How can I find questions to answer that match my area of expertise?
We’re always working on improvements and new features to ensure that you get the most out of Yahoo! Answers. Today we are introducing a new “Suggested Questions” module on the Answers homepage.
Some of you have told us that it can be time-consuming to find questions that match your interests. We’ve also heard that one of the things you love about Yahoo! Answers is when an expert in the field finds your question and gives you an amazing answer. So now we’ve got a great way to present questions to the most relevant answerers.
With this new feature, Answers users will be able to see questions that are better suited to their interests and areas of expertise, rather than just those most recently posted. And while it will only appear for some of our most active members, we think it can positively impact our whole community by helping improve both the quality and speed of answers on the site.
The suggestions are based on your most recent activity on Answers. For example, if you recently answered many questions related to a specific make or model of mobile phone, it is most likely that you will get more Suggested Questions related to this subject matter.
You’ll find Suggested Questions displayed on the homepage of Yahoo! Answers, as well as on the confirmation page you see after you have asked or answered a question.
If you aren’t seeing the module, don’t fret. For now, only Answers users with a significant amount of activity around a topic will receive Suggested Questions, but the more active you are on Yahoo! Answers, the easier it will be for us to know what you are passionate and knowledgeable about. Once we know this, we’ll be able to present you with questions that best match your interests, too.
As always, we want to give you as much control as possible, so you can modify your profile settings if you want to receive a different number of Suggested Questions. Alternatively, if you prefer to see only the most recent questions, you can opt out of Suggested Questions completely (if you change your mind, you can reactivate this feature). Simply edit your profile and uncheck the “Show me suggested questions based upon my activity on Answers ” option.
Please keep in mind that we need you to be active on a topic for a while before we can start offering you Suggested Questions. And, of course, these questions are private-only you will see the questions related to your activity.
So what are you waiting for? Check out your Yahoo! Answers homepage and enjoy this new shortcut for sharing your knowledge.
Please visit our help pages for more information on Suggested Questions.
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Isn’t that what the sections is for?
It is not hard to find questions you are interested in if you bother to look in the right section. It seems like this feature is for lazy people.
I’m a property manager, so I mostly look at questions in Renting and Real Estate. I rarly ever even look at the home page.
mkay… thanks!
I assume that it will take a while for y’all to recognise my preferences and not just suggest any of the Q’s that pop into the categories that I just visited…
The suggestion I would have is to have more current questions. I changed the setting in my profile so I could see the maximun number of Suggested Questions, and none were more recent than 4 days old. The ones I looked at already had adequate answers, so not wanting to repeat what was already said, I just gave thumbs up to the better answers already there. I would be more inclined to answer if the questions were more recent.
Another suggestion if you wanted to have older questions appear is to factor in the number of other answers. It could benefit the questioner to have more options than just 1 or 2 other answers [not saying these couldn't be good answers already], or not to have any answers and the question be deleted. Maybe you’re already doing that, but it’s not apparent in the questions that first came up on the list.
Isn’t this something that you’ve been talking about for a couple years now? I remember going to the Y!A 1st birthday party and the team said to expect it “soon”. Y!A has passed the 3-year mark, so that must have been what they meant by “soon”.
I like the feature, though I usually go to one specific category already. I agree with the posts above that there should be some “tweaking” allowed to the selection criteria. I like the idea of being shown questions that didn’t get much in the way of response, but perhaps there are some refinements that could be made like if it has *no* answers, or if it is a couple days old, instead of whatever the criteria are now.
After using the feature for a while, I’ve also come across questions that had already been resolved, and a question that had been deleted. So not all questions appearing are open for answers.
I also think it’s more efficient to look down a page with 20 questions to see the topics and number of existing answers to decide what questions I would want to answer. The turnover for the suggest questions seems pretty random.
This is great guys! Answers has been a good tool before but now when I ask a question it stands a good chance to get visibility with the people who really are equipped to answer it – not just some random troll who wants to score quick points! KUDOS I Love it
I think the idea is great, but every time I click on one of the questions recommended for me to answer, it turns out that the question has already been resolved. So maybe you can adjust how those questions are selected, to focus on open questions and eliminate resolved ones.
To support the others, deleted and resolved questions need to be excluded. For resolved, anything within a time period (say 6 hours) should be excluded so delays in the system are accounted for in the algorithm. Also, the X is not working. Some work and show a new question, but most just spin their wheels. Lastly a question with more than a certain number of answers should be excluded. Listing a 13 answer question is not the idea the users want.
This might stop trolls.
Not a problem, Yahoo! Answers Team. I am more than pleased to give my feedback
Your questions:
Q Have you been using this feature?
A. Yes. I have. And It seems to be a pretty handy tool.
Q. Do you like it? Has it been useful?
A. Yes, I like it. And it has been useful.
Q. Is it confusing? Bad user experience?
A. It is not confusing, but instead of allowing suggested questions to stand up for 4 days, it should only be for 2 days. Please allow me to explain. Leaving suggested questions up for 4 days makes resolved suggested questions up for too long. Most of the time when I clicked on a suggested question I see that the question is already resolved. I would really like for suggested questions to vanish away after 2 days so other new suggested questions can come in.
O Ways to make the feature better?
A. Make suggested questions available for only 2 days.
Q.Any additional comments you’d like to add?
A. You guys are doing a pretty good job.
All the best:
Dad
I recently replaced an HP Pavillion computer (it was worn out) with a Dell Studio One. I downloaded the HP hard-drive into the new computer. All of my programs were intact except the Yahoo e-mails.
I find that typing a Yahoo e-mail is very frustrating
in that the Yahoo screen does not keep up with my typing, leaves out letters and doed not readily corrections.
Whay can I do to improve the Yahoo e-mail performence?