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Purpose of the Queue

Anyone on Quora can create and edit topics. Most edits are good, but occasionally, bad actors come in and can make malicious edits. Additionally, new users or well-intentioned users may make changes to topics that either violate guidelines or don’t make the topics better. The Topic Vandalism  and Topic Vandalism2 queues protect against bad edits by reverting them to the original form.

The Queue in Context

The Topic Vandalism queue includes edits made to topic ontologies. Topic ontologies are the relationships between different topics. On Quora, we call them parent-child relationships to illustrate that some topics are more broad than others.

The Topic Vandalism2 queue includes all other types of topic edits. This includes edits to topic names and topic images, as well as topic creations and deletions. Decisions made in the queue are immediately reflected in the product: if you approve an edit, the edit remains, but if you reject an edit, it is reverted to the original state.

How to Process the Queue

In the queues, you will see 3 main sections:

• 1. The original topic name

  2. The operation that was taken on the topic name or topic image. In this example, the topic name was edited.

  3. Edits made to the topic name, topic image, or topic ontology (difference between the original and current state). The removed text is highlighted in red and the new added text is highlighted in green.

Follow these steps to process the queue:

• 1. Consider the type of edit made (topic name edit, topic creation, topic image edit, etc.)

  2. Decide what action to take on the edit.

     • • See the sections below for more specific guidelines on approving/rejecting edits for various types of edits

       • At a high level, the labels should be used as follows:

• • • • Approve Edit

        • • Edit improves the topic without introducing errors

      • Reject Edits as Mistake

        • • Edit is neutral or unhelpful

          • Edit introduces an unintentional mistake

      • Reject Edits as Vandalism

        • • Edit is malicious

          • Edit introduces spam

• 1. Pay special attention if the topic being edited is very popular.

     • • If you hover over the topic name, you will see how many followers the topic has.

       • You should be more inclined to mark edits to popular topics as vandalism rather than mistakes.

  2. Click done.

Topic names

• Approve Edits

  • • Corrects any misspellings

    • Adds clarity to a topic

    • Adds disambiguation -- adding in parentheses the type that the topic is:

      • • • The Giver → The Giver (1993 book)

          • Sundar Pichai → Sundar Pichai (Google Executive)

    • Changes from an acronym to the full name:

      • • • JEE → Joint Entrance Exam

    • Brings the topic into compliance with topic naming conventions

      • • • “The Life of Pi (film)” → “The Life of Pi (2007 movie)”

          • “Egyptian Politics” → “Politics of Egypt”

• Reject Edits as Mistake

  • • Adds unnecessary clarification

      • • • Barack Obama → Barack Obama (president, Nobel Prize winner, author)

    • Introduces grammatical errors

      • • • Barack Obama → Barrack Obama

• Reject Edits as Vandalism

• • Changes the topic completely

  • Changes the intent of the topic

    • • Secularism → God is the Only Way

Topic images

• Approve Edits

  • • Provides a visual cue to a topic people wouldn’t be very familiar with

    • Adds a more relevant image that’s in better taste

    • Removes an offensive image, or one that is unrelated to the topic

      • • Example below

• Reject Edits as Mistake

  • • Adds neutral images that are not useful but are not harmful in any way

    • Replaces the original image with a lower quality image

    • Replaces the original image with a similar but less useful image

• Reject Edits as Vandalism

  • • Adds any images that include inappropriate adult content or gratuitous violence, or images that are intended to harm others

Merge topic

• • Used when two topics refer to the same entity

• Approve Edits

  • • Topics are identical.

    • A topic that doesn’t follow the naming rules is merged into a topic that does follow the naming rules, and the topics refer to the same thing.

      • • Examples:

          • • “Computer Scientist” is merged into “Computer Scientists” (plural is preferred)

            • “CES” is merged into “Consumer Electronics Show” (written out names are preferred)

            • “Boooks” is merged into “Books” (correctly spelled topics are preferred)

            • “Carp” is merged into “Carp (fish)” (unambiguous topics are preferred)

            • “Pacific” is merged into “Pacific Ocean” (unambiguous topics are preferred)

    • A topic in a foreign language is merged into the version of the topic in the correct language

• • • • • • “Vin Rouge” is merged into “Red Wine”

          • “სახელობის თბილისის სახელმწიფო უნივერსიტეტი” is merged into “Tbilisi State University”

• Reject Edits as Mistake

  • • Topics do not refer to the same thing.

• • • • • • Example: "University of California, Berkeley" is merged into "University of California, Los Angeles"

• • • A topic that does follow the naming rules is merged into a topic that doesn’t follow the naming rules.

• • • • In this case, the merge happened in the wrong direction, so we should reject it.

        • • Example: “Books” is merged into “Boooks”

• Reject Edits as Vandalism

  • • Topic is merged with a topic that has a completely different meaning

• • • • • • Example: “Books” is merged into “Chickens”

• • • Spam topic is merged into another spam topic

• • • • • • Example: “Call 8883938272” is merged into “Call 9998887777”

Create topic

A topic is defined as a subject matter, theme, category, concept, or general interest area. Topics should be keywords and short descriptive phrases and not questions, personal credentials, or random non-thematic phrases.

• Approve edits

  • • Topic does not include spam, BNBR violations, or non-English content

    • Topic is a keyword or short descriptive phrase. It is not a personal credential, question, or random non-thematic phrase.

    • It is OK to approve a topic if it has only one formatting error or typo that does not distract from understandability.

      • • If there are 2 or more errors, reject as mistake.

    • Instructions for school/company topics:

      • • It is OK to approve a school/company topic even if it is not the full, legal name of the school/company. Just make sure it is clear which school/company it is referring to and there is no more than one formatting error or typo. For companies specifically, also see the instructions under “Topic is an illegitimate company name” below.

        • Example: “Quora” should be approved; it does not have to say “Quora, Inc.”

        • Example: “Hogwarts” should be approved; it does not have to say “Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.”

        • Example: “Joseph School” should be rejected since it is not clear which specific school it is referring to.

• Reject Edit as Mistake

  • • Topic is a question or formatted like one (with or without a question mark)

      • • If a topic contains Who, What, Where, When, Why, or How, it is probably a question.

        • Examples

          • • How to Separate White Light into Its Component Colors

            • How Are the Hmong Assimilating Versus Other Ethnic Groups That Arrived in the U.S. Due to Our Wars in Their Countries?

            • Causes/cures for Depression. Are Meds Helpful or Myths?

            • There Any INTJ Who Is Married or Dating an ENTJ If so How Is the Relationship?

            • How Much Is the Winners Purse in Porsche 944 Spec/Cup Racing?

        • Exception: We allow topics that are formatted like questions if they are practical and short (uses 1-5 words). You could imagine these topics as titles of an article or book chapter.

          • • Examples

              • • How to Cure Depression

                • How to Cook Chinese Food

    • Topic is a personal credential

      • • Topic could be a specific user's bio

        • Examples to reject

          • • Former Music Reviewer and Obsessed Musicalogist.

            • Hot punk since 1990

            • Divorce 3 times

            • Kicked Out of Every Skool

            • My Army Schooling Was in Electronics and Radio Maintenance Including the Physics of Microwave Transmission

        • Examples to approve

          • • Computer Scientist

            • App Developing

            • Star Trek Aliens

            • Synapse Publisher

            • These are OK because while they could be someone's credential, they are also general subjects.

    • Topic is a random non-thematic phrase

      • • Examples

          • • Teens Being Completely Examined

            • Highest Paid Job Ever Payment in Pure Love

            • Author Born From Experience

            • UF: AA + Major in Premed, Evolution, Animal Science, Dairy, Agriculture Economics and Military Science.

    • Topic contains 2 or more formatting/capitalization errors (see the topic naming conventions here)

      • • Common errors are: using slashes (/) excessively or using ALL CAPS or all lowercase words.

        • Examples:

          • • CHANGE OF NAME IN ADHAAR (bad capitalization)

            • formula one racing (bad capitalization)

            • Algorithms!!! (bad punctuation)

            • Data Structures/Distributed Systems/Networking (excessive slashes)

    • Topic is an illegitimate company name

      • • To identify if a company is a legitimate company, Google its name. To be a legitimate company, it must have a website that includes contact information and an “About us” section.

          • • Example: Evrythimg (Facebook page has no content)

        • What if the company only has a Youtube account?

          • • This account needs to have a 50+ following an “About Us”

        • What if the company only has a Facebook page?

          • • The page needs to include information in the “About Us” section and content

        • What if the company only has an Instagram?

          • • Some companies use Instagram as the main platform for their company. These can be approved if they have more than 50+ followers, have posted content, and have information in their bio about who they are.

        • If you find yourself spending more than a minute trying to figure out what the company does, reject as mistake.

• Reject Edits as Vandalism

  • • Topic created is a spam topic

      • • Examples:

          • • Bhim App Customer Care Number 59

            • Google Tez App Customer CARe numBer 345183382288

    • Topics created is contact information (an addresses, website link, or phone number)

      • • Examples:

          • • 100 King St W Suite 5700 Toronto, ON M5X 1C7

            • 300 Watson St Ripon WI 54971

            • Www.computernewuploadtechnical.in

    • Topic created violates BNBR

      • • Examples:

          • • fuck u

          • jewish financial order

    • Topic created is in a foreign language

      • • Exception: It's OK to have global brand names and popular organization acronyms not in the silo language.

          • • Examples for non-English silos: Samsung, Facebook, UN, UNICEF

    • Topic created is nonsensical or unreadable

      • • Examples:

          • • A Goat The

            • Bkshflasjaf

Delete topic

• Approve Edits

  • • Topic deleted violates any of the following policies:

      • • Spam

        • BNBR

        • Is completely nonsensical

• Reject Edits as Mistake

  • • Topic deleted has no questions and/or followers

      • • A topic not being used is not a reason to delete the topic. Topic deletion is meant to be final.

    • Topic deleted is lesser known (fewer than 50 followers or fewer than 10 questions)

    • Topic deleted has a grammatical error but could be merged with a properly formatted topic

• Reject Edits as Vandalism

  • • Topic deleted is a popular, useful, and reusable topic

      • • Contains more than 50 followers or more than 10 questions

Topic ontology

The topic ontology on Quora helps us map out the relationship between topics and organize the information in an optimal way. Users can link topics to more broad or specific categories.

• • Parent Topic: A parent topic is a more general topic that fully includes everything in this topic.

    • • For example, “Food” would be a parent topic of “French Food”.

  • Child Topic: A child topic is a more specific subset of the topic.

    • • For example, the topic “Hillary Clinton for President (2016 campaign)” would be a child topic of “Hillary Clinton”.

  • All questions with the child topic should also make sense under the parent topic

• Approve Edits

  • • An appropriate parent or child topic is added or an inappropriate parent or child topic was removed

    • Topic names contain minor formatting errors or typos that do not distract from understandability

• Reject Edits as Mistake

  • • Parent topic added contains 2+ typos or formatting errors in its name

      • • • Example: “Univers solaer systims” is added as a parent topic to “Planets”

    • Parent topic removed is related to the child topic

      • • • Examples:

            • • “The Lord of the Rings (movie series)” is removed from parent topic “Fantasy Movies”

              • “Lyft” is removed from the parent topic “Ride Sharing”

              • “Chartered Institute of Management Accountants” is removed as a parent topic to “CIMA India“

    • Edit is a neutral/unhelpful edit or repetitive

      • • • Examples:

            • • “Bluehost (company)” is added as the parent topic to “Bluehost”

              • “Pumpkin Spice” is added as the parent topic to “ Pumpkin Spice Seasoning”

    • A relevant topic is added to the ontology, but it is not correctly added as a parent or child topic.

    • Examples:

      • • "Hillary Clinton for President (2016 campaign)" is added as a parent topic to "Hillary Clinton." (Hillary Clinton for President should be the child topic)

        • “Naxos Music Library” is added as a parent topic to “Streaming” (Naxos Music Library should be the child topic)

• • • • • • • • “Cousins” is added as the parent topic to “Blood relations" (Cousins should be the child topic)

• • • • Edit creates an incorrect ontology (i.e. if a parent topic is added, but not all questions with the child topic make sense under the parent topic)

        • • • Generally, people's names should not be the child topics of general theories, genres, ideologies, etc.

              • • Example: “Satire” should not be added as a parent topic for “Mark Twain.” The question “What was Mark Twain's favorite food?” would not make sense under the topic “Satire.” It would, however, be OK to add the parent topic “Satirists.”

            • Generally, people should not be the child topics of locations.

              • • Example: “California” should not be added as a parent topic for “Mark Zuckerberg.” The question “What was it like to go to school with Mark Zuckerberg?” would not make sense under the topic “California.”

        • Some parent-child topic relationships change frequently (this is often seen in sports). We want to make sure that the parent-child topic relationships reflect current reality. Do not accept an ontology just because it could be a correct relationship in the future.

          • • Example: "EFL League One" is added as a parent topic to "Leyton Orient F.C."

              • • Leyton Orient F.C. played in the EFL League One in 2014 but was relegated to League Two in 2015. They were demoted further to the National League in 2017. Therefore, "EFL League One" is not a current parent topic of 'Leyton Orient F.C."

• • • Reject Edits as Vandalism

      • • Parent topic added is malicious in intent, e.g. inappropriate or adult in relation to the current topic

    • Example: “Sex Toys” is added as a parent topic to “Reloadium”

      • • A completely irrelevant topic is added to the ontology.

          • • Examples:

              • • "George Washington" is added as a parent topic to "Hillary Clinton."

                • “Now Lay Me Down to Sleep” is added as the parent topic to “Black and White Photography”

        • Spam is introduced

• • • • • • • Any parent topic is added or removed from a spammy topic

              • • Example: “Google Wallet” is added as the parent topic to “Google Pay Customer Care Number 6289713015 ... 8167414664...@?GH”

            • Any child topic is added to or removed from a spammy topic