Editing QAWiki:Guide/Questions (section)

=== Contingent and substitute questions ===

Some questions might be built upon false assumptions such that an answer to the question (even if blank) might be misleading. For example, if we answer the question "[[Item:Q66|''What age is Stan Lee?'']]" based on subtracting his date of birth from the current date, this might falsely give the impression that he is still alive. To avoid misunderstandings, we can add this question, but link it to a [[Property:P32|contingent question]] "[[Item:Q61|''Is Stan Lee alive?'']]", along with an expected answer (in this case, we expect the answer to be true). We can further add qualifiers to suggest zero or more [[Property:P34|substitute questions]] in case the contingent question fails; for example, in case that Stan Lee is not alive, and a user asks his age, we can rather suggest to ask "[[Item:Q65|''What age was Stan Lee when he died?'']]" or "[[Item:Q67|''What age would Stan Lee be if he were still alive?'']]", thus avoiding misunderstandings. We recommend that contingent questions be added even if the specific entities satisfy the assumptions. For example, the question "[[Item:Q143|''What age is Justin Bieber?'']]" includes a contingent question, even though Justin Bieber is indeed alive.