The place to ask your VCE questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are a few shortcuts to some of the most useful questions in this FAQ:

What kind of questions can I ask here?

You can ask any type of question relating to VCE! As long as your question is:

  • detailed and specific
  • written clearly and simply
  • of interest to at least one other student or educator somewhere

... it is welcome here. No question is too trivial or too "newbie".

Please look around to see if your question has already been asked (or answered) before you ask. If you end up asking a question that has been asked before, that is OK and deliberately allowed. Other users will edit in links to related or similar questions to help future visitors find their way.

It's also perfectly fine to ask and answer your own question, but pretend you're on Jeopardy: phrase it in the form of a question.

What kind of questions should I not ask here?

Avoid asking questions that are subjective, argumentative, or require extended discussion. This is not a discussion board, this is a place for questions that can be answered!

Also, try to refrain from asking questions about Merspi itself unless you absolutely, positively have to. Most students and teachers don't come here to learn how Merspi works; they come here to get answers to their VCE questions. Let's try to help them out by not cluttering up the system with how to use Merspi discussion.

Be nice

Treat others with the same respect you'd want them to treat you. We're all here to learn together. Be tolerant of others who may not know everything you know. Bring your sense of humor.

Be honest

Above all, be honest. If you see misinformation, vote it down. Insert comments indicating what, specifically, is wrong. Even better — edit and improve the information! Provide stronger, faster, superior answers of your own!

Do I have to log in or create an account?

Nope. You can answer and ask questions to your heart's content as an anonymous user, much like Wikipedia. However, there are some things you won't be able to do on the site without registering. But it's easy to register if you want to. All you need is a valid email address, or an OpenID account.

What is reputation?

Reputation is completely optional. Normal use of Merspi — that is, asking and answering questions — does not require any reputation whatsoever.

Remember, Merspi is run by you! If you want to help us run the site, you'll need reputation first. Reputation is a (very) rough measurement of how much the Merspi community trusts you. Reputation is never given, it is earned by convincing other Merspi users that you know what you're talking about.

Here's how it works: if you post a good question or helpful answer, it will be voted up by your peers: you gain 10 reputation points. If you post something that's off topic or incorrect, it will be voted down: you lose 2 reputation points. You can earn up to 200 reputation per day, but no more. (Note that votes for any posts marked "community wiki" do not generate reputation.)

Amass enough reputation points and Merspi will allow you to go beyond simply asking and answering questions:

15 Vote up
15 Flag offensive
50 Leave comments
100 Vote down (costs 1 rep)
100 Edit community wiki posts
200 Reduced site tips and advertising
250 Vote to close or reopen your questions
250 Create new tags
500 Retag questions
2000 Edit other people's posts
3000 Vote to close or reopen any questions
10000 Delete closed questions, access to moderation tools

At the high end of this reputation spectrum there is little difference between users with high reputation and moderators. That is very much intentional. We don't run Merspi. The community does.

What if I don't get a good answer?

In order to get good answers, you have to put some effort into the question. Edit your question to provide status and progress updates. Document your own continued efforts to answer your question. This will naturally bump your question and get more people interested in it.

If, after 2 days, you still don't have an answer you like, you can offer a bounty. Slice off a bit of your own hard-earned reputation -- anywhere from 50 to 500 -- and attach it to the question as a bounty. We'll even throw in 50 reputation to sweeten the deal. The bountied question will appear with a special icon in all question lists, and it will also be visible on the home page Featured tab.

Once initiated, the bounty period lasts 7 days. If you mark an accepted answer, your bounty is awarded to the answerer (do note that accepted bounty answers are permanent and cannot be changed). If you do not accept an answer in 7 days, here is what happens at the end of the bounty period:

  • The highest voted answer created after the bounty started with at least 2 upvotes will be automatically accepted. Half the bounty will be awarded to the owner of that answer.
  • If there is no answer meeting the above criteria, and you as the question owner have not opted to accept an answer, you forfeit your right to ever accept an answer to your question.

In any case, you will always give up the amount of reputation specified in the bounty, so if you start a bounty, be sure to follow up and accept the best answer!

Of course, bounty awards, like all accepted answers, are immune to the daily reputation cap and community wiki mode.

Other people can edit my stuff?!

Like Wikipedia, this site is collaboratively edited. If you are not comfortable with the idea of your questions and answers being edited by other trusted users, this may not be the site for you.

I'm a happily registered user of Merspi now! How else can I help?

Thanks for becoming a regular member of our community! By joining us, you've already helped us immensely by bringing your unique knowledge and talents to share with us at Merspi!

You can help to grow the community further by promoting Merspi to your friends and family. Tell your friends about Merspi, print out a flyer and hand them out to your classmates and teachers, become a Fan on Facebook and invite your friends, or follow us on Twitter. Help us spread the word and our community will grow, and so together we can learn more!

Whenever you come across great material relating to VCE, you can Merspify it! Simply post it as a question, and if you've got the answer, you can answer it too! You can help Merspi become the leading archive of knowledge for VCE students and teachers.

What about...

If you're still confused, contact us at merspi@merspi.com. Or, if you haven't already, you can check out our about page.

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