Questions, questions
You all know the scenario: You can’t get a certain question off your mind, so you log on to your Yahoo! Answers account and ask. Then comes the wait and the anticipation that somewhere out there in the community, someone will have the right answer. Sometimes you get so many great answers, it’s nearly impossible to pick the best one. Other times you are disappointed by the responses, or lack of them. Here’s some advice on how to take best advantage of the question-asking process.
How should I pose my question?
Keep it clear and simple. The clearer your question is, the more likely you’ll get lots of good answers. Invite the community to explain their answers as well.
What if I get no answers?
Review your question to make sure it is clear and not too long. Make sure you placed your question in the appropriate category. Providing additional information to further clarify your question in the Details section can also be helpful.
Also, remember that questions stay open for 4 days and you can extend it once for 4 more days, for a total of 8 days. If no one answers your question after 8 days and it expires, you can try rephrasing your question and asking it again, or search Yahoo! Answers to see if anyone else has received an answer to a similar question.
So many great answers-which to choose?
Try to choose the answer that you feel was most helpful. If it’s just too difficult to decide, let the Answers community pick the best answer by putting it up for a vote. The voting period lasts two days and once the votes are cast, you’ll have your Best Answer. In case of a tie, the question will remain in voting as a tiebreaker.
*Updated: What if there’s no best answer?
Sometimes there just isn’t a good answer. So when a question goes to vote, No Best Answer appears as an option along with the list of answers.
When a question expires with only one answer, the question automatically goes to a vote, with No Best Answer as the second option.
If the community chooses an answer as the best, the question becomes resolved. However, if the No Best Answer option is chosen as best, the question is automatically deleted and the asker of the question gets five points credited back to their Answers account.
Have more questions? Leave us a comment and let us know!
*The original paragraph was unclear and misleading, so we’ve updated it for clarity. Sorry for any confusion.
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Yes, when will Yahoo Answers scrap Community Moderation in favor of a system where the rulings are actually objective?
･ there are some questions that appear ambiguous or misinterpretable, and answers reply with multiple correct but not related answers, then when left to go into voting, any answer could be correct though different
･ sometimes the category is filled with questions quickly, that the odd user with question is pushed to next page, and cause of popular category, questions get overlooked,
･ sometimes the actual relevancy of those questions are merely quick picks for the moment, sometimes even deleted before others answer,
･ there is suggested questions option to view older questions, though those are sometimes already closed for answering or voting, forum users suggest having 3 day option instead of four as last day,
･ still a lot of spam adverting redirects, cause other users not to but answering, cause of question possibly being deleted
･ have a nice day
Invite the community to explain their answers as well.
Good idea! Too bad it doesn’t pertain to violation notice appeals. On the few violations I received, I tried to explain myself apologetically and politely but the violation still stood. Also, CG/TOS violation does not really explain anything. If you explained in detail how something is a violation you would end up with fewer repeat offenders. They say education is the first step towards prevention.
There are so many pointless questions here that get 50+ answers, whereas actual questions sometimes even go unanswered because no one wants to take 10 seconds of their life actually THINKING.
So… correct me if I’m reading this wrong :
If I chose “no Best Answer” …on a question that I posted…. just because the answers weren’t what I considered “Best”…. I can essentially remove the question AND get refunded 5 points????
I didn’t think it worked like that…..
~*scratches head*~
…And tell people to start choosing best answers! I’m sick of lazy people who never choose a best answer to their questions!
@vicky – Here’s how the No Best Answer feature works: If no Best Answer was chosen and the question goes to vote, No Best Answer appears as an option along with the list of answers.
When a question expires with only one answer, the question automatically goes to a vote, with No Best Answer as the second option.
If an answer is chosen as the best, the question becomes resolved. However, if the No Best Answer option is chosen as best, the question is automatically deleted and the asker of the question gets five points credited back to their Answers account.
Hope that helps – Mitzi
What about those that ask questions
and don’t bother to resolve them? You
wind up with a well researched answer
that gets beaten out by some kid who
happens to have more fake profiles …..
There are flaws in the system that need to be adressed but instead all we get are cosmetic
fixes on the profiles and our avatars that have
no real effect on anything
Hi Mitzi
Vicky is a seasoned user and knows how the system works… the problem here lies in this paragraph “Select the No Best Answer option next to the list of answers. Your question will automatically be deleted and 5 points will be credited back to your Answers account.”
If the Asker votes for NBA, that does NOT mean that the question will automatically be deleted – the community will have 2 days to vote and decide the outcome, i.e. it’s not an instantaneous decision of the Asker.
I’m afraid the original paragraph is misleading…
Mitzi,
“Here’s how the No Best Answer feature works … ”
But, that is not the capability the blog describes. The blog states:
Select the No Best Answer option next to the list of answers. Your question will automatically be deleted and 5 points will be credited back to your Answers account.
This implicitly says there is a “No Best Answer” option, as a an alternative to “Chose Best Answer”, available before the Question goes into voting. Unless this is new feature, just implemented, there is no such option.
If the statement applies to after the Q goes into voting, then the Option is not the Asker “Select”ing “No Best Answer”, it is the Asker “Voting” for “No Best Answer”, and the Asker’s vote has no more influence than anyone else’s vote. And, that is certainly no justification for flatly stating, “Your question will automatically be deleted and 5 points will be credited back to your Answers account.” With self and contact group voting, there is a considerable probability that will not happen. And, even if it does happen, it isn’t going to happen for up to 48 hours. The blog clearly implies it _will_ happen, and _immediately.
“Select the No Best Answer option next to the list of answers. Your question will automatically be deleted and 5 points will be credited back to your Answers account.”
Since when did the Asker get a ‘No Best Answer’ button? That button has only ever appeared to the voters, is this a new feature?
Yahoo answers rock!!!!!!!!
good
Thumbs Up, Mitzi and Team!
Yes, thank you Mitzi and the team for basically saying nothing. Of course you don’t want to touch on the site’s true flaws that Bumble pointed out.
Why not let the ASKER pick ” No Best Answer” ??
It would surely put a damper on the point gaming going on, and allow the ASKER to have more control over his/her question. I SURELY wouldnt want an answer like “look it up on Google” to get VOTED best answer if I happened to not get to my question fast enough to delete it.
Of course letting the asker have the NBA option instead of having a question consigned to the whims of the point gamers is a WONDERFUL idea, so it will surely get thrown on the trash heap like all the other good ideas.
“Nuf said
We learn something new everyday ! ; )
i cant find my question i asked last night
Thanks, i was just looking into yahoo answers at the time same time
omg, i hate waiting for answers but sure enough there is always great reliable answers!… =)
How long will it be in the “In Voting” or “Open for Voting” state, I have a starred list in witch I vote on Unresolved questions and some date back 3 years, I have clicked on “No Best Answer” and would be the only one to have voted on the question in 3 Years. So you say that The questioner will get 5 Points Back. How long do they have to wait? I have lots of Unresolved Starred Questions, When will they be deleted and points given back to the questioner, also some of them I star won’t show up on my Starred List, mostly this happens with the questions I star that are 2+ Years old “In Voting” Any way to fix it?
Not Known To Me. The Voter ;~`}=
It really make me feel good and my answering questions worthwhile when the person who asked the question replies that my response helped them.
“Why not let the ASKER pick ” No Best Answer” ??”
I have to second this. Honestly, when I ask a serious question, and the only answer is “IDK. Thx 4 2″, there is no best answer, and it’s beyond frustrating knowing that someone is going to get 10 points for that!
Why does it have to go to vote, when there clearly is no “reasonable” answer, let alone a good one?
I agree with the first poster. The moderation is inconsistent, and this hurts Yahoo! Answers.
Numerous times, a multiple choice question has been deleted for violating the community guidelines. Yet, one person has 40 such questions up.
Why do questions with clear winners go into tiebreaker mode? As I type, I have an answer in one question that received 67% of the votes and another that has 100% of the votes, yet both questions are listed as needing a tiebreaker. Is this a bug, or a feature I’m failing to understand?
Why do questions with clear winners go into tiebreaker mode? As I type, I have an answer in one question that received 67% of the votes and another that has 100% of the votes, yet both questions are listed as needing a tiebreaker. Is this a bug, or a feature I’m failing to understand?
Hello,
Maybe the answer to my is here, but I didn’t find it.
I have a question now 6 day 14 hours old (e.g. 10 hours left). No one has yet to provide any answer, which is better than a kid trying to make a joke.
My question is simple: What happens to the points Yahoo! Answers deducted when I wrote the question?
The answer and the comments are clear on what happens when a “No Best Answer” (NBA) occurs to your points. Unfortunately, it isn’t clear (to me) what happens to the point when no answer occurs after 7 days. Hence my question (see above) on what happens to the deducted points when a NBA occurs.
Thank you – in advance – for your time, consideration, and help! /bow
/bow is a Final Fantasy XI (FFXI) command that causes an avatar to bow to the target, in this cause bow to you.