Help

Hunch is a recommendation tool that gets smarter the more you use it. After asking you 10 questions or less, Hunch will provide a concrete recommendation for dilemmas of every kind. link

Contributions can take many forms. When Hunch makes a recommendation, it will also show you why it proposed what it did. If you disagree with some of the reasoning, you can correct it. If you think Hunch missed asking a crucial question, you can submit one. And if you think Hunch is missing a good result, you can add that, too. Hunch collects and organizes all this input so that it becomes smarter for the next user.link

Hunch gets smarter in two ways. First, since Hunch is powered by collective user knowledge, topics mature over time. Newly submitted topics often won't be very smart at first, but as more and more people train and refine them, the topics will get much smarter. Second, Hunch's recommendations will become increasingly customized for you the more Hunch gets to know you. How does that happen? By your trying many topics and also answering the 'Teach Hunch About You' questions which appear on the top right of the homepage and in the 'About' tab as you answer a topic's questions.link

Some of the recommendation pages on Hunch link to external sites where you can purchase the product or service that Hunch proposed. If you do, Hunch may earn a referral fee from the merchant. The presence of a link to a retailer has no effect on the recommendations that Hunch proposes. Within a given topic, it's likely that some result pages will link to an online retailer, and others won't. Some topics don't have these sorts of links at all.link

Often, seemingly unrelated questions are great in matching users and results. For example, did you know that Republicans are correlated with Fiji Water and Democrats are often seen drinking Evian? Hunch learns about these correlations by examining how the 'Teach Hunch About You' questions on the homepage correspond in aggregate to the recommendations which users prefer. Over time, the Teach Hunch About You questions which are found to be predictive within given topics will be 'promoted' so that they are asked within those topics.link

Topics are added continually based on suggestions from users. If you have an idea for a new topic, use the build-a-topic wizard to create the topic and get it started with a few questions and results. Note that some topic submissions are subject to Hunch's Community Guidelines.link

Just click the "Skip this question" link at the bottom of the question, and the question will be disregarded when Hunch makes a recommendation.link

"About me" questions have to do with who you are and what makes you tick. Hunch's algorithm chooses them after learning that they correlate to the preferences people have for the results in the topic.link

It's pretty simple: Hunch uses your answers to improve the accuracy of the recommendations given to you. Your answers are also used to group you with you other users who have answered questions in a similar way. One thing we won't ever do with your specific answers is sell them to other companies.link

No. That's simply not the business we're in. Hunch uses your answers to provide you with accurate and customized recommendations. So how do we make money? Some of Hunch's recommendation pages display links to external sites, and some of those sites share with us a percentage of any purchases made by Hunch users.link

When you allow Hunch to remember your answers, the system can make better predictions for you about future topics. It's just like the way a trusted friend gets to know you better over time, and thus can provide you with better advice. For example, Hunch might learn from one topic that you prefer electronics that are easy to use, and then it can apply that learning to future topics you try. By default, your account is set to have Hunch remember your answers in this way. If you'd prefer to disable this setting, you can do so in your user profile. A quick way to review all your remembered answers is to choose the 'Your Answers' option in the 'You' menu at the top of the homepage.link

Sure you can. Sharing 'Teach Hunch About You' answers is a fun way to show the world how you think about specific questions and issues. To make those answers visible to others in your user profile, click the "Display my remembered answers" box within the "preferences" tab of your account profile. Note that 'Teach Hunch About You' questions can appear both on the 'Teach Hunch About You' area of the homepage, and also within individual topics. A quick way to review all your remembered answers is to choose the 'Your Answers' option in the 'You' menu at the top of the homepage.link

You can delete individual remembered answers by clicking the "x" adjacent to any remembered answers shown at the bottom of your user profile. You can also delete all your remembered answers by clicking the "clear all" button in the 'preferences' section of your account profile. But note that when you delete remembered answers, your future recommendations may not be as accurate. That's because the more Hunch knows about you, the better its predictions for you will be.link

No. But your results will be better if you do, because Hunch will remember your 'About me' answers in order to better customize results to you.link

The starting questions on Hunch ("Which dog should I get?", "Where should I go on vacation?") are also sometimes called "topics." The follow-up questions within a topic ("Are you looking for a big or small dog?", "Will you be traveling with children?") are simply called "Questions." The recommendations which Hunch displays as you answer the series of follow-up questions are simply called 'recommendations' or 'recommendation outcomes'. ("Yes, you should consider asking for a raise", "No, you shouldn't break up") link

A "Wild Card" is a randomly chosen result within the topic you just played. It may or may not meet any of the criteria of your answers in the topic, but it can be an interesting way to discover new things that you just might like. link

Hunch uses the 'Yes' and 'No' feedback to determine the popularity of results. Think of the "Do you like this [x]?" text on recommendation pages as a short hand way of really saying, "Based on the ways you answered the questions within this topic, and what you can read (and perhaps already know) about the recommendation proposed here, does this seem like a reasonable recommendation to you?" So if you have direct experience with the proposed recommendation (maybe you own it, or have used it), that's great. But even if you don't, your impression of the recommendation compared to the questions you answered still provides valuable feedback. If you just don't feel like you have enough to go on to say one way or another, just don't answer the "Do you like this [x]?" question.link

Pros/Cons are meant to provide meaningful commentary about the proposed recommendation itself based on your direct experience with it or your impression of it. For example, for a result of 'Star Wars', you might add a pro of "Spectacular special effects for its time, a breakthrough movie." What pros/cons are NOT for is to comment on the process which led to the result (in this case, perhaps: "Bad pick. I wanted a newer movie.") We will tend to delete the latter type of comments because they don't add much value for other users. However, if you do receive what you consider a bad recommendation, a much more meaningful way to tell Hunch is to click the 'No' feedback box on the recommendation page, to answer the question: "Do you like this [x]?" That will train Hunch to be smarter.link

The more 'Teach Hunch About You' questions you answer, the more Hunch is able to associate your personality and preferences with other people who have answered these questions in a similar way. Hunch can then consider an item's popularity among like-minded people when considering how much you might like an item yourself. Similarly, by showing Pros & Cons left by people similar to you, the commentary should be more relevant and customized to you.link

These numbers represent the number of people who clicked 'Yes' or 'No' on recommendation pages to answer the question: "Do you like this [x]?" This is one metric to show how well a topic is leading users to a recommendation they like. Topics with low 'yes' rates probably need more questions, better recommendation outcomes, more training, or all of these. Topic with high 'yes' rates are probably pretty mature already.link

You can add a recommendation outcome to your list of favorites by clicking this link. Favorites are a convenient way to remember and revisit recommendations of interest to you. The list of your favorite recommendation is shown on your account profile page. Adding a favorite also teaches Hunch that you really like the item, so Hunch will consider proposing it to other users who are similar to you.link

When you watch a topic, activity for that topic (e.g. new questions or new recommendation outcomes) will appear in your activity feed on the homepage.link

Following is a way to watch the activities of someone of interest to you. When you follow someone, their contributions will be shown on your activity feed. You can follow someone by clicking the "Follow" link on the top right of any user's profile page. Click the same link again to stop following the user. You can get an overview of who you're following and who is following you by going to the 'Your Contacts' option on the 'Community' menu on the homepage.link

We appreciate your help finding mistakes! You can post these in our bug topic in the Hunch forum, here: http://www.hunch.com/forums/help/bug-reports/link

When someone follows you, your contributions will be shown on their activity feed. You can get an overview of who you're following and who is following you by going to the 'Your Contacts' option within the 'Community' menu on the homepage. You can also use this page to block people from following you.link

Hunch is developing a mobile version and we'll announce it on the Hunch blog when it's available.link

To start a new topic, go to the homepage, then click the 'Create Topic' option within the 'Topics' Menu at the top of the page. Before you can do this, however, you have to have played at least 5 topics!link

Topics should be phrased in either a question form to express a decision, dilemma, or choice, or as a short descriptive name which describes the topic's recommendation outcomes. Examples: Which BluRay player should I buy?, Cameras, New Cars, Should I bleach my teeth?) It is Hunch convention to express topics in the first person/"I" case (e.g. Which gift should I buy?), not the second person/"you" case (e.g. Which gift should you buy?)link

Tags are keywords used as shortcuts to help find a topic, for example in search. So a tag for the topic "Which portable stereo should I get?" might be "boom box." A single topic can have many tags. You can add tags either when you create or topic, or on the 'Topic Info' page (accessible from the Topics menu).link

New topics go into the Topic Workshop as soon as they are submitted. (Topics menu -> Workshop) This is a place where new topics can be refined, discussed, and debated prior to their publication to the rest of Hunch. At this point the topic won't appear anywhere else on Hunch - not on the home page, not in search (except for people who choose on their Settings page to view Workshop items). Within the Workshop, you can play topics and add results and questions to topics. You can also give them a thumbs up/down vote to indicate whether you feel each topic deserves a promotion out of the Workshop and onto the homepage. You can add to your own or anyone else's topics in the Workshop, just as you can do with published topics.link

Topics in the Workshop which attract contributions and enough "Thumbs-up" votes eventually get promoted to the general Hunch Corpus. But if a Workshop topic receives enough "thumbs-down" votes or is simply languishing for an extended period of time without attracting more contributions, it will eventually be placed "In hibernation". When this happens, the topic (and any related questions or results for that topic) are no longer visible in the Workshop and are designated "In hibernation" on the contributor's contributions page. This doesn't mean the topic is dead, though. You can still work on it and improve it. If any edits or additions are made to "In hibernation" content, the entire topic will be automatically resubmitted to the Workshop with a fresh date and with its votes reset to zero.link

For a thorough set of guidelines and suggestions, see the Hunch Style Guide.
Here are some quick pointers:

• Use proper spelling and grammar and steer clear of offensive content.
• Try to have each answer be mutually exclusive (not overlapping with other answers). Ex: Q:"Do you wear corrective lenses?" A: "Yes, glasses", "Yes, contacts", "No" isn't great because 2 different answers might apply.
• Phrase the question using 'you', but the answer using 'I'. Example: "What do you think about global warming?" Answer: "I'm very concerned", or "I find the issue to be overblown"
• Try to have no more than 6 possible answers to a question. Two to four is even better.
• Capitalize the first word of each answer.
• Try to distinguish between general preferences and specific moods. For example, "What type of movie are you in the mood for?" and "What type of movie do you generally like?" are both good questions, but very different.
• Hunch style is to not end answers with a period, unless the answer has more than one sentence. Ex: "I'd rather not" wouldn't have a period, but "I don't like them. Tennis shoes are better." would have periods.

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These options are available when you click the 'Advanced' link shown on the first step of the 'Add topic' wizard. Standard questions have a text question and text answers, e.g. Q: How old are you? A: 18-34, 35-49. Image questions include a picture in the question (with or without accompanying text) and then have text answers. e.g. You might upload a picture of a starry sky with the text "What does this convey to you?" A: Dark and scary, Limitless possibility. A question with image answers has a text question and pictures (with no accompanying text) as the answers. e.g. Q: "Which of these causes you stress?" A: (picture of a traffic jam), (picture of a piled high workplace inbox), (picture of prices on a gas pump)link

No. On Hunch, the system determines on its own the best way to order questions. The order is chosen to achieve the greatest possible accuracy in a topic's results.link

Go to your profile page (click on your name at the top of any Hunch screen) and then click on the 'See All' link in the 'Contributions' section. You'll see an 'edit' and 'delete' link next to your recent contributions. After a certain point when contributions have received lots of training, 'Edit' and 'Delete' will be replaced by a single option of 'Disavow'. At that point, the contribution can no longer be edited or deleted. But 'disavow' will change the content's attribution from you to 'anon' (and therefore it won't appear any more in your contribution list). The content will remain active in Hunch.link

New questions which are submitted become immediate candidates for the Hunch algorithm to ask. Exactly when and how often a given question is asked depends on how well the algorithm determines it can predict the accuracy of recommendations. This is determined, among other things, by how other questions were answered and how many remembered answers a user has.link

THAY questions are a special case. Since they appear on the Hunch homepage and will be potentially shown to every logged-in user, THAY submissions receive a higher level of editorial scrutiny than other questions. To submit one, you first have to have answered all the existing THAY questions (there are already more than 1,000!) This is to reduce the likelihood that you'll submit a question which is already in the system. Even then, the process remains selective. To improve the likelihood of your THAY submission being published, here are some tips: * keep THAY questions short and punchy. * target 2 to a maximum of 4 answers. * use a picture for the question or for the answers when it will add value. * ensure at least one answer applies to everyone, and that answers are mutually exlucisve.link

On every result page you'll see a 'why did I get this result?' link. When you click on that, you'll see all the questions Hunch has on file for that topic, and how Hunch believes each answer corresponds with the recommendations you're reviewing at the time. If you disagree with one of the answers, you can change it using the 'Fix this' link adjacent to each question. As a shortcut, you can also choose the 'Fix this Hunch' option from the 'Actions' menu which appears on the right side of each result page. The 'fix' link will take you to the 'Edit result training page'. (see next FAQ for more details)link

'Trained questions' have been set by a human to correspond with the result in some way. The current answer is shown in red. If you feel it's wrong, you can correct it/change it by clicking 'fix this', choosing the right answer, and then clicking 'save'. Your change will become part of the change history for the question/result. 'Irrelevant questions' don't apply to the result currently being viewed, and therefore can't be trained. 'Untrained' questions are in need of human training to associate their answers with the item being viewed (please train them if you can!). Finally, 'Learned' questions are not human trained, but rather are correlated to the result based on Hunch's machine-learning algorithm. You can view how they are associated with the result, but you can't make any changes to these.link

Although Hunch is designed for users 18 and over, we strive for the content to have no more than about a PG-13 rating. Some thoughtful, tasteful, adult-related themes are ok, particularly in the health category. But raunchy or gratuitously salacious content isn't cool. There are plenty of other sites for that. If it would make you blush if it were mentioned in front of your grandmother, it probably doesn't belong here. This is as much art as science, so work with us and we'll work with you. You can read more in our Community Guidelines.link

The 'Teach Topic' option within the 'Topics' menu takes you to a summary page where you can contribute to the topic in several ways, from writing pros/cons for many items, to training a result, to training a question.link

Training a result means you choose a recommendation outcome of your choice (say, a certain pair of sneakers) within a particular topic and then help Hunch to understand how that result corresponds to the pool of questions associated with that topic. This is helpful when you have particularly strong knowledge about a specific result within a topic.link

History pages keep a running record of all the contributions and training in the topic. To see what changed from an old revision to the most recent one, click the button next to the old version of interest and then click the 'Compare Selected Versions' button. You'll see a side by side summary of the two versions, with changed fields highlighted. To revert to the older version shown, click the 'revert to this one' link above the version you want. To start or view a discussion about the changes, click the 'discuss' link.link

The vast majority of Hunch's follow-up questions and recommendations can be edited by any logged in user. There are some questions and results, though, which have such extensive training and have been so well reviewed already, that they are locked (by staff) from further user editing. The reason is that changes to these could immediately and significantly degrade the quality of the topic. When this is the case, a lock symbol will appear where the 'edit' link normally would. Similarly, there are a few topics which are locked completely, so their name and attributes can't be changed. "Which Hunch user should I follow?" is one such example. It is populated automatically on a daily basis. link

Pros & Cons are a qualitative supplement to Hunch's machine learning, but they do not directly affect the questions asked within a topic or when a particular recommendation is proposed. To ensure that your opinion about a result is captured by Hunch's core quantitative algorithm, be sure to click the "Yes" or "No" feedback button on the item's results page.link

Yes. You can see it here.link

You can request a password reminder on the login page. You will need to have access to the original email you used when you created your account.link

You can change your email address and manage other account settings by clicking the "Settings" link at the top of any page.link

Click the 'Settings' link while you're logged in, and enable the option for "Keep me informed about Hunch happenings." If this is the first time you've checked that box, you'll be sent a one-time confirmation email that you'll need to click as a final step.link

Yes. Just click on your original answer next to the question you want to change, in the list of remembered questions on your profile page.link

Tags are way to use individual words or phrases to let the world know what makes you tick. You can choose any tag you like (as long as it follows our common-sense community guidelines). Once two or more people use the same tag, you can click on the tag's name to see all users who have identified themselves with that tag.link

You can control which portions of your profile are public using the 'Preferences' tab of settings.link

"Cred" stands for "Credibility" and credibility is a summary of your Hunch contributions.link

Besides being twangy stringed instruments that come in 4, 5, or 6 string versions, banjos are a type of badge indicating how much you've contributed to Hunch. You earn banjos when you provide feedback, suggest new results, contribute questions, or even just log in. Different activities have different banjo scores. The number of banjos you have is shown at the top of your user profile.link

Hunch team member Caterina Fake has often talked about mainstream content vs. user-generated content being the difference between watching a television show vs. telling stories around a fire; or listening to Britney Spears vs. grabbing your banjo, going down to the parlor and putting the band together: Uncle Greg on the jug, Mom on guitar, Gertrude on vocals and Lucy on the mandolin. Dad supplies the bad jokes, the clapping, and the whooping. Given all that, we weren't going to call them "Hunch Points" or something similarly uninspired. The Hunch currency had to be "banjos". In retrospect, it's obvious. link

Badges represent all the different ways you've contributed to Hunch. Banjos are one type of badge; they represent a numerical summary of your total contributions. Other badges represent the type of content you've contributed, for example the categories where you have been a very active contributor.link

	Badge	When
Banjos
	100 Banjos Club	Earned 100 Banjos
	500 Banjos Club	Earned 500 Banjos
	1,000 Banjos Club	Earned 1,000 Banjos
	5,000 Banjos Club	Earned 5000 Banjos
	10,000 Banjos Club	Earned 10,000 Banjos
	Category Contributor	Earned 1,000 Banjos in one category
Impact Badges
	Architect	Created a topic with more than 100|500|1000 positive feedbacks
	Inventor	Created a result with more than 100|500|1000 positive feedbacks
	Philosopher	Created a question with more than 100|500|1000 positive feedbacks
	Critic	Authored pro/cons totaling more than 10|100|1000 helpfuls
	Early Bird	First user to review a result with more than 100|1000 positive feedbacks
Teach Hunch Badges
	Teacher	Earned 100 Banjos in Teach Hunch
	Instructor	Earned 500 Banjos in Teach Hunch
	Lecturer	Earned 1,000 Banjos in Teach Hunch
	Professor	Earned 5,000 Banjos in Teach Hunch
Personality Badges
	Curious	Tried more than 20 topics
	Popular	Profile viewed more than 100|500|1000 in the past 30 days
	Skeptic	More than 80% of feedbacks given are negative
	Optimist	More than 80% of feedbacks given are positive
	On fire	Earned more than 500 banjos in the past 7 days
	Newbie	Joined Hunch in past 30 days
	Pioneer	One of the first users to join Hunch
	Good Citizen	Completed profile

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Flecks are little bits of feedback from other Hunch users, aka props, kudos, thanks or backslapping. You get them when someone gives one of your pros/cons a thumbs up, or when they fleck you for a question, result or topic that you've contributed. You can give them to other people from their profile pages, or inline in a topic play. Written flecks must be approved by the person receiving the fleck before they are visible from their profile page. link

Visit our job pages to review available openings.link

Glad you asked. If you didn't opt-in to receive the newsletter when you created your account, you can do so by clicking the 'account settings' tab while editing your user profile. link

We welcome your introduction/proposal by email. Please send to our marketing department.link

We'd love to hear from you. Drop us a line and we'll follow up with you promptly.link

We began a small preview period in the fall of 2008, and began to open the site to everyone on March 27, 2009. Then we launched the site to the public on June 15, 2009. When we say 'We', we mean the team. The company is based in New York City.link

If you come across content on Hunch which you feel violates a copyright, please let us know and we'll investigate. Our Copyright Guidelines provide instructions on how to submit a claim of copyright infringement.link

Hunch's Community Guidelines outline no-no's when it comes to user-submitted contributions. It's mostly common sense. If you see something on the site that violates these guidelines or basic standards of decency, you can let us know by clicking the flag icon next to the item, and we'll investigate. If there's not a flag next to the item, you can still contact us to let us know your concern.link