The Ask Agent™ system allows users to enter natural language queries on a variety of topics and receive quality-controlled answers from registered Advisors across the Internet.

All queries are rated by the Council of Advisors in the topic you've selected before being passed on to the registered Advisors for answering. Note: The Council cannot see your name or email when rating the query. Detailed queries generally receive higher ratings. Queries which can be easily answered by searching through the system receive lower ratings. As an example, please see the Query Rating Criteria on Ammas.com. The amount of points an Advisor earns for answering a query depends on the query's rating, so the higher the rating, the more quickly you are likely to receive a response from the Advisors.

Yes. There are several ways to do this. 1) Ask high quality questions (see above), and 2) Increase your User Value by

• Adding money through your "My Advisors" account, or
• shopping at an affiliated e-Shop, or
• giving good advice to users and moving up the rankings.

To understand User Value, please log into your "My Advisors" account. (Use the "forgot password" option if you don't know your password). The higher your User Value, the higher you move up the user rankings of the system. The higher your ranking, the higher priority your questions receive from the Advisors.

There are three ways to increase your User Value. You can

• log into My Advisors and add money to your account. Use the "forgot password" option if you don't know your password.
• Shop at an affiliated e-store.
• Give advice and move up the rankings. The higher you move up the rankings, the more User Value you earn.

The system receives hundreds of queries each day. We needed a way to prioritize them to prevent spamming, malicious use, and waste of time. The system takes many factors into account when priortizing queries. One of those factors is what the Council of Advisors considers the value of the query. As an example, you can see the Query Rating Criteria on Ammas.com.

Your queries are rated by the top-ranked advisors in the category -- the Council Members. More than one Council Member can rate your query. The system takes the average. To preven grossly unfair ratings, Council Members who deviate substantially in their rating from their peers gradually lose points and fall off the Council.

On some systems you can give gratuity. Each time you give gratuity to an Advisor your User Value goes up, and the Advisor's ranking goes up. You can check your User Value through "My Advisors". (Use the "forgot password" option if you don't know your password). User Value also takes into account the number and rating of the queries you've asked so far.

It depends on the rating your query has received and your current User Value. To see your User Value, go to "My Advisors." Use the "forgot password" option if you don't know your password.

You will be notified by email when the query is rated by at least one member of the Council. The email will guide you as to how to view the response. You will also be notified by email each time a new answer comes in that has been rated by at least one Council member in the category.

On some systems you can store funds in your User Account for distribution at a later date. This saves money for everyone -- including yourself -- because it reduces the number of times the transaction must go through financial institutions, which take a percentage on each transaction. It also increases your User Value immediately! The money remains in your account for as long as you wish. There is no time limit, but the money cannot be refunded.

On some systems you can add money to your user acount by logging into "My Advisors."

When you ask a question through the Ask Agent™ -- if you haven't selected the "Special and Private Delivery" option -- the question is distributed to all of the Advisors who are registered in the category you selected. When an Advisor responds to your query, the response goes to a special Council of Advisors for that category, who must approve and rate the response. When you view the response, you see the average rating the response has received so far. The rating will change as more Council Members have a chance to view it. You can also see how the Advisor who gave the advice compares with other Advisors in terms of rank. Just click on the "Top Advisors" link at the top of each category page and you will see the Advisors listed by rank.

The Ask Agent™ feature allows users to receive several responses to a single query. The rating system will tell you which response the Council of Advisors rates highest. If two responses are conflicting and given the same rating, please submit the conflicting responses through Ask Agent™ again and request a clarification. You can also see how the Advisors who gave the advice compare with other Advisors in the category by clicking on the "Top Advisors" link at the top of each category page.