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simply busy with other th<strong>in</strong>gs. S<strong>in</strong>ce the user pos<strong>in</strong>g the question expects a response <strong>in</strong> a reasonable amount of<br />

time, a rem<strong>in</strong>der is sent to the expert after one time-out and if there is still no response after a second time-out,<br />

the question is referred to another expert. If there is no other expert available <strong>in</strong> the current taxonomy, the<br />

question will be posted to the Unsolved Mysteries, a special category described below. Of course, the rem<strong>in</strong>der<br />

email messages cannot be retrieved and this may be momentarily confus<strong>in</strong>g to an expert. This problem will<br />

hopefully be solved with better <strong>in</strong>tegration of email and the web browsers, but is outside the scope of this<br />

project.<br />

In addition, the system is self-purg<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> that each user signs up for a specific period of time. When that time<br />

is nearly elapsed, the user is sent an email message prompt<strong>in</strong>g them to refresh their account. A reasonable<br />

amount of time is allowed for them to do so and if no response is received, the account is deleted. A user, of<br />

course, may <strong>in</strong>itiate a new account at any time, but any accrued question/answer credit balance is lost.<br />

Archive<br />

The basic concept of a FAQ archive is useful as long as a reasonable mechanism is provided to assure privacy.<br />

In the Help-Exchange system, both the person pos<strong>in</strong>g the question and the expert answer<strong>in</strong>g the question have<br />

to agree to reta<strong>in</strong> their dialog <strong>in</strong> the archive. At each stage <strong>in</strong> the dialog, each person may elect to grant<br />

permission to archive the question and answer. This cont<strong>in</strong>ues <strong>in</strong>to the follow-up question and answer and<br />

both have to agree to archive the entire dialog. If both agree, the dialog is reta<strong>in</strong>ed for that topic <strong>in</strong> the<br />

taxonomy. Subsequent users may browse the archive if they wish before pos<strong>in</strong>g a new question.<br />

In addition, a user may elect to obta<strong>in</strong> a copy of the dialog via email for their personal use <strong>in</strong>dependent of<br />

whether or not the dialog is archived.<br />

Unsolved Mysteries<br />

Occasionally a question may be asked that is not answered by any expert. If an expert to whom the question<br />

has been assigned cannot determ<strong>in</strong>e how to reclassify the question and if all experts <strong>in</strong> that category have been<br />

exhausted, the question is posted to "Unsolved Mysteries." Any expert may elect to answer a question <strong>in</strong> this<br />

category and receive bonus credit to ask an additional question. This mechanism serves as a last attempt to<br />

provide an answer to any question which could not be otherwise answered.<br />

Quality Issues<br />

There are clearly an abundance of quality issues related to use of the Help-Exchange system. S<strong>in</strong>ce the experts<br />

are self-proclaimed, the answers can only be as good as any <strong>in</strong>dividual expert's op<strong>in</strong>ion. The assumption of<br />

good will does not assure quality. A supposed expert may be well-<strong>in</strong>tentioned, but still give bad advice.<br />

Newsgroups, by contrast, are somewhat self-correct<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> this sense s<strong>in</strong>ce anyone monitor<strong>in</strong>g the dialog (and<br />

one cannot help but monitor the dialog if one is a member of a newsgroup) can correct advice that is <strong>in</strong> error.<br />

We do not see an easy solution to this problem (see Future Direction below). The user can, of course, resubmit<br />

the question if unsatisfied with the answer <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g the follow-up dialog. It is likely that the question would<br />

then go to another expert, but even that cannot be guaranteed. In its present form, the user of the system can<br />

only assume that the answer cannot be guaranteed to be correct and, if really critical, should be <strong>in</strong>dependently<br />

verified. Still, we assume that users of this system will act responsibly, not only <strong>in</strong> answer<strong>in</strong>g questions, but<br />

also <strong>in</strong> accept<strong>in</strong>g the validity of the answer given the source.<br />

Security Issues<br />

A much more serious question is raised <strong>in</strong>volv<strong>in</strong>g malicious mischief. At least <strong>in</strong>itially, the system assumes<br />

responsible behavior by its users. Consequently, few security issues have been considered apart from<br />

restrict<strong>in</strong>g access to the system. Newsgroups and other similar systems are susceptible to "spamm<strong>in</strong>g" which is<br />

the use of malicious or abusive language which can disrupt or even destroy a system that is unprepared for it.<br />

The correspond<strong>in</strong>g waves of protest from <strong>in</strong>nocent recipients of the messages can cause many users to<br />

unsubscribe from the group <strong>in</strong> frustration with the volume of unproductive messages. The Help-Exchange

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