Maezawa from the Corporate Planning Office here.
The club has the authority to decide whether a post is displayed.
However, given the nature of the Q&A box, our basic policy is to display anything that isn’t genuinely problematic. So even when we wonder whether certain content should be shown, we generally display posts that receive an answer.
If every respondent feels that a question shouldn’t be displayed, it won’t be displayed because it will have no answers.
I believe that anything answered by even one person may be useful to someone.
There was also a time when questions resembling the recent ones answered by outsiders were considered problematic.
Internally, some people said it was odd for the questioner to answer their own question and that the post should be deleted, but I was opposed to deleting it.
If nobody answers, it won’t be displayed, so I don’t think there’s any real problem. Even without deleting it, if it isn’t displayed, the result is the same.
The same applies this time. Although there are many similar posts, they won’t be displayed if nobody answers, so I think that could be one factor in deciding how to handle them.
> Would you consider allowing people who aren’t official respondents to answer as well?
That would just be a bulletin board.
If anonymous users could answer, I feel we’d end up with more careless responses. I believe respondents take answering seriously precisely because they answer under their own names. Even when an answer turns out to be incorrect, the person wrote it because they genuinely believed it was right.
No one is infallible. Because it’s okay to make mistakes, a variety of answers can emerge, and I think people find it easier to respond.
I assume the bulletin board was discontinued in the past partly for those reasons. If it could produce well-considered opinions and answers, I think a bulletin board would be fine, but based on our past experience, that seems difficult.
Anyone who wants to answer could apply to become an official respondent.
That said, if they’re former members or otherwise clearly identifiable individuals—people who wouldn’t mind Universe retaining their identification information even after they leave—I do feel they could probably remain respondents.
I’m Rura, a UC male member and a member of the new salon.
Sengoku Papa-katsu Gentleman, thank you for raising this issue. As for my stance on the content Mack-san wrote, I’ll refrain from comment. However, regarding this point:
> If you want to answer, I think you should become an answerer. Whenever I see this, I tell people to become answerers, but topics of this kind seem to be increasing.
I feel the same way.
Here’s my opinion: I think the club—or perhaps Maezawa-san—should be a little more proactive in deciding whether to display answers from people who aren’t official answerers.
To clarify for general users, we “answerers” can view questions submitted to the question box before they’re made public.
When a general user submits a question, it immediately appears as “Unanswered,” visible only to us answerers.
Once an answerer responds, the status changes to “Answered.” Even at this point, general users still can’t see it.
Finally, when the club makes the question visible in the question box, the status changes to “Currently displayed in the question box.”
The important point here is that the club does, at least technically, have the final say over whether a question is made public.
The club seems to publish essentially every question that receives an answer. (At least, I haven’t seen any evidence that something is withheld simply because it criticizes the club.)
That said, this isn’t specifically about what Mack-san wrote. In general, I get the impression that the “final decision”—in cases involving content that readers might find somewhat unpleasant, or a string of answers from people who aren’t official answerers—is being handled extremely leniently.
So, as my initial suggestion, I think the club should consider introducing a rule whereby, if a certain number of answerers write in the answer section:
“I don’t think this question and answer should be displayed in the question box,”
then publication in the question box is put on hold.
To make this work effectively, I also think it would be good to establish the following rules:
1. Answerers should, in principle, respond to submitted questions within ◎ days.
2. The club should refrain from publishing answers for ◎ days after a question is submitted, then review them after that period and decide whether to display them publicly.
