Yahoo! Answers

We know that when visiting Yahoo! Answers you’re here either to ask a question or answer a question. For many of you, your main objective is to lend a hand and answer as many questions about your area of expertise as possible, but often, you’re unable to easily find the right types of questions.

While a basic search (using the top search bar) will produce quick search results, the advanced search function will help you pinpoint specific terms within targeted categories.

Answers community member Calimecita is well known across the community for her expertise in Biology/Zoology and has worked with us to provide useful Answers tips from Answers users.  Read on for her tips:

“Using Advanced Search you can:

• Find questions that match specific words or phrases, and/or exclude specific terms
• Search questions or best answers only
• Search by category or subcategory
• Choose to search among all English vs. only your home portal questions
• Filter by question status (open, resolved, undecided)
• Restrict by question time frame

You also have the option of saving this search and making it your default “advanced search” for the future by checking the “Make this my default search” box.

Says Cali: “With Advanced Search, I can locate open questions about specific topics quickly and efficiently, without restricting myself to a single category. I’ve even set up a few Yahoo! Alerts based on the RSS feeds from these Search results, so that I receive those questions as emails.”

“When I need an Answer, I restrict my search to “Resolved Questions” only and use some of the other options, such as “search for exact phrase” and “none of these words”, to find very specific content (for example, information about turkeys that doesn’t involve Thanksgiving recipes, or a question about vampires – not the Twilight kind ).

I see lots of comments and requests in the Suggestion Board for ways to do these things – and many users don’t know that Advanced Search is the answer.”

For an even more in-depth look at what the advanced search feature can do for you, stop by Calimecita’s Unofficial Answers Tutorial, found here: http://calitorial.webs.com/searchsort.htm

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Boo! Don’t be scared! Answers will be down this Friday, October 30, starting at 9 p.m. PDT for scheduled maintenance.

During this time, you’ll be unable to access the Answers site, but will be able to:

-          Catch up on old posts on the Answers blog

-          Stop by the Answers Suggestion Board

-          Take part (if you dare) in a Halloween-themed Answers competition (details below)

Additionally, please be aware that the Yamster will be setting back his clocks at 2 a.m. PST on November 1, 2009. During this time, no new questions will show on the Answers pages, but things will be back to normal after one hour.

Answers Halloween Costume Contest

If you’re feeling festive, download the Yamster avatar and dress him up for Halloween! Feel free to add hats, clothing, or whatever you’d like—just be sure to keep it friendly, clean, and compliant with the Answers Community Guidelines.

Sites like Picnik (which is built directly into Yahoo’s own Flickr) offer a full arsenal of Halloween accouterments like masks, spiders, and spooky scenes that would make any Yamster squeal. Be sure to check them out here: http://www.picnik.com/app#/create/seasonal

Or, you can use something like Microsoft Paint, Photoshop, SumoPaint, or any other paint program on the market to edit or enhance an image.

Not a fan of the Yamster? That’s OK, too! You’re welcome to dress up your own personal Avatars in their finest Halloween looks for the competition.

Once you’re through dressing up your Yamster or Avatar, save the image (right click and “save as”) and upload it to your Flickr account. Then, add the image to the Answers Halloween pool—found here: http://flickr.com/groups/answershalloween.

Submissions must be received by 5 p.m. PST on Sunday, November 1. Winner(s) will be posted on the Yahoo! Answers Blog and will receive 100 bonus points on Yahoo! Answers.

The Rules

-          Avatars and/or Yamsters must be submitted to Flickr by 5 p.m. PST on November 1

-          All images must be in compliance with Yahoo’s TOS, Yahoo! Answers Community Guidelines, Flickr’s Community Guidelines, and must not contain mature or adult content

-          Submitted images may only be that of Avatars or of the Yamster—no actual photographs will be accepted or considered

-          No real value is given to this prize: winner(s) will receive 100 bonus points on Yahoo! Answers

Good luck, everyone!

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As we strive for high-quality content on Answers, we encourage freedom of expression and discussions on any topic. However, you can sometimes stumble upon questions or answers that seem to blur the line between strong opinions and a violation of the Community Guidelines, plagiarism, or copyright infringement.

Strong opinion vs. violation

Everyone has opinions, and these viewpoints are what make Answers vibrant and fun. Respectfully expressed opinions that contribute to useful community knowledge are accepted on Yahoo! Answers. However, anyone who promotes hate speech, uses slurs to refer to groups of people, insults other members, or acts in a belligerent manner should be reported.

What’s considered offensive?

It is not OK to report someone because you disagree with that person’s opinion. If you see something that is personally offensive to you but does not violate Community Guidelines, please do not report it. Others’ opinions may contradict your own, but please consider whether their comments are truly in violation. Does a comment contain slurs or insult other participants? Do you think it’s obscene or illegal? Remember that people are entitled to their own viewpoints, and it’s up to everyone to express them in a respectful, constructive manner.

Please find the Community Guidelines here: http://answers.yahoo.com/info/community_guidelines. You will become less empowered to remove abuse from the site in the future if it is determined that the people you report are not in violation.

What is plagiarism?

Intellectual property infringement is a reportable offense on Yahoo! Answers, but the process is a little different from ordinary Community Guidelines violations. If you believe your intellectual property has been infringed upon and would like to file a complaint, please see our Copyright/IP policy.
Have more questions? Let us know.

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Recently, many of you wrote to us about unresolved questions, and questions that are in tiebreaker status on the site. The best way to make sure none of your questions remain unresolved is to pick a Best Answer yourself, or put it up for voting. Here is an overview of how the voting process works.

Voting for Best Answer

When a question is posted, it initially remains open for four days, but can be extended for a total of eight days.

• If two or more answers are collected, you can either pick the Best Answer yourself, or let the community vote to choose the Best Answer. If you take no action to resolve the question, the answers are automatically put to a vote by the community. The asker of the question does not have the option of selecting “No Best Answer”– only the community has this power.

• If your question receives only one answer, you can extend the open period for four additional days to allow more time for answers to be posted, or you can pick No Best Answer. If your question expires with only one answer, it automatically goes to a vote, with No Best Answer as the second option that voters can pick. If the answer wins the vote, your question becomes resolved. However, if the No Best Answer option wins the vote, the question is automatically deleted and you get five points credited back to your Answers account.

• If a question doesn’t receive any answers in the allotted time, it expires and is deleted.

A question becomes a Resolved Question when a Best Answer is chosen, and then it remains available on Yahoo! Answers for searching and browsing. The Best Answer remains open to receive comments and ratings from the community.

How do I put my question up for voting?

If you take no action and the question expires, it automatically goes to a vote.  Or:

1. Wait at least four hours after posting the question.
2. Go to the question within the open period, before it expires.
3. Click Edit in the action bar below the question.
4. Select Ask for a Vote in the edit menu.

How do I find questions up for voting?

1. Go to the category of your choice.
2. Select the In Voting tab.
3. Sort the unresolved questions as you like.

What’s a tiebreaker?

If the vote ends in a tie, your question remains in voting as a tiebreaker until a Best Answer is determined. There are tons of questions out there waiting to be voted on because they’re in tiebreaker status. Vote so you can get these questions resolved.

As you can see, voting makes a huge difference. If you choose a subject area that you’re an expert in, you can easily vote for the Best Answer. But even if you choose a category you don’t know much about, you’ll still end up learning a lot by reading the answers. And you can still pick the Best Answer, based on detail, helpful tone, and general quality, without having to be an expert in the subject area.

Have more questions? Let us know.

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Recently, we’ve blogged about types of low-quality content that are not allowed on Answers: avatar games, chatting, and gaming questions. Since then, a lot of questions have been asked about polls and surveys, and how these are different from chat.  Generally, polls and surveys seek advice and look to gather a collective opinion around a subject—that’s exactly what we want to see on Answers.

Having such a large number of people in the Answers community lends itself to gauging public opinion through a poll or survey.  Polls and surveys are allowed on Answers, and this week we have some recommendations to help you get the most out of the surveys you create:

Make use of the Polls & Surveys category:  This may sound like we are stating the obvious, but consider that placing your poll in the right category will attract responses from people looking to help.  It also makes it clear that your question is intended to garner opinion.

Keep your questions as short as possible: Long questions can lead to misinterpretation and confusion.

Be clear about the information you want: Write questions that everyone will understand in the same way.

Avoid vague and biased questions: Stick to one topic. The question should point directly to the information that is needed. Write questions that do not lead people to answer in a particular way.

Avoid yes/no and rating-type questions: It encourages games and chatting and may result in a violation.

Here are a couple of examples of good-quality polls and surveys:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AgCNXdjKvSFkcnrbST8IVqX05nNG;_ylv=3?qid=20091008121038AATNpYR

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AiJcHUZdiQoOe8.JPgdpPer05nNG;_ylv=3?qid=20091009015738AAysmYx

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Al5QNcnWSCSRAHbVkeWuNL705nNG;_ylv=3?qid=20091008092113AAEBo5l

Maybe you have some further tips to share?

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