Oftentimes, we all have questions that we need answered. So where do you go when you have a pressing issue that can’t wait another moment? Yahoo! Answers!
Yahoo! answers is a community driven Q&A site where anyone can ask any question and have it answered by other members of the site. It’s not difficult to use this amazing tool either. Just sign up for a Yahoo! account, pick a cool nickname, and start answering the questions of the community.
The site itself is divided into many sections such as sports and travel; when you ask a question, you choose what section you want that question to be placed in. These sections are in place to organize the site content clearly. Placing your question in the wrong section simply confuses everyone else, which is not what anyone wants.
Yahoo! has taken the liberty of turning a single-purpose web tool into a game! When you first sign up, you are given 100 “points.” The earned points determine your rank in the community. When you compile enough points, you can gain levels, and thereby unlock more features in the site. You can earn and lose points in many ways, from answering questions (+2), to being voted as having the best answers (+10), to asking questions of your own (-5). This system gives people a real purpose to participate in the active community in the site.
The people who use Yahoo! Answers have many different reasons for doing so. These differences make up the separate community groups on Yahoo!
A good chunk of the users Contributors: people who take time out of their lives to provide useful and pertinent information to the many clueless people on the website. Everyone likes these people because they always make sure they research their answers and make sure that their info is correct.
Most frequently though, we see the Clueless. These are members that make it their goal to ask annoying questions with no context, background, or proper grammar. These people constantly and unwittingly bother the Contributors, and bring great joy to the Trolls.
Which brings us to the last major group: the Trolls. It is their life’s purpose to give stupid and/or incorrect answers to every annoying question they find. The trolls will usual be easy to spot due to their false names. While their numbers are few, it would be wise to simply ignore any answers these people put up. Always look for legitimate sources. While the Trolls are funny, they don’t bring much usefulness to the community. An example from the consumer electronics section would be when some unnamed person asked whether or not iPods are toxic. Apparently he had smashed his to pieces with a hammer, and he thought the dust might be harmful to his health. Then came along a clever troll, who proceeded to not inform him of any safety procedure or other logic, but to simply let him know that he was going to die. Right then.
Luckily, answers like this are few and far between.
With all these people and features, Yahoo! Answers has made itself the number one place to go when you have a question. Need some information in a pinch? Visit Yahoo! Answers today!
