Forum:Wikianswers Widget

I found out quite by accident that we now have a WikiAnswers widget on our sidebar that all anons see by default. Judging from the questions generated on WikiAnswers, most readers use this like a search box - which means I need to divert my time form my wiki to answer the questions by directing the readers back to our own wiki. Most of the time, the "search terms" are even spelled correctly, and the only benefit this has for us is to pinpoint where we need to add redirects to make up for MediaWiki's shortcomings in recognizing different capitalizations of an article title.

At worst, Wikia is stealing our readers; at best, it makes needless work for us. Why? To recreate a list of Special:Mostvisitedpages in a variety of spellings on another wiki that links back to us? -- ◄mendel► 18:16, 10 June 2009 (UTC)

WikiAnswers
I apologize for any inconvenience caused by the rephrasing option in our wiki (WikiAnswers). I do want you to understand that any user can rephrase a question, and then answer it. The admin can do their best to help in this situation, but at the same time cannot guarantee that all your users will be redirected back to you due to the other users rephrasing questions, or changing "improving" the answers. I don't know yet if the staff will have a correct solution to this.

I will definitely consult with Angela immediately about the best way to solve this situation. I apologize again for any inconvenience this may have caused you, I do my job as an admin as I was trained. Will comply with any changes as they become available.

UPDATE: A definite re-direct can not be guaranteed either, unless the question is protected. I am not sure what makes a question qualify for the "protect" feature. Again Angela is perhaps the best to answer this. --Molokaicreeper 19:15, 10 June 2009 (UTC)