COSMiQ

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COSMiQ
Question and answer portal
languages German
operator SaTec International Service GmbH
Registration Not required to ask a question, required to answer questions.
On-line January 12, 2006
www.cosmiq.de

COSMiQ was a web service that linked research on the Internet with a community-based digital information service and a bookmark manager. The website was published by Lycos Europe in 2006 under the name Lycos iQ ; after its dissolution, it was continued from June 16, 2009 by Hubert Burda Media under the new name COSMiQ. On January 1, 2011, the platform was taken over by gutefrage.net . Due to a lack of profitability, COSMiQ was discontinued on April 3, 2018.

history

Lycos iQ went online on January 12, 2006 and competed with existing services such as Google Answers (now discontinued) and Yahoo Clever. Lycos iQ sees itself as social software . In 2013 there were over 918,000 registered members.

Lycos iQ was last represented in Germany and Sweden (Spray iQ). Issues in other countries such as the UK, France, Denmark and the Netherlands were closed in late February 2009. The individual versions were based on the same software, but were not linked to one another.

Since June 16, 2009, Hubert Burda Media's service has been continued under the name COSMiQ.

After COSMiQ was taken over by gutefrage.net GmbH in 2011, the latter informed the members by email in February 2018 that the platform would be switched off on April 3, 2018 due to falling membership numbers and poor profitability. The users are also asked to move to the larger platform gutefrage.net .

Procedure and function

At COSMiQ, internet users can ask questions that other users answer. According to the rules, "questions of knowledge" are preferred to "questions of opinion" - questions of opinion are deleted accordingly. The questioners can rate the answers as »helpful«, »top« or »not helpful« at their own discretion - the rating has nothing to do with the quality or correctness of the answer; a point system rewards the advisors for their help. Based on the number of points collected, registered users receive various ranks. The hierarchy ranges from "beginners" to "Einstein".

The aim of COSMiQ is to provide the searcher with human helpers during his research on the Internet, whose shared knowledge goes beyond the possibilities of a programmed search algorithm. So-called tagging , the keywording of any term by the user, connects all parts of COSMiQ. The operator expects this system to grow into an ever larger user base over time.

Both registered members and guests can ask questions. A saved question is displayed when you search for a keyword or in a continuous list of current questions. Members can then answer the question and, when the question is closed, the questioner can rate the answers and thus assign status points to the respondents.

Registered members can also write bonus points for answering a question in order to achieve a higher response rate (as with the monetary principle of Google Answers ).

Another function of COSMiQ until May 2012 was the pro & con area. There the users were able to ask questions that could not be clearly answered. Users could take a position on this issue and argue either for or against them. After 7 days the question was closed and the arguments were free to evaluate. In the end, the side that had more arguments and more supporters won. COSMiQ Pro & Contra was deactivated in May 2012 at the request of many users.

User numbers and statistics

As of March 20, 2013, COSMiQ had 918,815 members, 772,962 topics, 3,098,676 questions, 9,034,313 answers, and 127,419 links. According to Alexa , COSMiQ ranks 1262 among the most visited websites in Germany.

Compared to other services

Lycos iQ, along with other question-and-answer services and search engines, was the subject of a study comparing social search services and algorithmic search engines. Compared to social bookmarking services and other question-and-answer platforms, Lycos iQ performed well, but a study by Precision also showed that social services in general cannot yet compete with algorithmic search engines in a search scenario.

In a comparison test by Bild am Sonntag on April 27, 2008, Lycos iQ took third place out of six question-and-answer services examined.

partner

Several online portals integrate Lycos iQ into their own user interfaces. The cooperation with the portal of the children's and youth book series Was ist Was began in October 2006 and was the first of these collaborations. This was followed by further collaborations with the magazines Brigitte , PM Magazin , Auto, Motor und Sport , since January 25, 2010 also "Good advice asked", as well as the Internet providers T-Online , telegate and freenet . Of these partners, T-Online iQ on January 23, 2009 and PM BesserWissen on June 1, 2011 stopped working together.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lycos IQ Blog: iQ lives on ( memento of the original from March 25, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / blog.cosmiq.de
  2. ↑ COSMiQ Blog: Important: New publisher and changes to the terms and conditions of COSMiQ ( Memento of the original from December 2, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. November 30, 2010 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / blog.cosmiq.de
  3. ↑ netzeitung.de Lycos starts questions community ( Memento from May 21, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ 'We want to make human expertise and experience easily and quickly accessible' . Interview with Thomas Dominikowski, Product Director Search Lycos Europe, about Lycos iQ
  5. ↑ Questions and tips from COSMiQ members In: www.cosmiq.de
  6. ↑ Is it true that COSMiQ is being discontinued? In: comsiq.de. Retrieved February 10, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Questions and answers from experts and advisors of the COSMiQ Community ( Memento of the original from December 31, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: pc.cosmiq.de @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / pc.cosmiq.de
  8. ↑ As you like: No more pros and cons ... ( Memento of the original from March 16, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: blog.cosmiq.de @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / blog.cosmiq.de
  9. ↑ Cosmiq.de Site Info . Alexa. Retrieved October 7, 2015.
  10. ↑ Social search services and algorithm-based search engines in comparison - NETZBARON ( Memento of the original from April 22, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: www.christian-maass.com @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.christian-maass.com
  11. ↑ These internet portals will help you best In: www.bild.de
  12. ↑ The WAS IST WAS Club on Lycos iQ (addendum) ( Memento of the original dated November 2, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: blog.cosmiq.de @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / blog.cosmiq.de
  13. ↑ Freenet takes over DSL customers from Lycos In: www.heise.de
  14. ↑ Lycos IQ Blog: Information on the partner t-online iQ ( Memento from March 22, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  15. ↑ pm-magazin.de: PM BesserWissen says goodbye ( Memento from June 1, 2011 in the Internet Archive )

Web links