[QUOTE=Chez Guevara]
Who looks at the questions first? Are any discarded immediately because they are too easy, uninteresting, or for any other reason? Do some or all questions get answered irrespective of their appearance in the column?
What happens to those questions for which there is insufficient available data to answer? I’ve seen partial answers from the column so some of them must get through the selection process. What percentage of questions can’t be answered due to lack of insufficient data? How much research is carried out before denying an answer?
I’m aware that humour may be a relevant factor in this process. Some questions are surely selected because they are clever, witty or both. The column will attempt to answer in a like manner, and will sometimes succeed in so doing. Similarly the column may take an ordinary looking question and answer it on the basis of potential for displaying humour in its reply.
I would be very interested if someone, at their leisure, could provide a brief narrative which encompasses the points raised by these queries.
Thank you.
[/QUOTE]
The sequence is basically this.
C.K. Dexter Haven acts as Cecil’s right-hand man, and screens out mail from Cecil’s Inbox. Cecil receives an outrageous amount of spam, according to Dex, and just wading through it is an effort which Cecil would not waste his time on.
Then Dex sees which questions have already been answered, and does something with those - either discards them, or sends a response saying “Thanks for writing; this question was answered (link)”
If a question is a follow-up or comment on a column, then Dex stores that in a certain location so Cecil can read it, and Dex may or may not send an acknowledgement to the sender.
If the question is new, original, or otherwise Cecil-worthy, Dex passes the question on to Cecil by placing it in another location, where Cecil can review it at his leisure. If there is not enough data to answer a question right away, Cecil researches it. He may have many irons in the fire at the same time, with letters, calls, and other sources pending. He also asks the SDSAB for assistance on columns if they have a special expertise, to help dig up references, such as when he asked me to help with the steam leaks column.
If the question is a good one but not Cecil-worthy, Dex puts it in an area reserved for the SDSAB Members who write staff reports to view. The SDSAB choose these at-will, and write them at their own pace.
Cecil alone decides what he will or will not answer. I do know that he has to balance a few things, such as what will be of enough interest to enough people, and what will fit into a column of about 800 or so words in length. Cecil sometimes grabs questions from the SDSAB area if they are interesting enough. Dex does a lot of work and keeps the system running very smoothly. Otherwise, Cecil might move to a cabin in the woods and spend his time writing manifestos against technology.
There are many more questions sent in than can be answered. Each week only one is answered by Cecil and (usually) one by the SDSAB, but many more than that are received. While several are repeats or close to other questions, many are original. As such, there is a backlog of thousands of questions currently.
