May Science Chat Announced

Started by inkycatz

jeff101 Lv 1

I just got rank 55 on Puzzle 1234 and wonder if any of my solos on that puzzle will matter to the Foldit team. Thus I ask if low-scoring solutions help with the Foldit team's research? I asked similar questions in an old Feedback (https://fold.it/portal/node/988112#comment-28798) and suggested some tools there to help players assess their contributions on a particular puzzle.

Virgo Lv 1

All good questions Bruno… except the Foldit team only has one hour to discuss everyone's questions?

Maybe choose your top three, in case they don't get to them all?

Bruno Kestemont Lv 1

of course ! (they can limit to 1-2 per person and/or the questions with more votes and/or selecting depending on how the chat evolves)

jeff101 Lv 1

http://fold.it/portal/node/2001276 discussed this.
If the puzzle is not a Contact Map puzzle, show
most things as usual, but not the green boxes for
predicted contacts. Keep the black dots where the
player's present structure has contacts. Keep the
ability to select pairs of residues and put bands
between them.

inkycatz Lv 1

… There's not actually a question here. This is probably better suited for the forum for discussion. :)

inkycatz Lv 1

Yes, while we only have an hour, I've been going through the list and sorting them to see what would make great blog topics and what can be easily answered in other ways.

I found a great article about asking good questions and it reminded me I wanted to share what I’ve learned over my years as a community person, but also make them apply here with Foldit specific issues. So here are some thoughts on “making good questions for chat”.

  1. Try to limit the actual question to one sentence. Feel free to state the problem or issue in detail, but limit your question to one sentence. "How does the team decide what puzzles to run?" "How can we improve quality of designs?" Sticking to one sentence helps ensure your questions are open ended.
  2. When sticking to one sentence, avoid yes/no questions. Sure, it makes chat go fast, but doesn’t actually provide a lot of information.
  3. Provide options in the question only if those truly are the only options. But keep in mind those rarely are the only options! Keep in mind that can also create a situation that puts the team on the spot to promise things that may not be easily deliverable (due to programming issues, emergency priorities), on a timetable that is far different what you had in mind when posting the question, or even be the optimal way of solving the problem. (Small team, but very clever minds.)
  4. Don't influence the question. You may think you already know the answer but if you make your questions answer-neutral, or if you remove your opinion and just ask the question - the answer may end up surprising you in good ways! :)
  5. Dev chats are less common than science chats, and while our scientists do a little bit of developing in the process of working with Foldit, pay attention to which type of chat we’re having and adjust your questions accordingly. Science chats are great to help untangle thorny science issues, regardless of your personal knowledge level! Developer chats are more feature based.
  6. Chats are generally an hour, maybe a little longer (never a guarantee). Remember that if your question isn’t asked, it may be for a variety of reasons (upvotes will not guarantee a question gets asked during chat)! Questions that are posted the day before chat or earlier have a better chance of being answered, as questions get sent over in advance to help plan what we have time for.

Thanks! See you all in chat!

I have also added this post to the forum, so we can refer to it forever.