Kudos from Time.com

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time.com ranking
We are pleased to announce that Yahoo! Answers has been nominated as one of Time.com’s 50 Best Websites of 2008. This list is compiled to show the best the Web has to offer—and we’re on it!

All of us on the Answers team are really proud of this recognition, and we hope you, the Community, feel equally as proud. It is your participation, passion, and knowledge that have enabled us to become the No. 1 knowledge Q&A site in the world, and to be recognized this way.

As you can imagine, this is a great achievement when you consider all the sites on the Web. So we wanted to say a big “Thank you and congratulations!” to the community for being so great—we couldn’t have done it without you!

If you want to read the whole article (available only in English at the moment), you can click here and see the other websites that were included on the 2008 Time.com list.

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Comments (85)

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  1. GO Y!A! go us!

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 7:51 am by colleen
  2. Glad they agree with us, the ones who find Yahoo!Answers the go-to answer place. Wouldn’t want to be without it.

    Congrats!

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 7:56 am by Linda
  3. Great…yes, for people with little time on their hands to flood the boards with their advertisements and spam. If I wanted to see that on a daily basis I would make an account on MySpace! Yahoo Answers is awful! The team behind YA is completely unprofessional in the way they handle matters and the time it takes to get matters sorted out. It’s like it’s run by a bunch of children! And the community is almost never listened to. Suggestions are made, questions are asked in the forums…answers and explanations are not given!

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 8:02 am by Heather
  4. Congratulations Yahoo Answers!I am part of the community ever since November 2007

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 8:10 am by Jack
  5. Yay for Yahoo! Lol!

    Congrats! I think this is a great site! I’m glad someone thought of it! :)

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 8:13 am by SweetKitty
  6. Hey guys!

    That’s good news to hear. No doubt Yahoo! Answrs is one of the most entertaining web-sites out there.

    I wish we could have ranked up a little more on the chart, but I am still plaeased.

    Congrats!

    Dad

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 8:14 am by Dad
  7. We, collectively as members, are proud to be 20th out of 50 ‘best websites of 2008′ selected by time.com. We look forward to gain better position in the year 2009 list.

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 8:19 am by navind
  8. Nice going Yahoo!!! You deserve it! Yahoo Answers is one of the first places I turn to whenever I need an answer to some pressing question. I’ve gotten alot of help from the Answers community. In fact there is a question on my mind right now that I would like the people of Yahoo Answers to help me with! Go check it out!!

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 8:20 am by l s
  9. Wow, that is great news! Still wish we could ranked up into the Top Ten, but #20 is still good! Definitely Congratulations!
    ??
    -Di

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 8:32 am by Di
  10. This is a great honor for the whole Yahoo Answers community. I had no idea we were such a popular website, but I am very glad to share this award with all of the other users. This website is one of the most helpful out there, and that is the plain truth. You can ask questions, and receiving answers from a variety of people is so rewarding! You can answer questions, which helps the asker and gives you personal knowledge. This website is a “win win” for everyone, and I am happy to be a part of it.

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 8:43 am by Jordan
  11. Wow!!! That’s great! I am proud of being on Yahoo! Answers. I was before but much so now. Great job everyone! =) Yahoo Answers, you rock!!!

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 8:49 am by Aleah
  12. Cool! I love Yahoo Answers! Maybe next year you guys will get a higher ranking!

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 8:50 am by 31flavas
  13. What information did they use to put this list together – or did they pick them out of a hat…

    How did “mega” sites like Google, Myspace, Facebook, iTunes – and countless others that are FAR more visited then Answers (or even the ENTIRE Yahoo site) – NOT make it on this list.

    Perhaps they based it on TROLL ACTIVITY ;) ;););)

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 9:00 am by kr_toronto
  14. Yay!!!

    Time is ultra-liberal too so Yahoo has a new America-hating-friend to play with.

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 9:13 am by Dan
  15. I’m so happy that our Y!A site made it to #20 on the list!!!
    Though I hope we can make it to the top 10 in next year’s ranking.
    But i do wonder what happened to sites like Google, Orkut, Myspace, Facebook n even the whole of Y!.

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 9:17 am by me
  16. Wow. Time must not ever get on here becuase this place is Troll heaven.

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 9:36 am by Bobby
  17. I am guessing Yahoo Admins paid for this. They by far are the worst part of Answers. They are very unprofessional.

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 9:38 am by Bobby
  18. Hey guys –

    More recently the New York Times posted a favorable account on our little social Q&A experiment. If you haven’t read it, take a look:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/magazine/29wwln-medium-t.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=yahoo+answers&st=nyt&oref=slogin

    Hope the rest of the team is doing well.

    Mario

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 9:56 am by mario
  19. yaaaay!

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 10:13 am by Sam
  20. Congratulations.
    So, how about rewarding those who provide the actual value to the site, by which I mean those who give good answers to questions? Without good answers, Yahoo Answers is just Yahoo.

    I would suggest some sort of rewards system that gave the top contributors backlinks to a site of their choice, or some other symbolic reward.

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 10:24 am by quadturbo4
  21. That is funny. Obviously TIME has not bothered to interview the actual users of this site. I wonder who they did talk to..and how they got the names..

    With all the contstant problems with ‘Updates’ and ‘maintenance,’ not to mention the lack of Customer Service (and I won’t get into the troll activity) I have a hard time believing in the validity of this ranking.

    The treatment users get from the so called Customer Service on Answers is reprehensible. And yet, if I contact CS for Yahoo Groups.. I can get as much info as I require and from ONE Rep too. I don’t have to explain my problem/question every single time. It is the difference between night and day..and Answers is most certainly the night. For we are always kept in the dark.

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 11:08 am by BennBJBear
  22. Congratulation! I just started using Answers and realised I missed out the wealth of info available by not using it ealier :-)

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 11:08 am by gaiusparx
  23. At one time, meaning when first implemented, Yahoo! Answers was the most informative and entertaining site ever. I often reflect fondly on the friendships formed with the late, great, original posters in the Religion and Spirituality forum. Folks like Jim Darwin, JIBBA JABBA,, The What Should I Do? Retard, JellyBean, Pirate Rachel, Moderation in All Things, Father K, The CPT, Selnyk, Reverend Red Mage, Lucky Fokker, Hayden Life, and countless others whom I miss terribly. Occasionally, some of the above mentioned stop in for a visit, but it’s all too brief, cut short by those spiteful people who insist on reporting every little thing, most of it invalid, and having long-held, level 7 accounts removed.

    When the brilliant originals left the site, Y!A R+S took a nosedive. For more than a year I’ve waited to see it return to the level of intelligence that held so many of us captive. But as of late, the most intelligent question asks us to determine whether one is pregnant.

    Y!A could have been something great, but our many thousands of requests and suggestions have fallen on deaf ears. Too bad it was left to ruin.

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 12:00 pm by RedQueen (retired from Y!A)
  24. Great job. Keep up the good work. Thanks for letting me be a part of.

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 12:33 pm by Dwight HIgdon
  25. wooot! Y!A deserves it! this place is super helpful (:

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 12:39 pm by alyssaaa(:
  26. im so glad

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 1:10 pm by tareq
  27. Congrats Y!A

    Well deserved- I always come to this site when I have a question or a problem. :)

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 1:20 pm by jay
  28. Lovely – so glad to be a part of it all.

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 2:21 pm by Jeanne
  29. its about time :)

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 2:31 pm by rollercoaster icon
  30. way to toot your own horn……..

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 2:38 pm by atia
  31. well aren’t we just too cool. i suggest jerry yang buy us all a drink or two. or you just gonna dump this dog on msn and never look back?

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 3:18 pm by Golden
  32. I’m not please with this site because of TROLLS.

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 3:25 pm by Mr. Doggie
  33. that’s cools

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 3:41 pm by Hannah Lam
  34. That’s awesome! I’m glad Yahoo websites are doing better than Google.

    Personally I believe Google is evil…

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 4:23 pm by Equanimity
  35. Congratulations to Yahoo Answers. I know we’ll hear from a few disgruntled whiners, but I’m happy for you guys

    Well, it looks like we won’t see kr_toronto, heather, bobby, BennBJBear, (and others whiners) on Answers anymore, since they hate it so much.
    What these few people don’t understand, they’re putting so much emphasis on trolls, reporting, etc, they’re forgetting all the GOOD things Answers is known for. PLUS, they’re exactly a BIG part of the same thing they’re hollering about.

    (shrug)

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 5:03 pm by chewbakka
  36. Ha!
    Congratulations! You have managed to top
    “Every Violation Report is investigated .
    Yes, by a human being.”
    What a load!
    May I assume that you all scurrying around voting for yourselves, explains not only your placement on this somewhat dubious list… but explains as well
    WHY Y!A IS IN AN ACUTE STATE OF DISREPAIR??
    THE QUESTIONS ARE NOT BEING POSTED TO PEOPLE’S IN-BOXES!!
    DO YOU KNOW THAT??
    YOU HAVE AN INFESTATION OF TROLLS AND STALKERS THAT BORDERS ON THE CRIMINAL.
    DO YOU KNOW THAT??
    Try getting ANY rating AT ALL when those -ugh-
    are all you have left to work with!
    C’mon Microsoft! Rescue Y!A.
    Bah.
    The “success” of Y!A has nothing to do with Yahoo!
    beyond the original idea,
    and EVERYTHING to do with those of us who PARTICIPATE!
    Congratulations? Really.
    When someone does a LEGITIMATE article; then we’ll see when you “place”.
    And for pity’s sake, stop writing yourself congratulatory “comments”! You look ridiculous.

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 5:08 pm by Ja’aj
  37. Bah.Didn’t I just ASK you not to post comments to your own Blog? Unbelievable.

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 5:12 pm by Ja’aj
  38. Who voted?

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 5:59 pm by Tater Salad
  39. Congratulations! I search for answers I need on Yahoo! Answers at least 3 times per week and always upon finding an answer I need, I then try to find a question I can answer for someone else. It’s kind of my way of “paying it forward”, if you will. As a result, I’ve only received good advice and in return have been chosen best answer frequently.
    In my experience, over my last 35yrs on this earth:
    A Person’s [Thought or Action]+[Positive or Negative] = What Will Be Returned To Them (boom-a-rang).
    Congratulations to the team and the creator/s of Yahoo Answers from those of us that “get it” and for those who “don’t”…….well, we can only feel sorry for them.
    Sincerely S.R :)

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 6:07 pm by S.R.
  40. only 20 HUH?…

    well…

    in years to come ….be expected to be in the top ten

    :P

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 6:52 pm by Siilenced
  41. ………

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 6:59 pm by le quang triet
  42. Are you serious?
    Everytme you actually get a worthy amout of Q&A and find great contacts the freaking trolls and stalkers come about and get you suspended.

    But it’s never the reporters fault, I beat most of the violations here happen because lazy people who can’t do their job just press delete.

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 7:33 pm by D
  43. Yahoo! doesn’t deserve this. I don’t know how you managed this. Who did you pay?

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 7:44 pm by Nick
  44. Well nice work Yahoo!Answers. In spite of the numerous nasty comments others have left, I do in fact, think this is a very helpful site and deserved a spot on this list.

    Congrats.

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 8:18 pm by Shannon
  45. Just ignore the trolls. They will always exist no matter what. So I suggest you all deal with it. Trolls, spammers, hackers, & losers will always exist, and i said, just learn to live with it.

    Congratulations to all the good Yahoo Answers Users who share the knowledge with the rest of the world.

    Comment posted on July 7th, 2008 at 11:21 pm by Robert
  46. congrats… wel i certainly enjoy my yahoo answers…especially when my answer is chosen the best..haha

    Comment posted on July 8th, 2008 at 12:32 am by alin
  47. That’s great that Y/A made the top list of websites.
    When I first used this a couple of years ago, I got good, sound, reasonable answers to questions I posed. Now I get silly responses from 10 year old (they say that they are this age) and Y/A apparently
    has a rule that states you must be 13.

    Over the past year answers often come in the form of:
    IDK, who cares.

    Questions have switched away from legitimately asking something that you either—do not have the answer for or are looking for other’s input.

    The questions are ofte: I’m 13 and 5′, is 90lbs too fat,
    Or how about the ones on with a Photobucket link–
    “Am I pretty”, “How would you rate me”. Poll–Do you eat your buggers?” These are real questions!!

    Unfortunately, I beleive that Y/A has turned into a new forum for facebook.com and myspace.com kids who have found a new outlet.

    I think there needs to be greater monitoring and reporting, to keep this a genuine Y/A format that it was intended to be and not—–a popularity contest,
    or questions riddled with silly or inprobable subject matter.

    Comment posted on July 8th, 2008 at 2:34 am by Cindi
  48. you donot deserve the award. Your guidelines are stupid and you suspend people automaticaly.and when they try to get the accont backyou automaticaly reject that to. Epic fail.

    should have given it to i am bored

    Comment posted on July 8th, 2008 at 3:33 am by me
  49. Kudos to all of us, the members especially.

    If we keep hacking away at the imperfections, and
    work to get this site even better, we’ll soon be #1!

    Oh, and you can buy the TC’s a drink. lol. :)

    Comment posted on July 8th, 2008 at 6:02 am by C’kins
  50. Congratulations!
    I find it hilarious that people are complaining because they “forget” to follow the guidelines and therefore end up suspended or deleted. Y!A deserves the award for every legitimate and well thought out question and detailed answer.

    Comment posted on July 8th, 2008 at 7:33 am by Unafraid
  51. Well, I’ll be. I’ve found Y! Answers a useful site for some needfuls but not others; as of 3 July 2008 I hadn’t an Answer I could use for an Avatar Pageant, but the real problem withal may be a program-code issue in sister site Y! Bix on which I’ve no data. Well done anchoring the Top 20, Answers, and let’s see if you can better it for ‘09.

    Comment posted on July 8th, 2008 at 8:23 am by B. C. Schmerker
  52. Great. Even with all the immature kids and mature trolls, the basic product still shined through. Congratulations, Y!Amsters!

    Comment posted on July 8th, 2008 at 9:19 am by Richard
  53. that’s wonderful, but maybe try getting rid of all the TROLLS….stop thinking you’re so great…you report all the legit questions and let the trolls stay on…do you not realize we hate you?

    Comment posted on July 8th, 2008 at 10:27 am by anonymous
  54. Wow, that’s a laugh.

    Yahoo lets trolls run rampant, and lets a reporting system that CAN and HAS BEEN ABUSED run rampant, yet still it’s a best site?

    It’s the users who have donated their time and effort to Answers who make it great, by pooling their resources and generously contributing their expertise.

    However, having been one of these generous people who has had more than one Answers account “suspended” (read: deleted), I’m not going to do so again since Yahoo seems generally unresponsive to numerous complaints about their shoddy reporting system and unresponsive customer service.

    Comment posted on July 8th, 2008 at 10:34 am by Alan
  55. Congratulations. Yahoo! Answers is one of a kind. A very useful a extremely easy to use site. Of course there is still room for improvement but overall I think you deserved to be on that list.

    Comment posted on July 8th, 2008 at 10:42 am by Marguerite Jasmin
  56. This website is great..it has helped me with alot of my school work! I love this site! Keep up the good work!

    Comment posted on July 8th, 2008 at 11:32 am by jose
  57. Wow, I can’t believe it. This is one of the worst run and least organized sites I have ever seen. You fooled them so good for you, I guess

    Comment posted on July 8th, 2008 at 12:41 pm by Brian
  58. I must say I love Y!A, but the poll itself is a bit misleading. The list itself was drawn up by Time.com staff, and staffer Anita Hamilton has a podcast highlighting some of the sites they picked and HER reasons for liking the sites. Suffice to say that not everyone needs to agree with her. The list was then voted on by Time.com users and so the websites changed position from where the Time staffers had put them. Eg. Anita Hamilton says that Picnik.com is the “best”site, but it is not as popular as she thinks and ends up at no. 29. Because of the extremely limited number of voters, the list is hardly a reliable poll. Yahoo Answers received 2528 votes and came in 20th. It had an average rating of 52 on a scale of 1-100, where the top site had a rating of 94 and the bottom side 19. This makes Y!A closer to the bottom than the top (94-52=44, 52-19=33), even though it is in the top 20. So while Y!A is a great site, the poll is hardly a reliable guide and actually seems to rate Y!A quite negatively.

    Comment posted on July 8th, 2008 at 12:48 pm by Avman
  59. the congratulations goes to us!it is a good site,but would be great if there weren’t trolls and deletions of good people’s accounts!

    Comment posted on July 8th, 2008 at 12:53 pm by Haroula
  60. Congratulations! Y!A is really useful an fun! ^^

    Comment posted on July 8th, 2008 at 1:04 pm by FreedomWingz
  61. Congratulations! I’m proud of being a member of Y!A community! You deserved it Yahoo!

    Comment posted on July 8th, 2008 at 1:16 pm by Charlotte J
  62. Wait, so you spent your time writing up this worthless notification, that apparently got less than rave reviews from your own users, but allow people’s accounts to get deleted daily, while trolls with 10 profiles make their way to the leaderboards? Congrats Yahoo! on another epic failure.

    Comment posted on July 8th, 2008 at 1:24 pm by Nosoop4u246
  63. CONGRATS! to the Yahoo! Answers Team for a JOB WELL DONE!!!

    Comment posted on July 8th, 2008 at 2:13 pm by Arnie Vios
  64. congrats!yahoo answers is awesome!

    Comment posted on July 8th, 2008 at 2:19 pm by majoyree
  65. Well deserved!! Time knows the best when it see it. I love Yahoo Answers, whoda thought of something like this, except the great folks at Yahoo!!!!

    Comment posted on July 8th, 2008 at 4:37 pm by Kashonna
  66. Congratulation Y/A I am proud to be a member.

    Comment posted on July 8th, 2008 at 7:02 pm by Millie
  67. Congrats Y!A..

    Im proud to be a member!

    Comment posted on July 8th, 2008 at 7:20 pm by eecey2002
  68. “Questions are arranged both by topic and what’s most popular (e.g., “Is rinsing your hair with milk good for it?”) and get all sorts of amusing, creative and, occasionally, helpful responses.”

    When are these occasions with helpful responses? Just kidding. Congrats Y!A.

    Comment posted on July 8th, 2008 at 8:27 pm by ahandle101
  69. WOW!! Y!A ROCKKKKSSS. Heartiest CONGRATS 2 each one of us who belong to the family-the admin ppl,ntwrk ppl as well the millions of users worldwide..
    wishing u more success in the yrs 2 come..

    Comment posted on July 8th, 2008 at 11:49 pm by periwinkle
  70. i want a fathful girlfriend.

    Comment posted on July 9th, 2008 at 1:07 am by sandeep pundir
  71. really, wonderful job. deleting peoples’ accounts and letting the trolls stay on is a top-notch, intelligent decision. you deserve your awards, really, you do.

    Comment posted on July 9th, 2008 at 7:49 am by anonymous
  72. “How did mega sites like Google, Myspace, Facebook, iTunes – and countless others that are FAR more visited then Answers (or even the ENTIRE Yahoo site) – NOT make it on this list.”

    Well, the picture above is just showing ranks 30-15, so maybe they’re below 15. I’m not sure though, since I never saw the whole list.

    Comment posted on July 9th, 2008 at 7:50 am by ha
  73. Oops, nevermind. I didn’t even notice the link to the website that shows that full list.

    My bad.

    Comment posted on July 9th, 2008 at 7:54 am by ha
  74. I love Y!A!!!!

    However, there are far too many problems. The emails are not working and there are too many breathers!!! The biggest problem is the reporting that goes on. It should not be that easy for one person to continue to report you until your account is suspended. And then when you write the Y!A Team, they seem to do nothing about it!!!!!

    Maybe you should have to be reported by 3 people before the question is removed – IDK – just a thought.

    If Y!A does not change something to make the users happpy – they will not make that list next year.

    We love Y!A!!!!

    Please fix the problems!!!!

    CONGRATULATIONS FOR MAKING THE LIST!!!!

    Hugs,
    Penny Laine

    Comment posted on July 9th, 2008 at 8:20 am by Penny Laine
  75. Oh, yes, Yahoo! you really rock! your hard and creative work is at least awarded, congratulations!

    Comment posted on July 9th, 2008 at 11:12 am by Manuel
  76. Surprise,Surprise?

    Comment posted on July 10th, 2008 at 9:50 am by Tamma Johnson
  77. yea nice job, looks like all the friggin coffee breaks and breathers finally paid off…

    Comment posted on July 10th, 2008 at 1:28 pm by jedimaster
  78. WOOHOO!!

    Comment posted on July 10th, 2008 at 7:22 pm by sfd
  79. Wooo,
    Feels great :)

    Comment posted on July 10th, 2008 at 8:06 pm by Kohaku
  80. Yahoo Answers is also listed here:

    http://www.distancedegrees.com/2008/lose-your-wikipedia-crutch-100-places-to-go-for-good-answers-online/

    Why, I don’t know. It’s nothing but a time-burner, or for those searching for answers to those life-changing questions like:

    Am I pretty?
    What Miley Cyrus’s email address?
    What can I have for lunch?
    What’s 2+2?

    Comment posted on July 11th, 2008 at 9:03 am by Ignatz Horowitz
  81. Wow, kudos from a leftist rag to a leftist propaganda outlet – how surprising.

    Comment posted on July 11th, 2008 at 9:33 am by yastaffrtotallyqueer
  82. Hello ALL:

    Congratulations on this achievement and Thank You Time.com whose magazines I have been subscribing since 1990 and being used as my bedtime reading material.

    I have been in Y!A Q&A from 24th April 2006 and now in Level-7 having about 31,000 points and 42% Best Answers under my belt (lol).

    Now end of bragging and my personal feelings about Y!A:

    I found this site completely different than anything we came across at that time. I got my knowledge about the world enhanced, particularly how people think about any current or other issues from their own standing which are spread almost all over the world.

    We can say that Y!A is a ‘melting-pot’ of ideas and views from all the nations’ people of the world and unlike any seminar, anybody can participate in this forum, this itself is the uniqueness of this website.

    Hope Y!AT and its Users would make this site more interesting and lively in the coming days, months and years.

    Congratulations!!

    Hafiz

    Comment posted on July 11th, 2008 at 9:44 am by M. Hafiz Ullah
  83. Cangrats dude, goahead

    Comment posted on July 15th, 2008 at 12:54 am by Ajanthan
  84. its very usefull to all of us.. really nice

    Comment posted on July 15th, 2008 at 12:55 am by Ajanthan
  85. go head with your bad slef

    Comment posted on July 15th, 2008 at 10:33 am by dimond $

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