By now you’ve had a chance to get to know me — yes, the woman who loves Belgian chocolate, ponders about gender studies, lovingly calls the Delicious community “geeks,” and joins all kinds of twisted Yahoo! Groups. But I’d like to share something even more personal here — and ask your opinion on what to do.

Every morning, I wake up with a smile and sigh, because I could really use another hour of sleep, but my daughter’s “cooing” is just too adorable to ignore. Our family has a pretty regular routine down:

• The baby wakes us up
• My husband and I argue about whose turn it is to get up, even though we both know it will be me
• I breastfeed and then bring the adorable bundle of joy to her father so they can have their bonding moment as well, which is — you guessed it — getting her diaper changed. (Who said life isn’t fair?)

We try to have breakfast as a family, but that usually collides with some phone calls with our European offices, my daughter insisting that she can eat by herself and throwing rice cereal all over our brand new sofa (thank God for IKEA), and my husband remembering he forgot to iron his shirt while texting one of his customers on his BlackBerry.

Usually a moment of calm and peace reappears when our nanny enters our apartment, but this time she is late, and when she finally arrives, she has some news to share: “I am going back to school full time, and this will be my last week.”

We are absolutely thrilled for her, but where are we going to find a new nanny on such short notice? As I drive to work and try to recall all the places I posted an ad last time, I wonder whether it’s time to finally consider placing our daughter in daycare so she can be in a more social environment. She is only 9 months old and truly enjoys the personal attention she gets, but nannies are expensive and hard to find.

Luckily for me, you guys already had a conversation about this on Yahoo! Answers.

That said, I figured you wouldn’t mind dropping me a few comments on the topic. Ask Mike has all the answers, so I figured you wouldn’t be too bothered with me asking a question.

And now, this week’s question…

Throughout your life, the chance of having a bad roommate is big. We’re pretty sure you’ve experienced at least one messy, loud, or annoying roommate. So please tell us — or anyone having this problem — how do you get rid of them?

Think you know the answer? We know our community can do better. You’ve heard their answers, now we want to hear from you! Give us a shout and tell us what you think. Just click on the question below to submit your response.

Question: How do you get rid of a bad roommate?

Episode 2 Winner

Congrats to Beauty Killer Jeffree Star for Episode 2’s Best Answer. Here’s their answer:

“Just say something like, ‘Hey, sorry, but would you mind if we talked about this later, I have to finish this [current project] by [due date] and I’m not very far on it.’ And, just to lighten things up, you could add a joke or smile, or an ‘Oh goodness, I had better get started or I’m dead meat’ -expression. No need to be rude, just honest. If they still can’t shut up, then you need to be a bit harsh. (:”

Get Featured

You can be the next winner and get 200 EXTRA POINTS and get recognized on our Answers Blog.  Heck, if you have a webcam and we like your video, we may even feature a video of you on our Answers Blog! We’re not the only ones that can make videos. Simply upload your video here. In submitting your video keep in mind your obligations under the Terms of Service and Community Guidelines. Also, you must be 18 in order to submit a video.

So far we are really loving the responses from our community. Please keep them coming and if you have a few minutes, suggest a few questions for future videos.

And now, this week’s question…

We’ve all been in this situation. You’re at work, finishing a project, and there’s this co-worker that just gets under your skin. They’re too loud, they won’t stop talking, they just won’t shut up. What do you do?

Think you know the answer? We know our community can do better. You’ve heard the answers on the street — now we want to hear from you! Give us a shout and tell us what you think. Just click the question below to submit your response.

Question: How do you deal with a co-worker who talks too much?

Episode 1 Winner

Congrats to janet a for the Best Answer to How do you tell someone they have bad breath? Here’s Janet in her own words:

I love the Internet. My daughter recommended Yahoo for email, and one day I clicked on “Answers” and I was hooked. I love the Senior section, all of the Medical categories (I’m a retired x-ray technologist), and the Jokes and Riddle Category, oh, and the Food & Drink (Recipe) category — I could go on and on!

When I’m not on the computer, I’m usually outside with our 3 Chihuahuas – My husband and I live in the mountains and take at least 2 walks every day, and of course the dogs go with us. I love to cook and love to read, especially mystery novels.

Thank you again for the Best Answer — it was exciting and fun!”

Get Featured

You can be the next winner and get 200 EXTRA POINTS and get recognized on our Answers Blog.  Heck, if you have a webcam and we like your video, we may even feature a video of you on our Answers Blog! We’re not the only ones that can make videos.  Simply upload your video here. In submitting your video keep in mind your obligations under the Terms of Service and Community Guidelines.  Also, you must be 18 in order to submit a video.

We had over 2000 answers the last time so keep them coming! Don’t forget to check out our blog for future videos. We’re just getting started.

However, before you can see the future of Search on Answers, we need to take you back to the past… just for a few days!  For Technical reasons we have to rollback to an older version of the Search page before we can add code to introduce new features – it’s a bit like when the Yamster’s wheel gets stuck.  We have to roll it back a little before it can go forward again!

As from Monday we’ll be using the old URL structure on Search pages.

Here are the impacts and how you can work around this until we get the new page live:

1) If you’ve bookmarked your Searches you will get the error page as the URL will no longer be valid. In the interim you will need to go to the Search page and enter your search again.  This will return you the full set of results.

2) If you currently edit the Search URL to use &orderby=+date (to sort by most recent) and &orderby=-date (to sort by oldest) you will need to use the previous parameters.  These are:

• Instead of &orderby=+date use &s=+date
• Instead of &orderby=-date use &s=-date

We are sorry for the inconvenience this may cause, but we can assure you it will be very temporary and that you will really value the new Search functions we’re launching in a few days!

What are the benefits?

One of the many advantages of social networking sites is having the ability to connect with thousands of people.   Linking your Answers account with your Facebook account increases the number of people that can answer your questions!  Some of the benefits are:

1. Make it easier for your non-Answers friends to answer your questions if you choose to share them beyond Answers
2. If you choose to share your great answers with your Facebook friends too then they will see your answers right at the top of the list when coming to Answers from Facebook

Control options:

On the `Preview` page you’ll see the check-boxes for where you want to share your questions and answers to.  The setting you choose here will be the default for all of your content but you have the option to change this with every posting.  This gives you full control over which info you want to share with your friends and those questions you want to ask only to the Answers community.

Things to keep in mind:

If you do decide to share your Answers activity with your friends on Facebook, keep in mind that your Answers screen name will be visible.  Your Answers activity will be associated with your Facebook identity and vice versa, which means your Facebook friends will be able to see all your Answers activity (including past activity).   If your friends on Facebook ‘like’ your question, their contacts will be able to see this activity too.

Remember, more visibility to your questions means more answers from a wider range of contacts so we hope you will find the new Facebook integration a useful addition to your Answers experience!

Once you have started sharing your Answers and Facebook accounts, “tell us what you think” on the Forum or leave your comments here, on the blog.

–Yahoo! Answers Team

As much of our success is down to our amazing community members, we want to extend an offer to all you – the opportunity to volunteer a blog post and have it published on the Answers blog!

Have you ever dreamed of being famous in the US? Then this is your chance! If your blog hits the spot we may even feature it on our sister-blogs in one of the 21 countries where we blog and translate it into some of the 9 languages we operate in.

This is your chance to have your voice heard, and have millions of people read your words! If that isn’t incentive enough, how about an extra 100 points for each post we publish?

How do I become a guest blogger?

Simple – come up with a suggestion or a full blog post and email it to y_answrs_favorites@yahoo.com.

Here are a few tips and rules to follow:

1) What should you write about? – Focus on what would interest the Answers Community. We are open to any subject area, even if only slightly related to Answers. This could include educational, instructional or informative topics. Some examples are as follows:

o Subjects that you may have professional or personal experience in, for example if you have recently planned a wedding, you may want to pitch a topic on “How to organize a wedding?”
o Or you could pitch ideas based on your personal experience on Answers, such as tips on getting the most out of Answers, things that could be improved, and anything that you would like to share with the Answers community.

2) Use correct spelling and grammar. The more understandable your suggestion is, the higher the chance it has to be used or chosen as a possible blog topic.

3) If you use any Answers content in your blog posts, it should adhere to the Community Guidelines.

Finally, the legal bit – your blog will be featured on the site in accordance with our TOS. We reserve the right to translate and make editorial changes to your blog if selected.

We look forward to hearing from you – y_answrs_favorites@yahoo.com

From now on, if a question suddenly pops into your head there is no need to navigate away from the page you are on – just click on the Answers app on your Yahoo! Toolbar and ask the Answers community directly and instantly!

Many of you may already be familiar with the Yahoo! Toolbar, which is a great way to make your surfing experience more efficient and streamlined by keeping all the information you need in a single click. If you haven’t yet experienced the benefits then download the Yahoo! Toolbar now and enhance your Internet experience by:
• Reducing the time needed to load various sites.
• Getting instant access to your Yahoo! account and other properties by just clicking a button.
• Getting instant access to Yahoo!’s powerful search engine.

What exactly is the Answers app?

Here is a quick walkthrough of the new Answers app:

1-App icon
The App icon lets you navigate directly to Answers at the click of a button, preview your activity, and ask questions without leaving the page you’re on.

2-App module
The App module provides 3 tabs for you to easily manage and check your favorite Yahoo! Answers content.

My Activity tab: Shows the last 5 questions/answers you asked along with your latest points tally.

Ask tab: Let’s you dive straight into asking questions directly from the module.

Browse tab: See the latest questions asked or browse to your favorite categories using the list.

3- Related Links
The Related links section takes you directly to the relevant sections on the Answers site.

4 – Search Answers
We’ve included a Search box to get quick access to the information you are looking for.

Tell us what you think
Once you have given the new Answers app a test drive, tell us what you think on the Forum or leave your comments here, on the blog.

We trust you will find the Yahoo! Toolbar and the Answers app to be a useful addition to your Answers experience!

Photo by wallyg

Yahoo! Answers is hitting the streets and for all of you Answers fans, here’s your chance to shine on video! The Yahoo! Answers team has selected some fun questions and they’re headed to the streets of San Francisco to see how well YOU can answer them. Think you’ve got the skills to answer their questions? Come on out to show your support and share your knowledge. We’d love to meet some of our community members! We’ll also have some fun stuff to give out for your participation.

Schedule on Monday, May 17:

Marina Green: 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. PT
Ferry Building: 10:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. PT
1 Powell Street (Bart and Trolley Stop near Union Square): 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. PT
SFO (Domestic Food Court): 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. PT

Hope to see some of you!

Why are Community Guidelines important?
Our site continues to grow at an incredible speed and we have thousands of new people signing up every week. To keep our Answers community a fun and informative place it is important to understand our community guidelines.

What improves our site’s content is understanding how to ask questions and how to write a great answer. Like any other community, members must follow a set of principles in order to keep our site a safe, fun and positive. As members of our community, we want you to understand the following:

Test your knowledge!
We encourage new members of the community to read the community guidelines so that our community can continue to be a helpful place for you. By following, the above points our site will continue to be a place where members can find answers to questions that you were always curious about.

Take the community guidelines quiz to test your knowledge, earn points and let us know what you think!

Photo by Rasmin

This week Yahoo! Answers reached an important milestone – we received our 1 billionth answer!

From the small beginnings when we received our first answer from the public back in December 2005 we have now become the largest and most popular global Q&A site on the internet, available in 9 languages across 21 countries.

The volume of contributions we receive from the Answers community on a daily basis is mindboggling.  Yahoo! Answers currently receives:

823,966 questions and answers per day…

that works out to 34,331 per hour or 572 per minute

which is 10 questions and answers posted EVERY second!

The first answer on Answers

It’s difficult to pinpoint the first answer to the first question once Answers was opened to the public, but one of the first-ever answers came to this question -“Why are yawns contagious?”

This was one of many questions you’ve always wanted to know the answer to, but didn’t know how to find – until Yahoo! Answers came along.

The most answered questions of all time…

Through the years, we have had numerous celebrities and leading political figures appear on Yahoo! Answers.  Their questions have proven to be overwhelmingly popular with the community due to the large numbers of answers received.

Here’s a rundown of some of the biggest:

• The most popular question ever was from Hillary Clinton who received over 38,000 answers to her question: “Based on your own family’s experience, what do you think we should do to improve health care in America?”.

• This is closely followed by Oprah Winfrey’s question with over 37,000 responses

• During the 2008 US election campaign, President Barack Obama sought the wisdom of the Answers community to ask “how can we engage more people in the democratic process?”.  He received nearly 18,000 answers.

• As part of the ONE campaign to Make Poverty History, Bono took the time to select David C’s response as the best answer to his question, What can we do to make poverty history?, from the 29,458 received.

The quirkiest questions of all time…

The following are some of the most interesting and original questions that our Answers community has asked:

• What numbers and letters do you key on you keyboard to make a heart symbol?

• Is eating the inside of an orange peel good for you?

• How far east can you go before you’re heading west?

Drum roll…

The honor of providing the 1 BILLIONTH answer on Yahoo! Answers goes to cgramer2 (for their excellent response to this question: What laptop part can I replace to speed up my pc?

Thank you cgramer2 and THANK YOU Answers Community.  It is you all who have made this site such a phenomenal place where information can be exchanged and opinions heard.  Thanks to our amazing community for making this milestone happen!

So, if you ever have a question?  Yahoo! has an answer… over one billion of them!

—YAT