How Has Question of the Day Changed Since You Instituted the Paywall?

I've noticed that since LVA started paywalling QoD, the comments have become much more, shall we say, civilized, save for the very occasional political back and forth. My question is, have the questions themselves changed in any way since you started charging? And I know your criteria for answering them weren't too strict, but have they loosened up at all?

It's true that the comments have become much less polarized since the paywall was instituted nearly a year ago (mid-September 2023).

Since then, almost all of the readers who manifested and reflected the polarization in the general population and seemed to thrive on creating controversy and ill will have disappeared. We can't say it's an unanticipated consequence of starting to charge for access; we had a strong suspicion this would be one of the results, which is why, at least in part, we pulled that trigger.

Likewise, the comments have tended to remain on topic and non-politicized, except as you note for the occasions when some small opening presents itself, someone takes advantage of it, and others pile on. But for the most part, those are few and far between.

As for the questions themselves, we'd have to say no, they haven't really changed. The only thing we've noticed is that the submissions consisting mostly of complaining about the way we do things have become not quite non-existent, but nearly so. This is one of the ironies of the paywall; the vast majority of you who pay appear satisfied, while plenty of readers who got QoD for free could find any number of faults.

Thus, the contumely has all but been extinguished -- and there's been no real need to "loosen up" our criteria for answering questions.

Those criteria, by the way, are generally as follows.

We steer away from overtly political questions or that beg a partisan answer of some nature.

We tend to avoid queries that are too niche or specific to the reader, since we want most QoDs to offer mass appeal.

Some questions pique our interest, but are simply too comprehensive, or time-consuming, or require expertise beyond our time and grade, to be addressed in a daily column.

Plenty of others are too simplistic, submitted quite apparently by people who've recently discovered Las Vegas and/or our site and might insult the intelligence of regular long-time readers. Often, the answers to those questions can easily be googled or, of late, answered in seconds by an AI generative responder.

We receive repeat questions all the time and for those, we respond in a direct email that provides the link to the recent answer.

Aside from the above, no secret formula dictates what does or doesn't get answered. All questions are seriously considered, especially now that we know they're coming from subscribers, but we still receive so many that some have to be sacrificed for the greater good.

No part of this answer may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without the written permission of the publisher.

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Comments

sunny78 Jul-26-2024

lol

We steer away from overtly political questions or that beg a partisan answer of some nature.

https://www.lasvegasadvisor.com/question/kevin-lewis/

Kevin often sprinkles politics into his comments and he's unapologetic about them.

"I believe in universal health care, aggressive initiatives to mitigate climate change, and a restructuring of the system to address rampant economic inequality. (And yeah, I loathe Trump, but who doesn't?) That makes me a moderate on most of the West Coast, but a flaming leftist in Vegas, which is yet another reason why I no longer live there. But I still like to go to buffets, few and far between though they may be."

O2bnVegas Jul-26-2024

another one!

"Contumely."  Wow.  A noun, "...insolent or insulting language or behavior."  So fun to learn a new (to me) word like this that pops up in QoD now and then.  Love it!

Candy

Kevin Lewis Jul-26-2024

lol indeed

I've noticed that the ones who get the most kerfuffled about political comments, or any comment or question with a whiff of politics for that matter, are all on the same side of the political divide, and it ain't flaming liberal.

I wonder why that is. :) Might be a difference in attitudes toward free expression...

Kevin Lewis Jul-26-2024

Shakespeare again

Deke had me combing through my dusty brain files to try to remember where I'd seen "contumely" before. Then, light bulb--"the rich man's contumely" was one of the reasons Hamlet was thinking of committing suicide in his "To be or not to be" soliloquy.

Brent Peterson Jul-26-2024

People Complaining

People will tend to complain more about something that is free rather than something they pay for because if they complain about something they pay for, they're admitting to paying for something they don't like.

sunny78 Jul-26-2024

not

No Kevin, this isn't about you. Everything isn't about you believe it or not and your angry know it all attitude. It was a comment to LVA.

As for politics, the point to LVA and you is simple, and I think I speak for most others here in that we don't give a crap about your politics, what you ate for breakfast or what your favorite color is. It's about gambling and Las Vegas. Now settle down and let others and myself enjoy questions and commentary about gambling. And hopefully LVA will take my original comment as constructive and realize feeding the flame of political comments over the years is fed beyond posters and the #1 source, Kevin.

Kevin Lewis Jul-26-2024

Hilarious

Sunny, your description of your comment as "constructive is the funniest thing I've read in a month. Not to mention self-serving. Just a wee bit 😄

Anthony Curtis Jul-26-2024

Politics

Keep it out of here, please.

Kevin Lewis Jul-26-2024

It isn't about you

Saith the person making two posts about me.

Sharon Jul-27-2024

Sunny78

Just STOP it!

Question of the Day - 26 July 2024

Comments