Even after all this time, you can still send me a fax

[venta]

My apologies for the cryptic (or at least vague) nature of this post. I firmly believe that Christmas presents should be surprises and, while I don't really think the intended recipient of the present is all that likely to read this, I'm not taking any chances.

The other day we were chatting in the pub about something, and a question (hereafter known as "The Question") was raised. No one could answer it. A day or two later it occurred to me that if I could answer The Question, I'd have a fine idea for a Christmas gift (hereafter known as "The Present") for a friend.

Google and I had a very brief chat on the subject. Google said it was sorry, but it was utterly unable to answer The Question. Ah well, I thought. Never mind. I'll file it away as good idea in case I ever discover the answer.

Then I saw a BBC article, which was quite interesting in its own right, about how 82ask's question answerers work. 82ask is an sms-based question-answering service - you text a question to them, and they text the answer back; the only downside is that they charge you a quid for the privilege.

Cor, I thought. Let's give it a whirl. I've heard people dissing these services since it's effectively "paying someone else to google for you", but here was an occasion where google had failed. With a bit of poking and scrimping I managed to get The Question into 120 characters, and sent it off. Around ten minutes later, I received a reply requesting further details from me. I provided them as best I could, and another ten minutes later I received a second reply. The public-domain reference on my chosen topic was "fairly bare", and they couldn't help. I had not been charged.

Ah well, I thought. Never mind. As above.

Then it dawned on me. oxfordgirl introduced me to text-based question-answering over a year ago, but that was a different number. Minimal digging revealed that AQA, 82ask's rival, is still going strong. Hey, I thought, if I send the same question to AQA, the worst than can happen is that they don't know the answer either, and don't charge me.

I did that. Twenty minutes later they replied with a very detailed answer to The Question, and even supplied a URL at which I could buy The Present. Admittedly, their answer was framed cautiously "AQA thinks...". I ordered The Present. It arrived last week, and, lo and behold, is indeed exactly the right thing.

So, on my present summary of one attempt, AQA is way better than 82ask. Has anyone else ever used either of these ?

And does anyone else think that being a question-answerer would be a really fun job ? Incidentally, even armed with the answer, I still couldn't successfully locate a webpage which would have provided me with the detail I required.

Comments

[timeplease.livejournal.com]

Hmm. AQA appear to charge when you send the question. 82ask only charge when they send the answer - and don't charge if they can't find a reasonable one!

I tried out 82ask with the following question: "What proportion of the new Cambridge Computer Lab building did Bill Gates pay for - and were there any strings attached?"

They sent the following two replies:
1) Apologies, we could not find the exact amount Bill Gates donated to the Cambridge University computer labs. Sorry we could not be of help. No charge.
2) Follow-up: Bill Gates reportedly cont. £12 million to Cambridge Uni- aim to make Cambridge 'Silicon Fen'. Also created £130M scholarship fund. No charge.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Hmm. AQA appear to charge when you send the question. 82ask only charge when they send the answer - and don't charge if they can't find a reasonable one!

Aye, for a few reasons I feel I should prefer 82ask. Sadly, it doesn't seem to answer questions as well, which, in a question-answering service, is a bit of a clincher. Yes, I know one question isn't statistically significant ;)

[zotz]

You are going to tell us what The Question is once Christmas is safely past, aren't you?

[zotz]

Actually, do you think they'd accept "What was it Liz asked you that she's being so secretive about now?"

[venta.livejournal.com]

If anyone still cares :)

[jiggery-pokery.livejournal.com]

At least one of your /friendsfriends researches for AQA. She has a brain the size of a planet, so perhaps it was her who was able to find that which 82ask couldn't.

[j4.livejournal.com]

I have only ever used AQA and that only once (and a simple question: we needed to know the Welsh for 'Congratulations!', and how to pronounce it, and we didn't think of this until we were in the car on the way to a wedding in Wales) & they replied almost instantly. Which even though it was a simple question still feels like kind of magic to me. Hurrah for the information age!

bopeepsheep researches for AQA & it does sound really good fun. I'd do it if I had time....

[timeplease.livejournal.com]

This kind of answering-service is almost fictional: have you read "Rainbows' End" by Vernor Vinge?

[j4.livejournal.com]

'Fraid not... (the only Vinge I've read is A Fire Upon the Deep, and I hated it)

Thinking of SF-comes-true, though, I'm currently reading an Angela Brazil school story (1920s?) in which there's a bit where a girl who's really bad at spelling is wishing that somebody would invent a typewriter that did the spelling for you. There is only one thing worse than not getting what you wish for...!

[timeplease.livejournal.com]

Oh, experment: I've sent both services the question "Which is the most common variety of hop used in brewing English ales?"

Answers to follow...

[timeplease.livejournal.com]

10 minutes and not a peep out of either of them!

[timeplease.livejournal.com]

I spoke too soon! AQA: The most common hop variety in English ale brewing is the Fuggle, with 270 hectares grown in 2000. It is often mixed with the drier Goldings variety.

[timeplease.livejournal.com]

And shortly afterwards: 82ASK: In English ales the common hops used in brewing is aroma hops (chosen for their aromatic qualities) and bittering hops (chosen for their bitter flavour).

So, full points to AQA for actually answering the question; nil points to 82ASK for sidestepping the question entirely!

[timeplease.livejournal.com]

After a followup query saying I was after varieties: 82ASK: Apologies, most commonly used variety hops are: Goldings, Challenger & Fuggles (main English hop developed in late 19th century). No charge.

So on the whole, both services are not bad!

[venta.livejournal.com]

But which was more correct - which hop is more common, Goldings or Fuggles ? I'd have thought Fuggles myself, but bow to your superior knowledge ;)

I have a question I want answered which I may try out on the pair of them. But not right now, as I'm going to sleep.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

I looked into answering for AQA, but they already had everyone they needed. It's not brilliant money, but easy to fit around other stuff.

[floralaetifica.livejournal.com]

I once tried AQA. They were rubbish. They claim they can answer any question within a certain very smal time period - might be a minute - *any* question, mind. Anyway, I asked them for the name of a certain piece of Beethoven which I'd just heard on the radio - gave them time, programme and channel. The answer I got back was 'AQA does not listen to the radio.' I mean really! Abrupt *and* uninformative. I emailed and complained, and eventually they sent me a postal order for £1. It was easily more than a pound's worth of hassle, but it was the prinicple of the thing, dammit.

[venta.livejournal.com]

That is pretty rubbish. I guess either of these services is prone to you getting a crap question-answerer. I've not heard of anyone getting a flat refusal from either before, though.