8

A few months ago or so, some people might remember that I mentioned doing a quality review for this site for seeing how Board & Card Games is doing as a site. Well, it's been a few months since then, and we've gone through a more recent review. And I thought I'd like to see what the community thinks of their site, so I'm going to be snagging from my previous template that itself was stolen from Aarthi. Again, with a twist, if even still the same twist.

Meta sites often see people discussing specific questions that have been closed to determine whether or not they can (or should) be reopened, but it's rare that anyone looks at questions that are open and answered. Are they better than what the Internet has to offer? Are we making the Internet better?

Here's a rough guide:

  • Below, you'll find ten questions randomly selected from your site over the past 60 days.
  • For each question, search the internet for the question as if you were the asker!
  • If our answer(s) is good (complete, well-written, answers the question, useful, found in search results, etc) then vote it up!
  • If our answer(s) is bad (incomplete, poorly-written, off-topic, incorrect, unfindable, worthless, etc) then vote it down!
  • I've included my own commentary from my run of the review. These are in spoiler blocks. It's up to you whether you look at them post-fact just to see how your perspective compares, versus letting my views shift your opinion of the question.

Comment with anything you feel is worth noting, or to explain your voting choice. We have a rough guide to better/par/worse right here. If your result is par, make a choice to vote up or down.

Remember that our goal is to make the internet a better place. If you find yourself unable to decide how to vote, ask yourself: does this question and/or answer make the internet better? How you answer that question should determine your vote.

Talk to your fellow community members about how your site is doing and what you all can improve. Above all else, remember: this is a team effort!

Please note: this evaluation will close on April 24th, 2012! Get your responses and votes in by then!

4
  • This seems like a great exercise, but the random selection managed to pick 5 questions about Magic the Gathering, 2 about button-men, and 1 each about Starcraft, Munchkin, and Go. I know only the slightest bit about Go and nothing about the other games, and don't feel competent to judge quality. I would only feel very competent to judge about a game I know somewhat or a beginner question. Do you actually want input from people like me who knows nothing (or close to it) about the subject matter? Could you select a wider variety of questions - say 1 each from top 10 game-specific tags?
    – Joe Golton
    Apr 17, 2012 at 0:49
  • "If your result is par, make a choice to vote up or down" -- Does that mean "Vote all pars up or down consistently"? Or "For any par rating, vote up or down depending on which way it skews"?
    – Alex P
    Apr 17, 2012 at 4:02
  • @Joe Expertise in the matter isn't wholly necessary - I'd never even heard of button-men when I did my pass, but I was able to judge those questions adequately. Even if you don't understand the finer mechanics, you should still give it a shot just by reading the question to see what might be up. As for the distribution, it's a purely random selection, though the bias to Magic is indicative of the site's own content count.
    – Grace Note StaffMod
    Apr 17, 2012 at 11:57
  • 1
    @Alex The latter. We would like every one who participates to vote on every entry, so that's why we don't recommend just not voting. As such, if you feel it's par, then vote up if you feel it's still good par, and down if it's a bad par.
    – Grace Note StaffMod
    Apr 17, 2012 at 11:59

10 Answers 10

Reset to default
5

How does trample work against infect?

Good? Bad? Royal Flush? Please vote in accordance to the guidelines explained above, and optionally leave a comment if you have something extra to say.

GRACE'S NOTE: Par. We're correct, and other sources confirm it. We do rank high, nicely, actually for a lot of trample questions haha.

1
  • my searches mostly found answers where the same creature had both trample and infect making our question/answer more unique.
    – Pat Ludwig Mod
    Apr 18, 2012 at 2:41
4

Can the Wand of Dowsing Draw from Door Cards?

Good? Bad? Devious? Please vote in accordance to the guidelines explained above, and optionally leave a comment if you have something extra to say.

GRACE'S NOTE: Par. Answer is correct, we show up high, but we're not better than what is out there. Plain and simple.

1
  • I actually had some trouble finding anyone asking this, though lots of confirmations of the answer in other discussions.
    – Ian Pugsley
    Apr 22, 2012 at 15:36
4

Is there an optimal swing die value for Changeling VS Iago?

Good? Bad? On the border? Please vote in accordance to the guidelines explained above, and optionally leave a comment if you have something extra to say.

GRACE'S NOTE: Better. Solid answer, we show up on a lot of searches for this material both directly on swing dice, and just on the match up itself. Which is apparently a common enough matchup that it shows up in a lot of searches. We're pretty high in ranking and we have a solid explanation present, so that's excellent.

1
  • Wooh Who, I am making the internet Better. Maybe I need to work at actually solving my Which Button-Men Soldier Character is best question.
    – user1873
    Apr 17, 2012 at 6:05
3

Brink of Disaster timing

Good? Bad? Bueller? Please vote in accordance to the guidelines explained above, and optionally leave a comment if you have something extra to say.

GRACE'S NOTE: Par. In the sense that this is asked within the scope of sacrificing, it's the same as what's given out there (so, correct), and findable. Other searches with regards to the timing of Brink of Disaster with the stack seem to fail, so noting "sacrifice" in the search is a bit of a must.

1
  • I want to +1 this for the "Bueller", but a it's only par. :/
    – Ian Pugsley
    Apr 21, 2012 at 3:52
3

Online Resources for Go Tutorials on specific topics

Good? Bad? Eerily attractive? Please vote in accordance to the guidelines explained above, and optionally leave a comment if you have something extra to say.

GRACE'S NOTE: Par. This is one of those questions that there's not really "better" solutions so to speak, because of how the approach nature works. As such, we can't really rank better. We show up on various searches, not on other searches. We have an in-depth answer that touches on a lot of aspects. But ultimately, we're just another method of advice for learning the game in a sea of so many opinions here. I like the strength and backing of our opinion, but I can't judge it as "better".

3

If two fighter's dice all come up with the same numbers, but one character rolls fewer dice, who goes first?

Good? Bad? Third Option? Please vote in accordance to the guidelines explained above, and optionally leave a comment if you have something extra to say.

GRACE'S NOTE Par. Come out pretty often in a number of odd searches (I even tried being as far from the title as I could, still hit us). Answer is from online rulebook, though, so by definition, our answer can only be on par with what's out there.

2

What happens if Genesis Wave puts Fists of Ironwood onto a battlefield with no creatures?

Good? Bad? Bagoodd? Please vote in accordance to the guidelines explained above, and optionally leave a comment if you have something extra to say.

GRACE'S NOTE: Par. Draw3Cards has the question on a broader scope (it just asks about auras in general, not just FoI), while covering exactly the points of David's answer even more in-depth. If it lacked the final point from David's answer, I might've judged Better, but because it does get the other one, we just match. We are lower on ranking but not enough to hurt us badly.

1
  • The Fists of Ironwood thing is a very specific quirky subcase (does it create its own creatures to enchant, basically). I think our answer is the correct level of depth for the question.
    – Alex P
    Apr 16, 2012 at 20:22
2

Making 2-player Starcraft more enjoyable

Good? Bad? Misprint? Please vote in accordance to the guidelines explained above, and optionally leave a comment if you have something extra to say.

GRACE'S NOTE: Par. In the sense of actually answering the question, this is better than what is easily found out there. The wrong searches just tell you how to buy the game. But, you need to hit specific terms (enjoyable rather than enjoying, interesting, etc) to actually find us. Absenting a specific match, we fail to show up fast. So we're par, in the sense that it's hard to find anything out there and it's hard to find us out there with the exact right words.

1
  • I actually had a pretty easy time finding it... managed to find it on my second try, with "improving two-player starcraft board game" (first try was a naive search without the words "board game" in there). And again on my third try, with "better starcraft board game for 2 players".
    – Alex P
    Apr 17, 2012 at 3:55
1

MtG: making makeshift cards for home play

Good? Bad? Draw? Please vote in accordance to the guidelines explained above, and optionally leave a comment if you have something extra to say.

GRACE'S NOTE: Par. This is one of those things where it's not as if there's some optimal solution that's better. Really, you can copy my review of the Go question and it'll be the same - we simply can't be considered better, simply one amongst many alternatives of equal applicability determined by the resources of the reader. We're slightly hard to find, though.

-2

Does sacrificing a permanent cancel its effects, or do they still resolve?

Good? Bad? Illegal? Please vote in accordance to the guidelines explained above, and optionally leave a comment if you have something extra to say.

GRACE'S NOTE: Worse. You can find this information pretty readily, but we are only on searches that tend to include "condition" and "effect". So, other rules-directed searches miss out, very widely, and this is a pretty basic rule element of the game. So, our poor searchability I'm going to weigh very highly.

(Edit: A non-edit to update the Question link.)

7
  • I bear some responsibility in the Worseness of this question. I was unsure how far I should edit a question. The typos and terminology are not what I would expect from a well written question. Perhaps this lead to both the Questions and the Answers being fairly poor. (Note: My answer is also very poor, and long winded. I didn't not take the effort to make it short).
    – user1873
    Apr 17, 2012 at 6:17
  • @user1873 Your recent edits make me feel much better about the question.
    – Alex P
    Apr 17, 2012 at 11:25
  • 1
    @user1873 - great edits are tough work! Your recent edit is great. Don't be afraid to rework future questions like that. If a post has a lot of misspellings, then odds are it has other problems as well. :)
    – Pat Ludwig Mod
    Apr 18, 2012 at 2:53
  • @PatLudwig, I know that now. At the time, I only had a month or so under my belt. I was unsure how much I should edit the question without losing the original authors intent. My recent edits are better, but it probably could further be clarified. I think some time soon, I will either edit my question to reflect the new edited question, or post a newer shorter answer.
    – user1873
    Apr 18, 2012 at 3:14
  • @PatLudwig I took the liberty of editing your comment to make it more grammatically sound. :D
    – Aarthi
    Apr 18, 2012 at 18:14
  • @Aarthi - maybe I meant for it to be there!
    – Pat Ludwig Mod
    Apr 18, 2012 at 18:51
  • @PatLudwig LIES! :P
    – Aarthi
    Apr 18, 2012 at 20:58

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