Make your Answers shine
Hello, everyone:
We’ve been listening to your feedback and working hard this summer to keep improving Answers. One change you might have noticed is that we’ve incorporated tips on the Ask and Answer pages to help you get the most out of Answers.
Now when you ask or answer a question, you’ll see a yellow speech bubble offering some tips.
If you’ve made any spelling mistakes (we all type too fast sometimes), you’ll be notified of the suspected error and offered a Spell Checker to view suggested fixes. Ignore or Change the misspelling, then click Done when ready. This will make your questions and answers look bright for sure!
We’ll also warn you if your Caps Lock key is on. As you know, typing in all-caps in the Internet world is often perceived as shouting and regarded as bad netiquette.
These are just a few of the tips we have for you. Discover them all and really make your Answers shine!
For the experts among us who feel as though they don’t need any help, the tips can easily be closed. Click the “x” in the top right-hand corner of the speech bubble, and they’ll disappear.
Don’t forget to leave your comments about these
tips — we love hearing from you!
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Why does this username I have now keeps getting “WE ARE TAKING A BREATHER”screen when I try 2 answer question,
My other usernames can answer without getting that message? If yahoo wants to limit how many questions we can answer why don’t they just state it and not play little head games with us
Wow Cool! first comment! yay! Thanks allot. Now talk to Bale. LOL
Like Ya
Cuz Sportscutie is BACK!!!
I think the changes are good, maybe a BETTER thing on the usage of caps, as I do as I did here, to make a point, and not often, but enough that someone is bound to say something about the yelling, when I see it as bad WHEN ALL IN CAPS AS YOU SHOWED IN YOUR example, for example.
Maybe, what I am asking for, is … is it all right to DO that, as I do ? Or are you saying that “all” caps are wrong ? I did change to “this” way and was told that was not “helpful” either. I guess a “BOLD” feature may help or something like that ? Italics for the difference, etc ? What is the way to “express” as I am talking, without doing what is inappropriate ?
Thanks so very much.
Hey guys –
Kudos! So happy to see this finally hit the site. Lot’s to iron out still, but it looks awesome.
@April — excessive “all caps” is obviously a problem, not occasional use or for emphasis. Same with occasional use of punctuation, not excessive use.
I’ll let those who are steering the ship answer…
m
Yeah, but the bubbles come up every time you answer and you have to click the “X” every time.
Could you make it so you can click it off once a session or something? I don’t ever want the tips. Like the one that says, “ummmm, looks like you’re using a lot of punctuation.”
Not cool.
I’ll use as much punctuation as I like, thank you very much. And I’ll use all caps if I want, and I don’t like the, “do you want spell check?” tip every time I type a proper noun or something in a foreign language.
No, I don’t want spell check. If I make a spelling “mistake,” it’s probably intentional.
I don’t like the tips. No tips! I want the tip-free version of Y/A.
I HATE HATE HATE the tool tip/spell check/cap lock gizmo!! It’s worse than the tool tip wizard in Window’s OS!!! …at least the Wizard/Paper Clip/Doggie can be permanently deactivated in Windows!! PLEASE give us the option of permanently deactivating this “improvement”…..
Cool updates, but why are the updates implemented already, but I can’t ask or answer questions yet?
Love it, love it, love it … thank you!
Great changes, and you’ve been quick with the blog too! I was going to suggest this because of all the new questions in the forum, but I see you’ve also anticipated this.
Like I said there, I love that you use energy-saving lightbulbs as tip icons
The change doesn’t effect me because I never had a problem with the spell check. I use Mozilla Firefox and it has it’s own built-in spell checker.
@Jazz –
As a lot of the spelling and grammar issues on Y!A would indicate, many are not as wise as you.
BTW — hi Calimecita!
I don’t like these updates. The bubble is annoying. Especially if I’m answering a question about a game and type in a word like ‘Pokemon’ or something and I see “You’ve misspelled 1 word”. Then I go crazy looking for it, being OCD like I am, only to realize that it was talking about the word ‘Pokemon’, which of course would not be in its dictionary. Now obviously not everyone will run into that problem, but I think having a constant bubble popping up telling me that I “seem to have a lot of punctuation” is annoying. I’ll get over it. But honestly, my first thoughts when seeing the little bubble thing was, “..Oh no they didn’t.” xDD Lawl.
nice add-on, yamster* does have some breathing problems, trollinite’s beware,?
spell check does not distinguish trial vs trail vs tail …
( yamster* ? not a word here yet)
urban dictionary has other modern webbernaut’s
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=netiquette+
..
I’d appreciate an option to switch these bubbles off completely, so they don’t appear at all.
And, btw, the “caps lock identifier” works TOO good: It pops up when you write an abbreviation that’s all caps, and as you can’t write in bold or italics, sometimes caps are NEEDED to STRESS a word. Maybe you should change the algorithm to make it only pop up when there is MORE THAN ONE word in caps.
Maybe the bubbles are a good idea for beginners, but they’re a nuisance to the more experienced. Just like Microsoft’s paperclip.
I agree that clicking the X every time is going to get annoying. It really, truly is worse than Microsoft’s Clippy, since you can’t turn it off forever. Firefox already underlines misspelled words; I don’t need Yahoo telling me about it. There are a lot of real words out there that are “incorrect,” such as Obama. And I get that it’s intended for the people who misspell every word, but it’s really not going to stop them. Neither are the reminders to follow the community guidelines.
yeah, some of the new changes are a PITA. I use firefox so I have built-in spell check. I don’t need yahoo telling me I “misspelled” something because I already know…
I like it when I ask a question there would be questions similar to what I ask appear on the bottom so I don’t have to ask a question that has already been asked. What have you done with that feature? I think it’s good that you’re making improvements, but please leave that feature where the similar questions appear on the bottom of the asking/question box alone. Thanks.
Thanks, I like the new updates
It gives a nice look and I can tolerate the tips mentioned above if it helps newcomers.
Just wanted to mention that at the same time all these changes were made, I lost the ability to answer questions, I can report obvious violations but they don”t go anywhere anymore. Loads of trolls who lost their accounts all got them back. Peoples email addresses are showing up in the forum.
Is this just a coincidence?
Apparently “proven” isn’t spelled right. As in, “Spell check has been proven to be annoying.” The first option to replace “proven” is “pr oven.” Firefox didn’t even pick that one up.
Please let us turn off the spell check bubbles.
I have noticed the new page and I would have appreciated it if the spell check wasn’t messed with.
I answer many questions today
and I don’t appreciate some paper clip saying oops you made a mistake
I do my spell checks at the end not when someone
is nagging me. Please bring back the spell check that stays.
Also it was the grammar check everyone was so concerned about. People are more concerned about grammar than spelling.
I don’t like the spell checker. It appears and disappears too quickly. I feel like I’ve got to type with one hand and use the mouse with the other to click on it. I don’t like that that’s the only way to correct my spelling. You could have done it better.
I may have to find another site that has it set up the way it use to be, or just vote on the answers.
Yesterday’s Y/A was a more enjoyable site than today’s ‘updated’ version. I agree with the others in their requests for an option to turn off the distracting tip ‘bubbles’.
Actually, I’d like Y/A to go back to the July 30 version !
I love a lot of the things about the new Answers Interface, namely, the tips on the caps, and having the Community Guidelines posted right at the bottom.. So that a lot of users can’t state “I never saw those”
For the most part, it will help people stop the bad netiquette, which will be much more enjoyable.
The only beef I really have, since I know when to turn off the bubbles, Is the Spellcheck. Is this one new? Because it’s picking parts of words, highlighting the wrong words, and sentences I’ve noticed. It’s operating different than it was before. I liked the way it was prior when we could spell check Afterwards. I fear unless you are pretty proficient at spelling, it’s not going to help people correct, – namely the users it’s supposed to help – who really do need it and don’t mind it.
So Kudos, much! But please change the Spellchecker back to the old one, and leave it at the end.
Otherwise I’m afraid people will constantly click it off.
The spell checker is annoying. Please add “Obama” and apostrophies to the dictionary.
I agree we should be able to turn the “help” off. But I also agree that we should be able to have either bold or italics for emphasis so we don’t need to “shout.” What about making the overly helpful stuff apply just to Level One?
seriously, you should update the site a lot more than that.
The spell check gets on my nerves, and the punctuation thing, and you need to have bold or italics as an option to type. Also settings to turn off the little bubble, as I type it makes me want to attack my computer monitor. I have a little anger problem (I admit) and I also can’t afford a new computer monitor.
Ok – they’re very nice, the spelling balloons; now, can you PLEASE make it so we can turn them off? And what’s with the stupid balloon that says, “It looks like you’ve used lots of punctuation”? Even though my punctuation is CORRECT.
Sheesh.
Auntb93 – I totally love your idea. There’s something conflicting when you can’t spell in CAPS for emphasis, yet you write in quotations or other to get your point across and still get told!
Maybe this whole thing would be a better implementation, and a standing rule at Level 1 – Then we’d know the more serious users, anyway. If they want to stick around, learn the basics.. just like the rating option is only given to 2 and up.
Just some thought(s)…
the new spell checker dosnt work well, befor the words [spell check ] were allways there , now befor you even finish typing the spell checker box comes up then DISAPERS.vanushes. then when you are done typing, it dosnt come back?
why dosnt it stay put , like the old words did? [spell check] why do we have to wait for its magical reaperence waisting 3-5 muinets,if it ever shows up again.
had to publish the coment and edit befor the [spell checking ghost box] made it second apearence.:(
much worse
I like the changes but am not happy at all with one.
In the ‘old’ Yahoo Answers, there was an option to turn off notification of new answers to any questions that you asked. If you asked a question, that option would come up again, but would permanently remain unticked.
Now, in the ‘new’ Yahoo Answers, I still have the option unticked when I edited my information. But it isn’t permanently unticked in any new question I ask.
It’s really frustrating having to untick it for every single question I ask.
Please fix this.
So far, so good.
Now if you can only have other tinted boxes to indicate inappropriate language (perhaps with toilet paper for the icon) or childish behavior (with an infant in diapers). Hehehe.
I’m sorry you spent so much of your summer working so hard because I just don’t like most of the “improvements” you’ve made.
When I use capitals, I do so for EMPHASIS, netiquette notwithstanding. The same goes for punctuation.
I preferred the old spell check because I, too, use words and phrases which don’t appear in whatever dictionary you’re referencing.
Why do I have the feeling that the people who could/ should use spell check the most still aren’t going to bother!?! (Oops! Too much punctuation!)
Those pop up bubbles are a real annoyance!
It would be really great if you could have the option to not have those pain in the ass bubbles every time you type.
Like in a preference section of the site.
Honestly, I don’t like this new stuff. Too obnoxious.
I have two chances to see what I type before I answer a question. I know when caps lock is on.
I have gotten several “a lot of punctuation!” bubbles when typing, simply because I used three commas.
It’s not always correct.
Neither is spelling. Sometimes it will say a word is wrong, then just stay there and not check anything.
I sometimes use caps for emphasis. I don’t need a box to tell me not to shout. I don’t.
Overall I think the tips are stupid.
Honestly? NO ONE researches answers.
See? Emphasis on no one.
You learn who what when where why and how in elementary school, so honestly, that tidbit is extremely unnecessary. The whole thing is.
I just liked the regular spellcheck that you had the option to use. It wasn’t shoved in my face obnoxiously.
It really is exactly like the annoying microsoft paperclip. No one likes him.
So annoying. I haven’t come across anyone who likes it yet.
Except here there are a few people who like it…yet it doesn’t compare to those who don’t.
Wonder why.
I mean, the point of this website is so simple: ask questions. You lose points. Answer questions. You gain points. The more points you get, the higher the level. The higher the level, the more you can do.
So really, these tips are pointless. Like someone said, they’re fine…for those who are extremely new.
But for someone like me, who has been here for two years, now…unnecessary, I’ll say it again.
I like the old one ;(
i still would like my contacts questions going into my e-mail. there are a lot of others on here that would like it that way. i like the new way of answering the questions. i still want my contacts questions coming to my e-mail box. thanks for trying.
I’d like to go back to the old way, the better way. This is horrible, I don’t like it! Isn’t there a way you can give us an option to go back to the other version? Perhaps people can choose and have what they want. If someone requires a three step process to post a simple question, let them have it, but why should the rest of us have to put up with it?
I like the old one better
Please give us an option to turn that annoying crap off.
The improvements will be good for the novices and maybe will inspire the lazy. For the old timers it will be annoying for a while, but it gets easy to ignore.
The bigger disappointment is that YA has added new features when so many old bugs exist in the system. The current count of “stuck” questions in chemistry is not 40 questions, it is 40 PAGES of questions. That is shameful and the fact they continue to ignore it is a black eye on the entire YA Staff.
My count of “Am I Pretty” and similar obvious violations that YA will not remove is up near 600, even when reported by multiple good users.
And now I find that questions from other YA divisions are not displaying properly. That is, a YA France question displays as if asked on YA USA. Only the actual post is still in French.
The YA Staff should put a hold on ANY new features until these long standing bugs are solved. By the way, the sort and search functions are still third rate – freshman IT level. Another black eye.
I approve your changes.They are very refreshing.
Your spell check will be a good tutor for those that did not pay a lot of attention in class.
Hey!
Finally, Answer’s is not looking too shabby.
Now, all we have to deal with is those “Yahoo Answers is taking a breather” thing.
And the trolls on Polls and Surveys.
With Love,
Jeanette
Most of my spelling “mistakes” are caused by my using the Queen’s English. As a Canadian I was taught to spell color as colour,for example, and I really think you could adjust the spell check to reflect this. Proper names don’t deserve an error warning either.
Why doesn’t the tip bubble warn you if you’re about to go over the new mandate of no more than 10 links, until you try to Preview your answer?
what constitutes a link? just saying yahoo.com, or does it have to be a full URL http://www.yahoo.com/ ?
and is that just 10 links in the answer, or 10 links total between the answer and the source section?
I haven’t been able to find the 10 links requirement in the Yahoo!Answers Help section.
I have always found it easier to cite my sources in the answer, than to have a bunch of random links in the “source” section.
Sometimes an answer can get long, and you need to use a lot of different credible sources to show that you aren’t just “blowing wind” but that you have an actual reason for saying something is true.
Why the new 10 link limit?
I don’t think the idea is a bad one, but I think the execution was poor.
Bare in mind, you have a lot of Canadian users, right? The dictionary used by Y!A should be both Canadian and American to allow for spellings of colour, centre, yoghurt and concillor. It’s really frustrating to see the speech bubble pop up and tell me that I have a spelling error, when I really do not, it’s just that I’m Canadian… I think that it should allow you to check spelling, but not remind you of your errors, because there are enough words out there that are real words but are not in your dictionary.
Also, commas, colons, hyphens and elipses (…) are all part of common grammar. So: why is it when I use more than three or four of these in an answer, the speech bubble tells me that I have an awful lot of punctuation in my answer? It doesn’t make any sense that if I am making a list, that I shouldn’t be using commas, or that if I use comma splices–which most people should–that I should get the bubble telling me “look, you have a lot of grammar”.
It’s something that is getting increasingly annoying and will decrease my usage of Y!A, as well as likely that of other users.
Once again, here come the people who disrespectfully bray their discontent for the new updates. I had no idea there were so many people so easily offended by tips. If that’s their worst problem all day long, then they’re doing pretty darn good!
I think Phil Grahm said it best, “A nation of whiners.”
I really like it. Thank you so much for the time and effort to put into this.
And someone people can simply never be pleased. Having an option to run it off for those that don’t like it will probably please them and exasperate everyone else. Seeing some of the comments makes me glad they have the spelling and punctuation checker. They need it…
I think this is a great idea. Too many people are being lazy and posting words that are spelled wrong or using all caps. This will help people be better, and for those that don’t like it are just lazy because now they have type in English like the rest of us.
thanks ya
I don’t like the new setup, it assumesI am making a mistake every time I type anything, before I am finished typing the word. I am a pretty good speller, and it catches every abbreviation. It is annoying.
Please create an option to turn the tips OFF! I dislike being lectured by an applet, especially having already learned rules for grammar and punctuation 40 years ago. I dislike nanny software.
Not everyone using this service is a 13-year-old who uses “textspeak” as language.
There are so many different things you could do to improve Y!A. Why didn’t you make the tips an option to begin with? I find this latest update counterproductive and intrusive. Worst of all, I LOATHE the damned “compact fluorescent” bulb that pops up! Bunch of greenie phonies!
It won’t make a difference, if people want to use slang and abbreviations they will just ignore these. It’s just getting annoying when it says that different variations of spelling a word (Which are all correct) are said to be “misspelled”.
it is really good way to keep our answers and questions in high quality thank you a lot yahoo answer team we are waiting for more…. you are really worked hard god bless you.
elias
I think the automatic spell checking is fantastic. It was kind of obvious that very few people were using it before.
Sharing an idea with others and seek their comments is defenitely a geate feeling. Further, the feeling increases on the point of view that, they r in touch with those people who are not interested to PATENT their idea.
Thank you so much for taking your time to do this you guys really helped me out!
You need to fix the automatic placement system for questions. I’m sick of reading questions about cell phone plans in the hockey section.
Is there a way to turn the spell-check and other nag screens off if we don’t want to be annoyed by them?
I really like the new layout, however just a couple of things
1.) I don’t like the bubbles, which apparently nobody else does either. So I will leave that alone, since there is plenty of feedback.
2.) When I am answering a question there is just Home->Answer a question. Where did my category go? It used to be Home->Computers & Internet->Answer a question. Basically the category would be a nice thing to have back, that gives me easy access to bounce around.
Other than that I think it’s really nice, doing a great job! Could I get on some “beta tester” program or something? I have over nine years of usability testing, so I would be more than happy to lend a hand.
take care,
Chad R. Smith
I appreciate that redesigning any site takes a lot of work and thought, so kudos for that. BUT.. I still say, that you need to focus on ‘fixing’ what is already in place before you go introducing ‘NEW AND IMPROVED’ type launchs. Far too many “Taking a breather,” “Coffee Break.” gray headed avatar pics etc. etc. etc…even taking into account that we all know this latest ‘Update’ will cause problems for days to come.
I agree there are a lot of avatar / custom name tags missing. They seem to happen frequently. One other thing is that for some reason I cannot have any URL like http://www.php.net. Why is that? I do a lot of answers in the Programming section and I want to be able to link to PHP’s site, but can’t.
That would be great if you fixed that,
Chad R. Smith
On my computer, the new changes appear in a slightly larger or simpler-to-read font for some reason and I sure appreciate that with older eyes. The tip bubbles just made me laugh and I’ve already gotten accustomed to them. I thought at first they were going to be like those DREADFULLY horrible ads we had here for awhile that so rudely squatted and jerked around right on top of people’s questions when you were trying to answer them. I wrote down the company and product names of every single one of those and will never ever purchase those products even if my life depends upon it. That was a BAD idea, those ads. P.
I think it goes without saying that the warning bubbles are a bad idea. They are really “in your face” and annoying. Get rid of them. I don’t need it pointing out my every mistake as I type. I liked being able to check my spelling once I’m done with the answer.
Other than that, I like the new look. It’s more consistent with the rest of Y!A. Just try to fix all the bugs and glitches that plague this site before you change the layout, which causes more problems itself.
Also I hate how you can’t ask questions that are less than 20 characters long. My question title was “Why does this happen?” and it wouldn’t let me post it, even though I had plenty of details, simply because the title was less than 20 characters. That is ridiculous. Stop trying to control people so much Yahoo.
I strongly suggest you remove the 10 links limit.
If this is to prevent spamming and solicitation, spammers can do it with 1 link alone, and most do.
Meanwhile, askers seeking for several resources are limited by the 10 links that are allowed
“Coffee break” my left butt cheek. Cut that out, okay? You are wasting MY time.
I’m not sure who you were listening to but I hate the new layout. The bubbles are annoying and the layout is just awkward.
I loved “answers” until these latest improvements. The spellcheck often gives false readings as Yahoo England utilises an American dictionary,the “nag” screens are arrogant and are not likely to improve some of the awful English that is common,when the spellcheck is needed at the end of the posted question it has “had it on its toes” as we say in cockney.
Don’t need the tips telling me I’m using a lot of punctuation when I’m answering math questions. What else would I be using?
Would like to be able to see the plus signs, though.
I had a second look at that spell still not impressed by the way it nags.
But I saw something if a person types in all caps
this would suggest that its shouting or flaming.
I learned about this in chatting, blogging,
microsoft word, email,
Offers some fixes
it doesn’t offer grammar help or check
i just love the new feature
with this update a lot of the glitches have been fixed as well
thank you Team
Eve
What ever happened to the Cancel button? I really liked it. Sometimes, I get lost in a complicated answer. THen it is really better just to hit Cancel and start over.
I can spell, so adding a mandatory spell check did not help much. And sometimes all caps is for emphasis … not shouting. Your system doesn’t recognize the difference.
You also censor perfectly good words … for instance, I tried to answer a question using the word “niggardly” which means penny-pinching, stingy, or miserly. I got censored for using a swear word. It isn’t. It wasn’t. It would never be.
I can’t answer anymore with this new format! I click on the “answer” button, write my answer and when I go to click “preview” the BUTTON DISAPPEARS!! There is no way to answer!! I have closed the bubbles, but the “preview” button will not reappear.
It’s very frustrating. Please, please fix it!
I DISLIKE the fact that your question needs to be 20 characters long. Sometimes our questions are shorter than others so you definitely need to change that. Also, when you type your question in the box, there used to be similar questions that appear on the bottom which I find to be helpful so I don’t have to post a question that has already been asked and answered. It’s not there anymore, so you definitely need to bring that back.
I really dislike the spell checker, because I know how to spell, thank you very much, and people who don’t normally check their spelling aren’t going to check it just because a little bubble says so. Other than that, I like the new layout. It matches the rest of Y! A much better than the old one.
Another problem I have is that when I go back to edit my answer, it’s in the old layout.
The spell checker doesn’t have a big enough vocabulary. I’m no scientist, but when I answered two questions about somebody’s illness or symptoms, the spell check thought I was spelling wrong because it never heard of plantar fasciitis or dense fibroglanduar tissue… so it thought I was spelling some different words and kept trying to guess what I was really saying.
I don’t have words to express how annoying the “help” bubble is. Were you fast asleep when MS Word introduced “Clippy” ? and all the fuss about that ?
At least now I know how to get rid of the bubble – which I will do automatically EVERY time. The little X is invisible because I run my browser with web page colors turned off. (I don’t like white backgrounds.)
Please make it a one-time option to get rid of the “help bubble” it doesn’t help – it just slows me down.
(The spell checker just went nuts when I answered a question about French grammar. And sqrt is a very commonly used word on the math pages. And my punctuation is just fine, thank you.)
Adding more rules and more annoyances doesn’t improve the site, it makes it worse. Only criminals need rules forced down their throats and baby, that ain’t me. I use Firefox’s built in spell checker so your “tips” are redundant. And even Microsoft Word knows that three letters in all caps is an abbreviation, not a misspelling.
-Schnurrbart, P.I., killed by Y!A Staff on June 11, 2008.
I like the idea; however, those that really care about spelling, etiquette…etc already take care of it. Those who don’t, probably never will.
Quit censoring comments about Democrats your bias is showing.
The Spell-checker leaves much to be desired.There are too many mistakes in the Spell-Checker. I can not tell how many times the Spell-Checker has claimed that a mistake was made and it was not. I have an old-fashioned Dictionary that is much more effective than the Spell-Checker.How many times have I taken that dictionary out to find that my spelling is correct and YAHOO’S is wrong? Too many! Spell-Checker is very poor with proper names and placesas well. Please get a better spell-checking tool!
Also,the leader-boards in certain categories are not up to date.
What I really care about is that for the past few days, almost every time I try to post a well-reasoned, lengthy answer, I get the “We’re taking a breather” message.
You have no definitive information on this problem, and you leave it up to your customers to answer questions about it.
This is extremely unprofessional.
Why don’t you post something about *this* issue on your blog, instead of the “happy talk”?
Better yet, fix the damn problem.
Recently, I posted a few poems. I was aggravated no end by the 1000 character restriction. That’s great for sonnets, etc but what about six stanzas of iambic pentameter. No way. I have to imagine that other poets are similarly frustrated. Other than the occasional obnoxious boor one encounters (and who is not already acquainted with a few), Y!A is better than ever.
I’ve just realized that you can (currently) bypass the ‘improvements’ by selecting the question you wish to answer, type something in, click submit, and then click edit, and you’re back to the July 30 version of Y/A, which is much nicer!
Sources – someone here on the blog mentioned something about it…
Please, oh please, take away those awful bubbles. Or at least give us an option to turn them off for good. I know how to spell and I know how to use punctuation.
Even more importantly – PLEASE give us the option to turn off the Preview screen. (Yes, I know that’s “shouting.”) I think through my answers and check before I submit – I don’t need to preview! It’s incredibly annoying and only slows me down.
your website sucks but for some reason we all still keep using it
Hi back at you, Mario! I missed your comment at first (blame it on these no-avatar comments).
I like Richard’s idea of a toilet paper icon, LOL!
And I think it’s quite easy to get accustomed to the spelling tips (or turn them off). It amazes me that people put that much energy into complaining; I surely hope they put that same energy into providing good content for YA.
i think something went wrong with the change. when i copy-pasted an url to my answer, it didn’t change to a “real link” when i finally submited my answer. weird. is that a bug or something’s just wrong with my computer?
:-\
You really need to fix the question sorting program. For two days the most ridiculous questions have been in the Hockey section that have nothing to do with hockey. At least send them to the Handball category, so there can be more than one unresolved question. I also don’t need so annoying pop-up telling me I have a spelling error because it doesn’t recognize a person’s name. Thank God Microsoft didn’t buy you. I’d have to dump my stock if this is what Yahoo! has come to.
Ha! You said those who are brilliant among us.. LOL!
By the way, nic job
There is a glitch. Whenever I edit an answer, the format goes back to the original style.
Also, please GET RID OF THE PUNCTUATION ALERT!!!!!!!
I cannot thank you enough for getting rid of the text limit for when I ask a question. Thank had to have been the WORST feature of the entire site. It made no sense to limit questions, but not answers.
PLease get rid of the “question must be 20 characters long” thing. No point. Ridiculous. If people have short questions, they have short questions. Unbelievable.
Your new look has caused my e mail notifcation to stop working when there is activity with my contacts. Perhaps this is part of you new format or possibly a glitch that you are still addressing. I much prefered the older format of this forum over the new but I realize that change is nessary so I will just deal with this as it is. Hopefully someday you will be able to work out the bugs.
suck it tanya!
i like towels
i like baby goats
backstreet boys
american idol
the devil is everywhere
woof
I don’t know which is more annoying, the edit icons or the number of times I press submit after worrying an answer for an hour or so and get OOPS we’re taking a breather. I’m on hour two of the latest and this is like the fourth in two days.
If I’m typing C syntax or citing someone by name (give so and so best answer is not an uncommon start to some of my answers. I once helped someone out by email. But only after he agreed to give so and so best answer) I am going to be told I have a misspelling. There is the notice that I’m using a lot of punctuation. When I discuss drawing I need to cover a LOT of ideas in a short space, and I don’t need to be told how I am doing it.
I hated Clippy. I really did. You are not giving your Clippy a name, but it is telling us how we are doing things in the same insulting manner. This is very annoying. It is not worth all the down time I’ve been getting. It would not be worth it if there wasn’t so much down time.
Being less obtrusive is less insulting.
I had surgery and am stuck typing with mt left hand. I keep tapping the caps lock without noticing for about 6-7 words. How about an option to have the “caps catcher” convert to lower case for us? It could even try its hand at smart caps so words following a period would capitalize but others wouldn’t.
Yahoo!(no pun intended) I think it’s great! I think it might help iomprove the questions that I answer. It seems 90 % of the questions that I answer are misspelled and out of that 90 about 60% I have to try and piece together just to understand the actual question,so maybe,with any luck, it will improve those who are less likely to use spell check. Now, how about catagorizing Age group? I would like to help those more in need who are a bit more mature in age and get more satisfaction helping them find solutions to computer problems instead of getting questions about,”OMG, my BF broke up with me,what do I do” kind of questions or”do I look pretty”? Incorporating an age forum would keep those less serious questions to those who are less serious about answering them and besides I have made some nice friends helping people with real problems but just not enough of them seem to get through all the nonsense of adolesence at it’s worse. Thanks again Yahoo!
i miss the old yahoo answers,
please give an option to get rid of the “tips” thing permanently
also, can you give options to write in italics?
i really have the tips, and when it says “oops you’ve made a spelling mistake” – the red line underneath is sufficient to indicate mistakes.
also whats the point of “looks like you have too many punctuation marks!”???
oh yeah, but i want to thanks yahoo for getting rid of the limit for asking a question, so much better.
and thanks for listening to our feedback, i still think you guys are doing a great job
As with anything new, it takes time to adjust, but I
really think it is going to be much better then the old
version. Thank you for making changes that really make life easier on Answers.
Hello,
Nice upgrades you’ve all made…
I can’t beleve people even here use shouting and rude language.
I will put some of my suggestions in feedback.
Anyway great upgrades.
Yes, please remove the punctuation alert. It is not my fault I’m educated. Well, maybe it is.
Spellcheck may be a great help for users who want to use it. But I hate to be treated like a 6 yr old by having a big fat pencil jump right into my face whenever I use abbreviations or words which the dictionary doesn’t recognize. When I post the results of a whois queery, YA doesn’t recognize the top level domain, more spellcheck funnies:
#1: “YA”, #2: “YC” – don’t you know your own names?,
#3: clickable in “clickable links” – your suggestion: “click able”
#4: unmark in “unmark a check box” – your suggestion: “unmake”
#5: spellcheck – your suggestion: “spell check”.
Thank you NOT for this entertainment feature, because that’s all it is to me. I prefer to use the built-in spellcheck provided by my Opera browser, it’s much more accurate.
I have been trying to post a question for 3 days now and can’t! It keeps saying that ur on a coffee break HOW ARE OTHER POSTING THEN!!??
The integrated grammar proofreader is a useful thing for the novice. The only issue that COULD be considered a bug (I don’t, as spell-checkers in general don’t have some words OK for want of database capacity) is the tendency for the spell-checker to false-positive on some foreign-language terms I occasionally need when writing up an Answer, something I’ve seen in word processor applications; it is not a serious issue.
When trying to answer a question on Y!Answers, the “preview” button disappears. How come?
You reduced Q-box size from 130 to 110 characters and spaces and that makes certain kinds of Q’s difficult to ask in a fully-worded manner esp in categories like philosophy and topics which require nuanced distinctions!
Frankly, I don’t care for your cosmetic improvements. The real problems require policy improvements and greater transparency in the way YAT carries out the policies which seem to minimize free speech rights in an open forum of the lack the resources to do the right things.
I’m sorry, but the spell check and punctuation pop ups are annoying as all get out. Make them available alongside the preview button, please.
I also don’t care for the “upgrade” which now seems to include more advertising.
And finally, when I get the “yahoo answers is taking a breather” screen, I notice that I’m the only one subjected to the breather. People are still answering the question that I’m trying to answer. A couple of days ago, I was “breathed out” for an entire day while the rest of Yahoo Answers went on normally. What’s the deal with that?
Thanks for reading, and I would appreciate a reply.
I’m frustrated with the spellcheck for computer answers. The names of various infections are NOT normal English words.
Also, my use of caps for abbreviations or emphasis as I give directions is not appreciated by the CAP LOCK message : )
The spell check is ok..but it doesn’t stop someone who intentionally wants to continue to post like an illiteriate or in “text speech”.
I would rather see more attention being paid to erroneous reporting and what might have initiated an “insulting” answer.
I really just want my email alerts back when my contacts ask a question…that’s what made it fun..open up yahoo mail and see that My contacts have been busy made me happy…The bubbles are annoying but can be ignored…The spell check should also be availabe at the end of the question to double check…Thanks for the effort guys..sorry every ones complaining but change is hard for most.
i dont like the spell check its insulting to me i have arthris big time also caps are need to make a point and shouldnt be constued as shouting you guys need to light up were here to help one anthoer no more no less thank you
Finally….Let’s make the texters learn to spell. I am tired of trying to read the “Kindergarten” questions.
Keep up the GREAT JOB.
TOO FAR!
You spellceck CAN’T SPELL -that’s why I don’t use it!
DO NOT CRITIQUE my use of puntuation, or any thing else!
It’s bad enough you run a bunch of TROLLS!
Now this?
GO DO SOMETHING! USEFUL!
I AM NOT ILLETERATE!
And even if I was… THAT! has -yet- to be against the “Community Guidelines.” Bah.
Your spell check is really annoying ! I liked the old way better . At the end of my answers I was able to do a spell check if I chose to . But the little bubble thing you have going on really gets on my nerves .
Example : When I try and stress my point I put multiple exclamation points at the end , when I do this , the little bubble pops up saying that I have used too many puncuation marks . Or I may put it in cap lock to stress a word . It comes up saying ” that it looks like you have your cap lock on , people may see this as yelling ” . I know that , that is what I am trying to do , yell to get my point accross .
And forget trying to ignore the thing . It’s too obvious to ignore .
Please consider going back to the old method .
This one is and can be very annoying !!!
When I go to answer and click submit, sometimes I get Yahoo is taking a coffee break, yet other people are still submitting their answers why?????
Also, in my profile I have no e-mails or IMs to be sent
yet it shows my e-mail address to everyone why????
Please make it where my e-mail does not show.
Please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Good job on the improvements. I enjoy many of the new features (how you can see additional comments when answering a question, unlimited question detail characters etc). However, I’ve noticed that when I put in an answer like, “THAT is…” the CAPS lock comes on telling me that it can be seen as yelling. This key can also be used as emphasis on certain words. Also, I strongly suggest that you expand your ‘Yahoo’ dictionary (or whatever you use). Whenever I type in a word that is legit, Yahoo tells me it is not an English word.
Another thing that I’d like you guys to focus on is the trolls. It is undeniable that trolls are utilizing the community guidelines in a fashion that actually breaks the guidelines (They harrass-sometimes listing names of people they hope to get suspended-Reporter Girl-, and even stalk occasionally). To many, like me, Yahoo is a time to escape reality, and just relax, which is why I spend much of my time in the polls section. As a result of spending a lot of time in this section (It’s sometimes seen as the ‘useless’ section), I get many violations (I think 12 so far) because of reportings from trolls who think I violate the guidelines by asking, “What is the first thing you see as you look right?” I could use the repeal process but I shouldn’t have to use it because of these things…
But overall, keep the improvements coming!!!
Well you went and made all these radical changes and now my web browser doesn’t work with it. Given the choice of changing my web browser to IE or quit Y!A, I am leaning towards quiting.
I think a good idea would be to give the asker the opportunity to select ‘no best answer.’ That would be a nice feature to add.
I’m just fine with the changes. I know from being a supervisor, before retiring that those who don’t move ahead can’t accept change.
But – I’m concerned for a violation I received for soliciting. I’m 73 years old and my perception of soliciting was – your either a pimp or a prostitute.
Sounds funny? – maybe. I would like to know what it was that I was soliciting – when I was sharing something I though was amazing and had never seen before. I have always had yahoo mail and I’m addicted to answers. Being home bound, it is my connection to the outside worlld. Hope you will inform me of how it was wrong.
DeeJay
dear yahoo i think that well your messenger should be kind of like msn
Your tips are infinitely annoying. It tends to get in the way when you’re typing an answer just to mention infinitely pointless objections like “you seem to have a lot of punctuation marks.” Farther more, it doesn’t seem to know how to spell quite well. Make it more subtle, if not just axe it altogether.
Thanks once again for what Yahoo! considers upgrades.
I would have much rather had the huge report button removed, the thumbs down for bad questions reinstated…and some type of system put in place that prevents valid questions and answers (that do not violate TOS) from being removed.
The reporting is out of control (in R&S) and people that are not trolls are losing their accounts.
A good spell check is a first rate idea, it is however, totally ignored by those askers and answerers who need it most. It is most frustrating to have your spell checker try and force U.S. spelling down my throat when I use proper English English. Of course one cannot expect your data base to hold too many technical or foreign words but it is painfully limited even regarding legitimate English words. In addition he “Oops” signal is condescending in the extreme. Your caps. lock indicator is very cleaver at noting a few capital letters together but totally ignores the lack of a capital at the start of a sentence.
All in all your attempt at improvement has turned into an over complication that does little in practical ways to help the end users.
The spell check and punctuation icons/alerts are annoying. I’d rather have the old option to use it when I desired as this new method isn’t going to make any difference to the people who misspell on purpose or simply don’t care. A large number of people online are unable or unwilling to communicate well in a text based medium and it doesn’t bother them. The goofy text typing and netspeak posted questions should just be pulled and the poster required to post them in correct english. That silliness is fine for a chat board, but that’s not what this site is.
Also a teen category would be great to move a lot of the younguns from categories where adults no longer post because of all the kid chit-chat. Again, this isn’t a chat board so “rate my pic” and “do you like ” questions really aren’t what should be here.
Otherwise, I’ve spent a lot of hours here over the past couple of years or so, especially when work was slow or when relaxing at home and watching TV. Overall I enjoy the site and just wish there was better moderation to enforce the rules the site chooses to have.
The format is cleaner, but about the spell check. It disappears and never returns if you don’t click on it right away. When I have a head full of thoughts, and my fingers are busy trying to keep up, I don’t want to pause and spell check that one word. I would prefer to just type what I have at once then spell check when I’m done. Your spell checker isn’t all that accurate anyway. I still have no idea what a “dint” is when it tries to correct “dont”. The spell checker at the top of the answer box was handy just the way it was.
I haven’t asked a question yet, but I hope you added a spell check to the add details box as well.
And when asking a question, our answers are better if we are presented with a well detailed question. The decrease from 130 characters to 110 makes giving certain details very hard and compacted. That should have been Increased instead.
Lastly, having the option to shut off the tips, would please just about everyone complaining about it.
The spell checker should know when you are in the foreign languages section and stop telling you that your words are misspelled in English when you are writing French, Italian or Spanish.
Thanks a lot!
Your spell checker is lousy, and the pop up features are ridiculous. “You seem to have used too much punctuation,” and the little reminder that CAPS make it seem like I’m shouting are intrusive and judgemental. Your spell checher has no idea what message I’m trying to convey. I am very well educated with several Ph.D’s and I neither need nor appreciate an illiterate machine trying to correct my spelling and my grammar. Also, it seems that you haven’t bothered to police the questioners as their spelling is still incorrect in many cases, and the use of text speech is still rampant. If you’re not going to do your job completely… DON’T DO IT AT ALL!!! Oops… it seems I’ve used too much punctuation and I’m shouting!!!
I think we should be able to use pictures in our answers, eg. insteads of just pasting the link the actual box of an image would load.
Also i think being able to write in bold or italics would help seperate parts of the question etc
what the duck?! so the people at y!a decided that the most pressing issue that needed to be addressed for the betterment of the yahoo community was improving everyone’s spelling and punctuation?! *warning caps alert* COME ON YAHOO TEAM! focus people, FOCUS! stop messing about with pointless “improvements,” and start getting to the heart of the matter. i honestly can’t recall seeing any complaints from yahoo users about spelling mishaps, but ask me when was the last time someone demanded action against report trolls, content appeal failures, and unjust account suspensions; and i can point out numerous comments in seconds. people are looking for resolutions to those topics as of right now. so y!team, stop looking for brownie points and begin taking action on some of the more major disputes developing in the community.
I liked it better before, it was simpler.
Most of what you put in does not help and just makes things more complicated. This is a case of “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.”
I know you guys are just trying to help out, but that Spell Check thing can get really annoying. It always says that you’ve misspelled something even if you haven’t or if it’s meant to be spelled that way. I wish you would take it off, because the way Answers was before this was way better.
Mine is the 123rd comment!
Mine is the 123rd comment!
How do I turn the spell checker back on?
Please get rid of the bubbles that pop up randomly. They are annoying and distracting.
This is great, but why does Answers keep freezing? It’s become an everyday thing now!
I liked the part that if u ask a question, similar ones poped up, I find this a lil useless, don’t mean 2 be offensive, but maybe Y!A should get more ppl in recheking the report problems, I mean actually reading a question why it was reported and also I have a problem with my questions not getting posted and nobody can see them 2 answer it, u just made the Y!A “pretty” but not more usefull
ANNOYING!USELESS TIPS !THE PUNCTUATION WARNING IS EVEN WORSE !
I just love photo blogs i have written over 900+ on http://www.sofeminine.co.uk i enjoy doing them,it gives me a pleasurable buzz.
I find the spell and punctuation check balloon irritating and unnecessary.
I hate pop ups. People HATE pop ups!
Often it appears for no apparent reason and it certainly doesn’t seem to account for the difference in various forms of English usage around the world.
I do not want it to appear if I write colourfully and favourably, thank you very much – or to be told I use too much punctuation!!!!!!!!!
I find the function both pedantic and patronising and question its use if the purpose of this site is to encourage people to exchange questions and answers, to communicate and interact, rather than correct their grammar.
There are many people here who have valuable information, insight and opinions to share who may not use language in a way prescribed as correct by that blasted balloon. It does not mean what they have to offer or how they write it is any less useful to others.
I really like the new ask/answer form, but the spell checker is a bit annoying; when you type in a brand or some other kind of company that the spell checker doesn’t recognize, it says that you have misspelled a word, even though it’s right.
Also, the punctuation is extremely annoying – what does it mean by “you have too much punctuation”???
Just because you have some semicolons and commas doesn’t mean you have a lot of punctuation…
Other than those problems, I really like the new ask and answer pages; I like how it shows a preview of the question and your answer below it.
Maybe you guys could work on improving the spell checker and punctuation thing?
the old answers thing was better! I can never answer my daily amout of questions.
Okay, that spell check thing IS very annoying. Plus, it’s the worst spell checker I’ve ever seen. When I typed out “eliminiate” it highlighted the “elim” part and suggested that I change it to ELMO. ELMO for god sakes!! Wtf…
i HATE the new bubbles. they get in the way and the spell check doesn’t even work right. sometimes the word was meant to be spell checked. plus the punctuation thingy is horrible. it doesn’t even work!
PLEASE remove it as it is way annoying.
Will you PLEASE tell your spell-check dictionary that ‘one’s’ is a word (One has the right to make one’s own decisions).
Also, tell it that a single word, or two words, in all caps, in a post that’s otherwise lower case is NOT shouting, but is the only way to giv emphasis on this plain text site.
Finally, tell it that two hyphens is the only way of making a dash, which is legitimate, not excessive, punctuation.
If the tips window is constantly giving nothing but bogus information, everyone will close it all the time, and it will be a big waste of resources to have implemented it at all.
Concept: B+; Execusion: D-
(Oh, does it alert askers that their question has been asked 50,000+ times before? If not, please add that feature.)
PS I’ve asked several dozen times for you to also add the following to your spell-checker’s dictionary: blog, blogs, blogger, bloggers. If that hasn’t happened either, please fix; if not, please disregard.
There should be a way to get rid of these bubbles. Some of us don’t need them and they slow things down and cause browser errors.
This is absolutely AWFUL. I have noticed that this “you have too much punctuation thing” leads to errors when trying to submit my answers. I am a top answerer in mathematics, OF COURSE I have lots of punctuation. What an awful “feature.”
I also find it incredibly stupid that so much thought was put into this, yet nothing is being done for the trolling.
Also, with these bubbles I personally feel like my intelligence is being insulted.
I will NOT repeat the same thread eveyone else has followed regarding the annoying, pointless, useless “tips.”
If you wish to add a useful feature find a way to delete, remove, relocate or block questions about hair, makeup, clothes and whether he or she “likes me.”
What’s up with plus signs not appearing in math questions anymore? They’re kind of important in that category… We’re all trying to guess ‘did he mean to put a space there, or is that the Y/A invisible plus sign?’ LOL
I really hate the way things have changed. I loved the old way of doing things. I used to write my answer then go back and use spell check. This one slows me down and half the time does not work right. The suggestion bubbles are the most idiotic thing I have ever seen! I know what I want to ask and I don’t need any help asking it. This is not rocket science. How do I turn off this annoying stuff?
I really can’t stand the way it is now. Obviously a lot of others agree with me. Before, if we were worried about spelling, we could click spell check. Now the format looks weird and everything is more difficult. The way I see it, people will no longer want to answer questions if the process is too difficult.
I second the comment that thought and effort was put into this VERY ANNOYING spell check feature,when what you had before was just fine. It wasn’t broke;why’d you fix it?
oh yeah, and also, since when do our questions have to be 20 characters long? That makes it so difficult to ask a question. Sometimes I just really need an answer, and if I can’t ask the question, why should I turn to Y!A anymore? I loved Answers the way it was before. Please, just return it to normal. I would rather not have to add 10 question marks to the end of my question just to make it acceptable to ask.
maybe yahoo can still improve that spell check bubble
by REALLY checking if the spelling is wrong.its quite confusing when that check spell always pop out when there’s nothing wrong with the words written.
You have made it much harder the spell check does not work. And I seem to get alot of coffee breaks suddenly. no good.
I’m really not fond of the tips at all. I agree that they make me feel like my intelligence is being insulted. In truth, I find the punctuation bubble dreadfully annoying. Shouldn’t there be an option to turn off the tips, if you don’t want to use them?
Almost all the answers must be in short and simple language. Then only everyone can read and give their answers too. All questions should be more important.
The new spell check does not work correctly. It misses a lot of misspelled words. Tonight I typed the same word twice and spelled it differently and spell check did not catch it. I did when I went back over what I had written.
The old spell check would not work if you had a long answer. It would only work throgh 2 paragraphs.
At least you are trying to make things better, you still have some work to do to get it correct.
Puh-leez! This new format is SO ANNOYING! Bring back the old Yahoo Answers!
Please Return our ‘censured’ Profiles:
Yahoo Singapore & Yahoo France.
We are not here to ‘cater’ for ‘leeches’ or ‘cliques’.
Much Obliged !
Do think of your Social responsibility Towards “Nurturing”
Respectable Sponsors.
Yours Sincerely,
Frederique Christiane COUTURE
Oh PLEASE — Get rid of your “improvements”!
Pretty please!
Not only are they annoying, they are wrong more often then right! They do nothing to stop the kids who write in txt speak (with no spelling or grammar skills) to the point they cannot be understood — because the kids don’t care.
The rest of us don’t need them!
Instead, why don’t you update your leader boards? Some of them have not been updated in WEEKS! (And no, my caps lock is NOT on!)
I think this was the worst idea ever. For starters it gave a whole day in which dead accounts could be used. That let trolls do tons more. Then it’s very confusing how the err screen “taking a breather”. Then there’s the bubles. Everyione hates them but I personally ignore them. What I don’t like is how they blacklisted even more terms this time around. Why can’t they make things right?
Hate it. It’s filth. Garbage.
And, on top of that, you don’t allow is the option to keep the old layout?
Disgusting piece of junk, in my honest opinion.
First of all, it says that “Hmm…” is not a word, yet you use “Hmm…” in the bubble that says, “Hmm… It looks like you’ve got a lot of punctuation.”
Contradict much, Yahoo?
Secondly, I want to put emphasis on a word, and so I type in CAPITAL letters. And it tells me I have caps lock on.
Um, no I don’t. If it’s going to do that, then give us the option to underline, or bold our words.
Well, that’s my two cents. I’m sure it doesn’t matter anyways. I’ll say it again, where oh where is Microsoft with an offer you can’t refuse?
I’ll keep my eyes open for it . I personally like spell check. Because I can present an answer better. And I like to read questions that are thorough.
Thank You ! Yahoo Answers Team.
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Some of the “spelling mistakes” include standard UK spelling such as ‘colour’. Standard UK spelling is far more widespread than just the UK. It’s what most kids in European schools learn when they take English as a foreign language, and it also prevails in much of the Commonwealth. Other “mistakes” include lots of specialized terminology, some of it not all that obscure.
Why? If people choose to spell wrong, let them. Browsers check for spelling now as well.
If you wanted to improve it, make it go faster. It seems to freeze up now for some reason and take awhile to process things.
I am on your site often and don’t get any work done. I hang around religion mostly because the question posed are so utterly ignorant that I’m compelled to answer and dismiss the idea of Hell and damnation that so many are concerned about. Anyway my point is that questions or answers that mock any faith should be ousted. It’s disrespectful. About.com weeds out the ignorant by the rat system/report abuse-but you don’t act on it. I know they are part of NYT so their standards are rigourous. But still there should be no room for intolerance.
I can spot a whacko a mile away and always report them. Some guy was writing about how bad he feels when he thrusts himself into someone causing pain as part of his horrible emotional state. Yeah right-try it on a social drinker-but those who answered bought it and tried to help. EEK. Isn’t there something in your guidlines about how to spot creeps and impostors?
This new spellchecker doesn’t work correctly: it only checks the current word, and if one is to slow to react one can’t even open it anymore….
Please, bring back the old spellchecker where all the checking is done at the end of the typing.
Please, don’t “improve” things that work already. Improve ONLY things that are broken!!!!!
I’ve got a report about my answers from yahoo. It is a problems or not? Here’s the report:
We’re taking a breather…
Yahoo! Answers is taking a coffee break. We appreciate your patience while it recharges! We apologize for any inconvenience. Here are some things you can do while you wait:
* Read more at the Yahoo! Answers Blog
* Yahoo! Avatars
* Go to the Yahoo! Homepage
Thank you for using Yahoo! Answers.
Could you please give some advice about this cases?
Every since your alleged “improvements”, I am unable to ask a question using my Netscape, which I prefer, because the “preview” and “submit” buttons disappear when I mouse over them.
I beg, plead and implore you to fix this!!! Thank you.
“We’ve been listening to your feedback…”
No! You never listen to Yahoo Users! The spell check is completely nonsense, no one wants that!!
I think the additions are fine, They don’t get in the way I think and if you don’t want to use them than you don’t have to. Soo, thank you Yahoo Answers for all your hard work this summer making Y!A better for everyone. Some people just don’t like change and they should just get over it
The new spell checker finds misspelled words as you type them, but if you don’t promptly correct them at that point I can’t figure out how to re-open spell-checker later. I’ve actually tried typing in a nonsense word to reactive spell-checker at that point, and I can’t get it to come back on. Very frustrating. The only way I can do it now is submit the comment, then re-open it under the “edit” option, which brings up the “old” spell-checker option too. This just illustrates how programmers put things together without testing their changes with REAL people.
Please bring back the old spell check, these “improvments” are so annoying! Please listen to the people who USE yahoo answers, because without us yahoo answers would be nothing, please please bring back the old ways! It worked GREAT!
PLEASE take away the auto spell check….I’m smart enough to push the button if I wanted a you to check my spelling or grammer!!!
At least make it an option to take it away on ones personal settings.
i t hink all these new tips are really really annoying. and if the person doesnt care that they left CAPS LOCK ON or hsa 4 mispelings, its not gonna help anything!
WOAH!! What’s up with all the animosity to the crew of Yahoo Answers? They are making changes and updates. If you don’t like it, then don’t use it. It’s that simple. You don’t HAVE to spell check. It’s just an option. And, if it’s THAT much of a hassle or an insult to your intelligence, then go elsewhere – or you are obviously not that intelligent because then the box wouldn’t pop up in the first place. And, some of the most intelligent people in the world have help when they write – so lay off.
Thanks Yahoo Answers for more additions/ revisions to your wonderful website.
Since I have been banned from the suggestion forum I’d like post three suggestions here:
3- get rid of 300 character&space limit on comments following Best Answer picks.
2-Don’t ban people from the suggestion forum
1-Give points to an Asker for each time their Q is starred and reward the asker for recognition from the participants who thought the Q was important or asked well. (Have you noticed way too many participants don’t ask Q’s and that it is a product defect of your point sytem!)
1. when is someone going to take seriously the trolls in the pet-related categories that advocate animal cruelty (such as microwaving cats). Having reported one such “question”, I got an email about a violation and the offending “question” remained. And it seems people can end up as top contributors by answering nothing but trolls – hardly a mark of being knowledgeable about a subject, just a mark of having a lot to say.
2. The spellchecker warns me about using “too much punctuatin” when I am, in fact, using grammatically correct punctuation. Is it trying to encourage sloppy punctuation?
The big pop-ups that surprise and confuse us are bothersome, but maybe it’s just deserts for complaining about text-ese, Ebonics, teenager-ese.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/?qid=20080802120518AAFeooF
I know you guys are -trying- to improve Yahoo Answers, but it’s WORSE now. Who says to these things? They should be fired. >_<
I hate the it, because the bubbles are SO annoying. I liked it when we had a choice to spell check WHEN we wanted to. Please change it back!
I really would like if you would change how whenever somebody does a smiley face, like this =], that it would not say that you have too much punctuation. But, love the new format.
I do like the new format, but not the amount of errors that occur. It seems that the more pertinent the answer, the more common it is for the “coffee break” or “oops” message to come up.
Such errors appear to be very common, and are highly annoying.
On occasion, I’ve noted that it only shows up if I ignore the spelling and punctuation guides (which, although I know why they’re there, tend to show up when I have lots of parentheticals like this… oh, and add “parentheticals” to your spelling dictionary, please!).
I wish you would get your spelling dictionary up to date.
If it takes a lot of work to update it, it’s probably a terrible job of code, since it will always need to be updated.
You don’t accept several obvious words.
Obama
YHWH
misperception
Furthermore, most spelling dictionaries provide for two things:
1. a temporary buffer that remembers what you have said to ignore
2. a unique dictionary for each user.
Without the first one, I find I am constantly telling the fershlugginner thing to ignore stuff that I time again and again, but it’s not in your spell-checker. This is not acceptable.
How hard can it be to implement at least no. 1?, and also keep the dictionary up to date?
You should have one easy to arrive at address or email address where we can drop off suggested corrections to the dictionary.
I personally feel that the new format is a little bit exasperating for me, and as well as others. The bubble that pops out are annoy me and i notice that the frame is smaller, almost making me feel squished. I personally like the old format much better. I understand that you are working very hard to improve yahoo and help people use correct spelling, but even though you improve the spell checker, noone ever uses them.
I agree with someone who posted a comment before and said,”I’m smart enough to push the button if I wanted a you to check my spelling or grammer!!! At least make it an option to take it away on ones personal settings.”
I also have noticed that there has been a terrible increase of spammers in the Polls and Surveys section. Everyone is exasperated with them.
I also have noticed that after the new changes were made, i can’t answer a question any more. Everytime when i submit an answer it says,
We’re taking a breather…
Yahoo! Answers is taking a coffee break. We appreciate your patience while it recharges! We apologize for any inconvenience. Here are some things you can do while you wait:
* Read more at the Yahoo! Answers Blog
* Yahoo! Avatars
* Go to the Yahoo! Homepage
Thank you for using Yahoo! Answers.
This has happened two days in a row and i cannot answer questions. The only way i can is if i wait another whole day until i am able to.
Thank you yahoo! staff. But as you can see, i love the previous format better!
i think the “new and improved” yahoo answers is making me like YA a lot less! for one thing, its sloooowwww and i think we’re smart enough to find a mistake and be able to push the backspace button…i liked the old YA waaayy better. and no you havent read the feedback because about 95% of people who use YA dont like it!! please go back to the old yahoo answers!
I loathe pop-up windows. I already have a spell-checker in my browser, which apparently now gets disabled while I’m posting in Y!Answers. I loathe not being able to use my chosen spell-checker. I loathe your spell checker. I find myself insulted by the design of it, and irritated beyond coherence at the “helpful” tips. The English language, glorious precision tool that it is, is entirely inadequate to the task of expressing my disgust with these purported upgrades. Together with other problems such as the recent flooding of trolls in the “Cats” section (and I’m sure other areas) and the utter lack of timely action in that respect, the spell-checker crap has left me with zero desire to continue participating here.
At the risk of sounding like I am childishly threatening to take my toys and go home, I wish to tell you precisely why I am taking a breather from Y!Answers. Perhaps by the next time I get the urge return and bolster my sense of self-importance by explaining things to people, you lot will have redesigned your redesign.
The new spell check does NOT work at all.
I have answered numerous questions and had problems with the new spell check on everyone of them.
It simply does not work.
And if I see a mistake after I preview I have no way of opening the spell check manually unless it appears or pops up.
We should be able to access it at anytime it should not just be an intuitive option.
How come one’s answer be shiny if the server’s keep taking a Coffee Break ?
Is there any way you can place an i.d. for diffrent countries on answers. Because the way things are now we have no way of knowing if the persons question we’re answering is from Canada,the U.K. or China.
Please try to solve this time wasting problem.
You get an F- in my book.
Do what you like , but don’t let yourself think that this is an improvement.
I would like to add to my previous comment, that I am well aware of the option to click on the little x to close the tips pop-ups. The thing that frustrates me about them, is that they will pop right back up each time I post a new answer. I need an option to shut them off altogether and never see any of them again. It is silly of you to say that you have designed them to be easy to get rid of, if they keep coming back for every new post.
I would much rather see you stop incorrectly listing the time of posting of questions that are displayed when you log on. They are listed as minutes old when in fact they are hours and days old, some even resolved already. That is annoying. It never used to be like that when I first started with YA…..what on earth happened?
I do like the new format, but the spelling bubble is up for just a short time, perhaps you can also have a button for spelling check. Also, I would love to use colorful Emotions and fonts in my questions and answers, is this something that is possible to do? Thanks!
Can we PLEASE get the plus signs back in the Mathematics section questions???
Computers have been around for a few years I think. How did someone (who presumably studied computer programming) manage to disable the ‘ + ‘ symbol in questions and make using the ‘ % ‘ symbol in answers cause a ‘coffee break’ ? He/she must be underpaid and overworked is my guess…
“Yahoo! Answers is taking a coffee break. We appreciate your patience while it recharges! We apologize for any inconvenience.”
I haven’t been able to post my question for 2 days!
I can’t even imagine how long you are going to take for the danish!!
I find these tips obnoxious, annoying and WRONG. First of all, the dictionary you use for the spellcheck needs a serious upgrade to recognize common product names and allow for them. A very good example is Photoshop. I answer a lot of questions about Photoshop, it is a very common subject in Software (among other categories) and yet your idiotic spellcheck hits on it every time. You need to at least add the ability for the user to add to the dictionary, as most standard spellcheckers do.
Another problem is the Caps lock warning. I use all caps for emphasis, and yes, there are times when I am indeed yelling. So it’s a useless warning.
And the biggest problem of all is that the people who should perhaps pay attention to these tips are not going to bother. They treat Yahoo Answers like texting on their phones. And they don’t care. Much as I’d like to correct the spelling and grammar of a lot of the users, it is a waste of time and energy to do so. This is very much a case of “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” I think there are other issues Yahoo should be addressing like the bots that have taken over running fake user names and clogging up Answers with fake URLs in their fake responses. And yes, I report these whenever I see them, for all the good it does.
ive also been getting
“Yahoo! Answers is taking a coffee break. We appreciate your patience while it recharges! We apologize for any inconvenience.”
for two days straight now
Yeah, I’m new here so forgive me for being inexperienced. This “Coffee Break” thing is VERY ANNOYING! You do know that drinking so much coffee might kill you, right? I know you people are very sensitive to abraisive comments, so I will try to be as nice as possible (although this is very hard). I should be able to answer questions whenever I want. Your glitches are not my problem, nor are they my concern. You have issues yahoo, BIG issues!
I think it would be better for the Yahoo forum to post the answers in reverse order of being received. Often the first, quickest answer is the least thought out. Often it’s just plain stupid, something like “2 points!” or “IDK”. The later answers are the ones people took time to think about, perhaps research, and write with care. It seems to me the later answers should show up on top, not the bottom.
For several of the Answers forums, spell-checking and “too much punctuation” and “CAPS LOCK” notification does not make sense … for example this should be entirely excluded from the Science and Mathematics forums.
i’m very sorry to say this,but I find the spellcheck very annoying.
i can no longer use “short hand”-idk,lol,etc-or even the occasional smiley face without the spellcheck coming up. i think everyone on this site agrees that yahoo answers was just fine without spellcheck.
&even with that said, you went through all this hard work to establish something that people won’t even pay attention too. people alot like myself would love it if the spellcheck notification was optional instead.
&the caps lock warning just so happens to be the worst of all. I tend to type in caps for no reason, and still have recieved best answer without the person thinking i was shouting at them. &sometimes people post annoying questions that i have read a hundred times on here. and yes, i tend to use caps with occasions like that–therefore, you should at least do without caps lock warning if you insist on keeping spellcheck.
i do get the feeling that all these “improvements” have issued the whole coffee break/breather issue.
but i understand that the Yahoo! Answers Team is trying their best, and i also understand that they try to improve the Yahoo! Answers community with their best ability.
Therefore, I will add some recommendations, that I personally, would love to see changed.
**the thumbs-up and thumbs-down on the answers need to go. people try their best to answer questions with as much knowledge and helpful information as possible. &to have people “rate” the answer is ridiculous. that option should only be available to the asker and the asker ONLY.
**people who get on here &post spam “questions” should have their account deleted..not just their question. i remember getting on here other day and there was this person who posted this question like “what do you think of me” when i opened up the question and clicked the link[which was supposed to be a pic], it was a virus that almost shut my computer off for good–if it hadn’t been for Norton Anti-Virus protection that closed it automatically. i feel sorry for the people who wasnt as fortunate because they did the same as me, and probably now cant even turn their computer on because this community isn’t safe enough.
i respect all that the team does to try to improve the community, but they need to focus on the problems that seem to have a greater impact–like the one above.
The coffee breaks can be bothersome but OK your fixing the problem and or the system. (and the pee breaks)
But too complain about puntuation? Why were those fancy little glyphs designed for then?
And one reference to a charactermap for brave’s acute’s, circumflex’s. and diaeresis would be nice. My e-mail provider stuck one in within a few days. Underscore, bold and italics are also usefull.
It looks like no good deed goes unpunished! I congratulate YA for at least trying to inject some semblance of reasonable spelling and punctuation, even if the tool is imperfect. Alas, people in the most need of a spell check will probably be the least likely to use the tool. I do like the caps lock warning, since I find messages/questions in all caps to be quite annoying — even if I don’t mention it in my answer.
I ignore the spell check until the end since this is when I do my spell checking.
There are times I don’t even have to I am not saying I am perfect because I am not but neither are you.
I have been noticing though, when I find I am having to correct an error on my part I see the old format.
I was doing the help site
and I forgot to put in the word help
and was able to put it back without that coffee break
The hockey section has experienced problems since the updates as an overlow of non-related questions have appered. Amoung the non-related questions posted in the last 3hours include:
Easy hawaiian drink & dessert
Any drs. online? Is it ok to get in pool 4weeks & 3 days after heart surgery as long as chest healed?Not swim.
AT&T texting phone??????????
At&t cellphone with full texting pad, camera, and good picture quality for a good price?
What is your thought on the current Mortgage crisis in the U.S??
What’s the difference between a Bee & a Wasp?
Why web-based marketing is thought to be more effective than other forms of advertising,promotion&dis…
Bret Favre going to the NY jets?!
In Lil Wayne’s Songs, Phone Home & Martian??
I’m dating a capricorn male & want to buy him a really good book. Any suggestions on what their faves are?
How many games will the jets win this year?
How to get to P&g cabuyao by commuting?
The spam is driving away current members of the section and annoying many others. A misplaced question or two is understandable but the overflow is ridicoulous. Many say the recent updates placed the questions in the category. The features are decent but not worth the loss of the hockey section.
We ask Yahoo Answers make a swift effort to correct the problem
It would be nice to have an option to turn off any or all of these “helpful” reminders, possibly only if you’re level 2 or above. My spellchecker is better than yours, the punctuation and all caps sensors are too sensitive, and I’m soooo tired of seeing the same “tip” every single time I want to post an answer. In short, I find them more annoying than helpful.
i dont like it.
Its funny when a simple Smiley face is too much punctuation. hahahaha
Oh Yahooo, you make me laugh.
Thank you for your support-I like it.
Kate
I kind of like it, but it sometimes comes up at exactly the wrong times, let me just finish what I’m saying first. Then offer me suggestions. K?
I think the improvements are a litle bit neat, but they definately arn’t worth all the “coffee breaks”. The coffe breaks are so frequent and annoying sometimes!
The spellcheck is completely STUPID! Remove it!
It blocks the view of my question so that I can’t see what I’m trying to type anymore!
…thanks
Great minds run in the same channel!
These are not improvements. All this will do for Y/A, is unintentionally put a stop to askers and answerers participation.