Whose watching the Store at Ask Avvo? Nobody Home But Us Robots.

Posted By Cliff Tuttle | February 22, 2019

No. 1,617

I’m a big Avvo fan.  They have a Q&A feature where people can ask questions to lawyers and get answers.  I participate in it and answer lots of them.  However, the intake, as far as I can discern, does not have a human moderator. A computer evaluates the question and assigns it to a category based on key words.  I say this because I have observed that, although the system works well on the whole,  numerous questions are assigned to the wrong category based on the questioner’s use of inappropriate words. I assume that some questions are culled by the AVVO AI robot based upon words that are not acceptable.  Well, in the specimen below we find a couple more words that should join the removal list. I did not answer the question because I don’t practice in the growing field of voodoo law.

This is an actual question I received from AVVO. As you read this, it has probably been taken down. Note that the spell was cast 20 years ago and the victim is not dead yet. Pretty weak spell.

Welcome

CLIFF TUTTLE has been a Pennsylvania lawyer for over 45 years and (inter alia) is a real estate litigator and legal writer. The posts in this blog are intended to provide general information about legal topics of interest to lawyers and consumers with a Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania focus. However, this information does not constitute legal advice and there is no lawyer-client relationship created when you read this blog. You are encouraged to leave comments but be aware that posted comments can be read by others. If you wish to contact me in privacy, please use the Contact Form located immediately below this message. I will reply promptly and in strict confidence.

Subscribe to our feed