Apologies

Thu, 07 Apr 2011 08:32:55 +0000

Due to a technical problem over the past few days we have been unable to receive all the feedback from our Contact link. This has now been fixed and Blurtit would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.

If you have not received a response from us over the last week and still have problems regarding the site, please let us know via Contact.

Thank you.

Edit Topics

Thu, 24 Mar 2011 14:28:21 +0000

Topic tags can be added to or removed from any Question.

clicking edit topics, you will get

With the introduction of Add topics... the questioner can improve the likelihood of their question being answered.

Blurtit Change: Topics Replace Categories

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 14:09:54 +0000

On Monday 21 March, Blurtit will be updated with the following changes:

all questions will be tagged with one or more topics
topics will replace categories
type a question, tag it with one or more topics, Ask a Question

old Blurtit:

new Blurtit:

We welcome your feedback.

Blurtit Change: Quality Answers Encouraged

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 14:09:51 +0000

On Monday 21 March, Blurtit will be updated with the following changes:

all questions must be answered on individual question pages
the quick answer link will be removed
click a question, write your answer, and then click submit.

old Blurtit:

new Blurtit:

We welcome your feedback.

Blurtit Is Getting Simpler

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 09:25:30 +0000

Over the next few days you will have the option to try a new version of Blurtit. The new version aims to be simpler and allow more social networking.

To give users time to get used to the new version and compare the two, you’ll be able to switch back and forth between the old and new ones. You can easily switch versions by clicking ‘switch to new (or old) version’ link located on the header.

The new look Blurtit will make it easier to ask questions, as you no longer need to select a category. Instead, you tag your question with key words that make it more likely to be answered.

There will be a top topics list (‘biscuits’ is No. 1 this week!) and a top categories list. We are also developing a social network function: there will be soon be integration with Facebook and Twitter, so if you wish, you can hugely expand the number of people who see your questions and answers.

As always, we look forward to your feedback which is so important to us in helping to improve Blurtit.

New Version Of Blurtit Is Live

Wed, 01 Dec 2010 16:26:56 +0000

We’re very happy with the feedback we’ve received on the new version of Blurtit so far. At the same time, we would like to make clear that this is not the final version. We are still working on perfecting the site and it is in continuous development.

We hope that you will be patient while the changes are going through, and as always we really value your feedback, which helps us to keep making improvements to the site. Please tell us your thoughts and thank you for your continued support for Blurtit.

New Version Of Blurtit Going Live Soon

Tue, 30 Nov 2010 15:48:52 +0000

Over the next few days you will be using a fantastic new version of Blurtit. Thanks for the feedback from those who have already tried the new version!

The new site has been designed with the following goals in mind:

Improve the quality of questions and answers.
Make it easier to see what your friends are doing and what's happening in the topics that interest you.
Give more recognition to those who contribute great answers.
Get great answers really fast to people that need help.

When you first visit the new Blurtit, you will be asked to follow or add some topics that interest you. Along with your friends' activity these topics will make up your new personalised homepage.

Appearing on your homepage you will see:

Questions and answers provided by everyone you follow.
Answers your friends say are helpful.
Questions your friends are following, which replaces the old share function.
New questions and answers in the topics you follow.
Helpful answers in the topics you follow.

Under the answer section in the header you can choose to either see all the questions to answer in your chosen topics or the latest questions in all topics.

We really welcome any ideas, feedback or suggestions you may have for the new Blurtit. Please feel free to contact us if anything at all comes to mind.

Thanks

Getting Straight To The Points

Tue, 12 Oct 2010 10:11:08 +0000

Over the next few days we will be changing the way you can earn points on Blurtit.
We are doing this to try and reward answer quality rather than quantity, and to make contributing more fun.

The first thing to be aware of is that the points you have already accumulated will be unaffected, the new scoring system will only apply to your future contributions.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

New points structure
2 points for an answering a question
4 additional bonus points for answering a question within 2 hours of it being asked
4 additional bonus points for being the first to answer a question

This means that you can earn up to 10 points for an answer if it qualifies for both bonuses.

Rating points
2 points for for giving a rating
4 points for receiving a rating

Initially while trialling this change all members will be able to rate a maximum of 10 times per day.
You can earn a maximum of 40 rating points per answer.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As part of the new scoring for ratings we will be removing the not helpful/negative functionality. This enables us to be more transparent with who is rating your answers and prevent conflicts between members over negative ratings. If you do see something that is against Blurtit's terms of use you can still let us know by using the report link.

This update is just the first of many improvements we have planned for the coming months. If you have any ideas or suggestions about points or any other Blurtit feature please let us know in the comments.

Thanks!

Winners Announced

Tue, 06 Apr 2010 09:41:46 +0000

Thanks to everyone that participated in the Blurtit 5 day giveaway. You will be thrilled to know that the winners were:

CodeClown, Purpless, BertyKat, JobFinch and Coversnail

These lucky Blurters won between them 3 iPod Touch's and 2 Luxury Easter Eggs.

For all those that took part in the competition, well done, your contributions have helped see an increase in questions and answers on Blurtit and have helped @Blurtitlive to be a 'hot topic' on Twitter over the last 5 days.

Congratulations again to our 5 winners. Keep your eyes peeled for the next competition - the next winner could be you!

Ipod Touch Giveaway

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 11:12:28 +0000

For 4 more days we will be giving away either an iPod Touch or a Hotel Chocolat Easter Egg. All you need to do is give it a try.

Monday's winner was CodeClown - Congratulations! You win an iPod Touch.
Tuesday's winner was Purpless - Congratulations! You have won the luxury Easter Egg.
Wednesday's winner was BertyKat - Congratulations! You have won the second iPod Touch.
Thursday's winner was JobFinch - Congratulations! You too won a luxury Easter Egg
Friday's winner was Coversnail - Congratulations to you also - the third iPod Touch winner

How to enter:
1. Join Blurtit.com or log in to your Blurtit.com account
2. Answer at least one question

For an extra chance to win, follow @Blurtitlive and re-tweet this message: iPod Touch giveaway with @Blurtitlive. RT this message for a chance to win http://bit.ly/90hPhd

8GB iPod Touch:

1,750 songs, 10 hours of video, 10,000 photos, Up to 30 hours of music playback, Up to 6 hours of video playback, iPod touch 3.1 software, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Nike + iPod support built in, Built-in speaker and Earphones.

Rocky Road To Caramel™ Extra Thick Easter Egg:

With one cookie textured milk chocolate shell and the other in mellow caramel chocolate and inside – pralines with caramel, pecan, macadamia and coconut, Easter bunnies and chicks in milk and caramel chocolate and more.   420g approx.   Alcohol-free.

The competition is running from Monday 29th March 2010 until Midnight (London GMT) Friday 2nd April 2010. Those that re-tweet the message on Twitter will be entered into the prize draw twice. Winners will be announced on the Blurtit.com blog pages shortly after the competition.

Competition terms:
All entries must be entered by 00.00 (London time) Friday 2nd April 2010. Blurtit will need to identify the winning users by means of email address, Blurtit user name or Twitter account. The winners will be contacted via their Blurtit account, by email, or via Twitters direct message facility and published on Blurtit's site within 5 days of notification. The prize on offer will vary from iPod to Easter Egg over the 5 days on an ad hoc basis. The prizes will be ordered and dispatched within 5 days of the winner being notified. Dispatch and delivery times may vary by country. Blurtit accept no liability for goods once they have been dispatched. Blurtit employees are not eligible to enter this competition. All entrants that register with Blurtit must adhere to Blurtit.com's terms of use.

Blurtit Use Advertising Revenue To Help Haiti

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 14:01:09 +0000

Blurtit.com has donated £2,000 to Merlin's Haiti Appeal (http://www.merlin.org.uk - a member of DEC).

Tim O'Shea, Blurtit's Managing Director says - "I feel it is important to help where you can in situations like this, and Blurtit.com can". The Haiti earthquake is clearly still a hot topic around the globe and as our users are asking about it, we felt that the least we could do was give any revenue surrounding those discussions to those people that need it - the residents of Haiti."

In addition to this contribution, Blurtit will also be donating all advertising revenue generated from the Haiti content within the Haiti Earthquake section of Blurtit.com - http://www.blurtit.com/Travel/Places/Caribbean/Haiti/Haiti_Earthquake.

For those of you interested in making your own donation, you can do so via several links, but the google one is here for you: http://www.google.com/relief/haitiearthquake/