Managing Questions

This guide covers how to block, unblock, and allow questions in the Popular Questions feature.

Blocking Questions

Blocking a question hides it from the popular questions suggestions that users see.

When to Block

Block a question when:

• The question is confusing or poorly worded
• The topic is no longer relevant
• The question leads to consistently poor answers
• The question contains outdated information
• You want to temporarily hide it while fixing the cached answer

How to Block

1. Navigate to Popular Questions from the sidebar
2. Find the question you want to block
3. Click the Block from Popular button (red button)
4. A confirmation dialog will appear
5. Click OK to confirm

The question will immediately move to the "Manually Blocked Questions" section at the top.

What Happens When You Block

• The question disappears from user-facing suggestions
• It remains in the blocked section for your reference
• The underlying data is preserved (ask count, feedback)
• You can unblock at any time

Unblocking Questions

Unblocking restores a manually blocked question to normal status.

When to Unblock

Unblock a question when:

• You've fixed the underlying issue
• The block was made in error
• The topic is relevant again
• The cached answer has been improved

How to Unblock

1. Navigate to Popular Questions
2. Look at the "Manually Blocked Questions" section (red section at top)
3. Find the question you want to restore
4. Click the Unblock button (green button)
5. Confirm the action

What Happens When You Unblock

• The question returns to the main list
• Normal auto-filtering rules apply again
• If the question has poor feedback, it may still be auto-filtered

Unblock vs. Allow

Unblock removes your manual block but lets auto-filtering rules apply. Allow Anyway forces the question to appear even if it would be auto-filtered.

Allowing Auto-Filtered Questions

Sometimes the automatic filter hides questions that should actually appear.

Understanding Auto-Filtering

Questions are automatically filtered when:

• They have more than 2 thumbs down
• They have more thumbs down than thumbs up (with at least 2 negative)

This protects users from seeing questions with consistently poor answers.

When to Override

Override auto-filtering when:

• Initial bugs have been fixed: Early negative feedback was due to a problem that's now resolved
• Feedback was misdirected: Users gave thumbs-down about something unrelated to the question
• Important questions: The question is valuable despite mixed reviews
• Seasonal relevance: A question becomes important at certain times (e.g., "When is registration?")

How to Allow a Filtered Question

1. Navigate to Popular Questions
2. Check the Show auto-filtered questions checkbox
3. Click Apply to refresh the list
4. Find questions with the orange "AUTO-FILTERED" badge
5. Click Allow Anyway (green button)
6. Confirm the action

What Happens When You Allow

• The question appears in popular questions regardless of feedback
• Your override persists until you remove it
• The question's feedback stats continue to be tracked
• You should monitor the question to ensure it deserves the override

Managing Multiple Questions

Bulk Review Workflow

For efficient management, follow this workflow:

1. Weekly Review

   • Set time window to "This Week"
   • Review questions with negative feedback
   • Decide: Block, Allow, or leave alone

2. Monthly Cleanup

   • Set time window to "This Month"
   • Check the blocked questions list
   • Unblock questions that have been fixed
   • Review auto-filtered questions for overrides

3. Quarterly Audit

   • Review all blocked questions
   • Remove outdated blocks
   • Check if allowed questions still deserve override

Prioritizing Decisions

Focus your attention on:

Priority	Questions to Review
High	High ask count + negative feedback
Medium	Auto-filtered questions
Low	Questions with minimal feedback

Feedback Statistics Explained

Each question shows feedback stats to help your decisions:

Reading the Stats

Stat	Icon	Meaning
Asked	(count)	How many times users asked this
Positive	(thumbs up)	Users found the answer helpful
Negative	(thumbs down)	Users found the answer unhelpful
Total Feedback	(number)	Total feedback given

Interpreting Feedback Ratios

Ratio	Interpretation	Suggested Action
90%+ positive	Excellent question/answer	Leave visible
70-90% positive	Good but could improve	Consider cache improvements
50-70% positive	Mixed results	Investigate the issue
Below 50%	Poor performance	Block or fix answer

Feedback Context

Low feedback numbers (under 5 total) may not be reliable. Wait for more data before making decisions based on ratios.

Common Scenarios

Scenario 1: Popular Question with Bad Answers

Situation: A question is asked frequently but has 60% negative feedback.

Solution:

1. Don't block immediately
2. Check Conversations to see the actual answers
3. Improve the cached response in Cache Management
4. Monitor feedback improvement
5. Only block if improvements don't help

Scenario 2: Outdated Seasonal Question

Situation: "When is fall registration?" appears in April with outdated info.

Solution:

1. Block the question temporarily
2. Update the cached answer with new dates
3. Unblock when the new semester approaches
4. Consider adding TTL to the cache entry

Scenario 3: Auto-Filtered Important Question

Situation: "How do I contact my advisor?" is auto-filtered due to early bugs.

Solution:

1. Verify the cached answer is now correct
2. Use "Allow Anyway" to override the filter
3. Monitor future feedback
4. Remove override if problems persist

Integration with Other Features

Syncing with Cache Management

Questions you manage here often need cache attention:

Popular Question Action	Related Cache Action
Blocking due to poor answers	Improve cache entry
Allowing important question	Ensure cache entry exists
High ask count, no cache	Create new cache entry

Using Conversations for Context

Before blocking a question:

1. Go to Conversations
2. Search for the question text
3. Review actual user interactions
4. Make an informed decision

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Next: Best Practices for curating popular questions effectively.