The new askFitEyes is brilliant and addresses a much needed aspect to the FitEyes discussions and that is......organization.

Yes, indeed!

The Ask FitEyes site is designed around these ideas:

The primary functions are:

• asking questions
• answering questions
• voting on questions & answers
• finding answers you seek

You can also comment on both questions and answers. You can ask for clarification of a question, for example.

The new Ask FitEyes site is not primarily a forum, and it is not mainly for chit-chat (unstructured discussions that wander). However, there is a section called "Chatter" where forum-style discussions are permitted and where you can chit-chat as much as you wish. But the primary function of the site is highly focused on getting answers!

When you create a new post, if you do not change the post type, it will be a question. If you wish to share news, review products, or have a forum-type unstructured discussion (Chatter), choose the appropriate post type as shown below.

Each question must be well-written, clear and concise. The answers will be direct answers to that question. Over time, this organization will allow us to build the world's best knowledge base for glaucoma (and eye health in general).

A quick poll: would you all prefer that we limit the length of answers? Should we strive to keep answers as short and concise as possible or should we make them as detailed and comprehensive as possible?

• I prefer short and concise answers
• I prefer detailed and comprehensive answers
• I prefer both, depending on the question -- let's be flexible

Each question can have multiple answers and the best answers can be voted to the top. In some cases, there may be more than one valid answer, and all of us will be able to see, based on votes, which answers are more popular or less popular. Ranking of the answers can sometimes be as valuable as the answers themselves.

Each question can also have an "accepted answer". With accepted answers and voting on the best answers, it will always be easy to find the best answer for any question. And if you are not happy with any existing answer, you can add your own -- good answers will garner votes and rise to the top.

All questions are tagged with their subject areas. Each can have multiple tags, since a question might be related to several subjects.

What are good questions for Ask FitEyes?

One good approach is to focus on questions about an actual problem you have faced. Include details about what you have tried and exactly what you are seeking help with.

Another good approach is to ask a specific question about an eye health topic you have been reading about. You can refer to a specific article or scientific publication and ask for clarification. You can even ask a new question based on an existing question. For example, if you see a similar question and answer of interest to you, but your question is different in some way, you can ask a new question (and even refer to or link the existing question for context).

Try to phrase your query as an actual question with a question mark at the end.

If, instead, you just want to have an open-ended discussion, use the Chatter section. Maybe your exact question is not clear yet. Maybe you don't really know what you want to ask -- e.g., your question is very vague. After some discussion in Chatter, you may wind up with one or more very clear questions. You can, and should, ask those questions in the main section of the Ask FitEyes site.

Finding Answers

You can use the search function to find answers using the search box near the top of the page (see screen shot below).

You can also use tags. Choose "tags" from the menu at the top of the page:

On that page, if you click on a tag, you will see a list of all questions that have this tag. (You can also see the number of questions tagged to the right of each tag listed on the page.)

Reputation

You earn reputation when people vote on your posts (both questions and answers).

Each person participating in the site can build their reputation by answering questions. People who consistently provide quality answers will build a reputation on Ask FitEyes, letting others know that their answers carry some weight.

As you earn reputation, you'll unlock new privileges like the ability to edit other people's posts (such as to fix typos, clarify questions, improve formatting, etc.).

Our goal is to have the best answers to every question, so if you see questions or answers that can be improved, you can edit them.