Isn’t the FAQ label obsolete by now?

Question

Don’t get me wrong in the beginning of reading this. I really mean the label and not the content of FAQ. The content is very useful if its’ made the right way (as here on ux.se), but there are plenty of examples where it isn’t. The real question concerns the label which is a convention I’d like to challenge.

History

In 1647 Matthew Hopkins wrote The Discovery of Witches which were introduced as "Certain Queries answered" and had the form of a list of Question and Answer, even if the topic is inappropriate by today’s standards. The label FAQ origins from the early 1980s mailing lists where NASA hoped to get new users read the old mail conversations, which were not the case. Instead the same questions were answered again and again and the need for FAQ was born. The acronym FAQ was invented by Eugene Miya and FAQ were later used in mail on a weekly basis at first and later on as a daily mail.

Today FAQ is more frequently used to refer to the list, and a text consisting of questions and their answers is often called an FAQ regardless of whether the questions are actually frequently asked, if they are asked at all.^[1]

Problem

Acronyms are generally bad, since it excludes those who do not know the meaning. They either have to search for the acronym, if they are interested, or just ignore it. If a label is ignored, there is not much use of it and an entire section of valid content is lost by bad labeling. However, it is a very strong web convention which might lead to confusion over time for experienced users. Also the original meaning have changed (see quote), which also implies that the label would be wrong.

Question

Isn’t the FAQ label obsolete by now? and if so How do we relabel it to suit both experienced and new users?

Edit: I’d really like to know why we can or cannot change the label FAQ. Current answer does not meet that criterion.

^[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FAQ

FAQ is as obsolete as using a 3.5" floppy disk as a save icon, which is to say: not at all. — zzzzBov, Mar 13 '12 at 14:56
I think in terms of this site it could have a much better name. As most of us have noticed, people often don't read it first. Maybe something like "Site Rules" or "How to Use" — Matt Rockwell, Mar 13 '12 at 15:25
@MattRockwell I like your suggestion! If you'd like to elaborate on that in an answer I'll support it. — Benny Skogberg, Mar 13 '12 at 17:51
Your question reveals a false assumption: if you are asking what label should replace FAQ, FAQ couldn't possibly be "obsolete" as a term. Otherwise, we'd already know its replacement as a commonly accepted alternative. — Taj Moore, Mar 13 '12 at 19:57
Why we cannot change the label is a less useful question than why we don't, we don't change it because conventions are helpful and this one really isn't harming much. You can do whatever you want, the problem is if it's not a convention it's almost certainly going to be more confusing than just using FAQ as a label — Ben Brocka, Mar 15 '12 at 16:42
There are two faq labels on all StackExchange sites. One next to the search box, and one that sorts the questions. I have honestly no idea what that last faq label do? Is this a list over the most duplicated questions? Frequently Answered Questions? It's not about votes, because there's another menu item that sorts by votes. What the heck does that faq do? — Jørn E. Angeltveit, Mar 15 '12 at 19:58
@JørnE.Angeltveit If you hover over the second FAQ, it says "Sort questions with the most links". There are hover over's on all the other choices too. Good point though, as it took me awhile to figure that out! — Ellie Kesselman, Mar 17 '12 at 21:39
This is a leading question and the fact it has bounty seems to be a carrot on a stick that seeks to legitamise it. — codeinthehole, Mar 18 '12 at 22:00
@FeralOink. Yeah, eventually noticed. But what does "questions with the most links" mean? And how does that relate to "FAQ"?? — Jørn E. Angeltveit, Mar 19 '12 at 00:49
@JørnE.Angeltveit "Questions with the most links" means questions with the most links to other related SE posts. Now how that relates to "FAQ"...well, I have no idea whatsoever! It does seem like a peculiar option, howsoever it might be labelled! — Ellie Kesselman, Mar 19 '12 at 06:29
@codeinthehole I agree with you: Awarding a bounty for an answer to an inquiry as broad and subjective as whether FAQ is obsolete or not is peculiar. If someone says it is obsolete, what then? I personally don't think FAQ is obsolete at all, though it may be used in some places that it doesn't belong. Latin abbreviations e.g. and etc. are old, but not obsolete. They may never become obsolete, regardless of age. FAQ is not outdated when used correctly (IMHO). — Ellie Kesselman, Mar 19 '12 at 06:35
@JørnE.Angeltveit I didn't notice the hover, however, both logically and by checking the number of linked questions I came to the conclusion that it sorts the questions according to which questions are asked most frequently --> have the most similar questions --> have the most links. — Danny Varod, Mar 19 '12 at 16:17

ditto · Accepted Answer · 2012-03-17T18:06:26.757

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There is no reason you cannot relabel FAQ. Contrary to belief, most popular websites refrain from using the term altogether. For example, Twitter labels their FAQ section "help", as does both Facebook and Google.

If you want to relabel FAQ, go with either help or support. Both translate worldwide and the meanings are easier to conceptualize than FAQ.

edited Mar 17 '12 at 18:06

answered Mar 17 '12 at 18:00

ditto

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Great answer, you make a good point and reference iconic sites. Love it! – Benny Skogberg Mar 17 '12 at 19:31
Go for Help. Support is a bit jargon-y, and not universally understood. – Bennett McElwee Mar 09 '16 at 01:08

score 19 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:32

19

This might be another of those things like the floppy disk being used to represent "Save".

What it represents has long since evolved away from the initial coining of the expression - there have been discussions on Meta Stack Overflow about the naming and use of FAQ on these websites - but it's what people expect to find and will go looking for if necessary.

It's probably not as entrenched as the floppy disk icon, but there will still be a resistance to change.

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:32

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answered Mar 13 '12 at 09:47

ChrisF

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FAQs aka Help. Sometimes you've just got the learn the language. And what does URL stand for ? ;-) – PhillipW Mar 13 '12 at 11:07
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URL is the thingy you type into google, right? (Sometimes you don't have to learn the language ;) ). – MSalters Mar 13 '12 at 11:42
@ChrisF - Except when it isn't. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/URL_%28disambiguation%29 – user Mar 13 '12 at 12:36
@PhillipW - URL == Uniform Resource Locator. – ChrisF Mar 13 '12 at 12:39
I was thinking more about the other meanings of the abbreviation, but sure, that too. Abbreviations are useful within their context, but can easily become ambigious outside of it. Let's have someone in the US and someone in Australia agree on when exactly 12:00 EST occurs, without other context. (There's US Eastern Standard Time, Australian Eastern Standard Time, and European Summer Time.) – user Mar 13 '12 at 12:42
"it's what people expect to find" [citation needed] – Bennett McElwee Mar 09 '16 at 01:06

score 7 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 13 '12 at 15:04

7

I think the problem is the reverse--the fact that FAQ lists are no longer actually lists of frequently asked questions. FAQs are still important, but all to often the FAQs are incredibly poorly written or just plain irrelevant. A new label won't fix that problem.

answered Mar 13 '12 at 15:04

DA01

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I agree. They are more like PAQs (Potentially Asked Questions) – cdeszaq Mar 13 '12 at 15:17
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How do the users even know their question is one that is Frequently Asked anyway? The whole idea of FAQs are really what the website owner deems as questions that are asked frequently (or more often, the questions they just pull out of thin air as being 'frequently asked'). If I am on an eCommerce site and need to ask if they ship to England, is that a frequently-asked-question to this specific site? How am I supposed to know that? – JonW Mar 13 '12 at 15:38
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From the customer-side, it's often pretty obvious. The questions are often like "Why are our products so awesome!?" kind of crap written by marketing. From the business side, I've, personally, rarely see the FAQ list actually being generated from an actual list from, say support. Or the front desk. Or any actual log of real questions being asked. A true FAQ should be a living document and maintained, ideally, by the help/support folks directly. – DA01 Mar 13 '12 at 15:59
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I'm sick of "Questions we'd like you to ask." – aslum Mar 13 '12 at 16:13

score 6 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 17 '12 at 18:34

Whether or not people recognize the term 'FAQ', it's still a bad way of labelling help information, because it doesn't clearly communicate what specific content the text provides.

Users are usually reluctant to read help material, because they are bad at making short-term sacrifices for long-term gains - especially if they imagine they already know it all through previous exposure to similar applications. As such, they won't read a help topic unless it's clearly signposted as useful, and directly related to their current task. A vague title like 'FAQ' doesn't mean much more than 'here's some stuff we think many of you need corrections on'. That's not enough to attract someone.

As for the term itself, it's well-used enough not to require explanation. But there's no use to a clear signal if it doesn't get users to read relevant content.