Displaying archive for November, 2006
November 27, 2006 at 1:02 am

Oprah Asks!

For us Asians, it’s may be a little hard to stomach why people would go on a TV show and share their life stories with the rest of the world. Perhaps it’s part of our upbringing that we don’t reveal our personal stories with just anyone. But I watch Oprah all the same, just as I’m sure many of you guys do Image

Besides the usual thrill of getting a peek into other people’s lives, Oprah does touch on interesting, universal topics that apply to us all. Like the question Oprah is asking on Yahoo! Answers – “If you were given $1,000 to change the life of a perfect stranger, what would you do?”

On Oprah’s most recent show, 300 people got one week, a video camera and USD 1,000. The aim is directly related to the question she’s posing on Answers. The catch? Whatever these people do with the money, it has to be completely selfless. What do you think these 300 people are going to do? More importantly, what would you do?

Oprah’s isn’t the first “life-changing” question. Answers members have been actively asking about life-changing decisions. Some of the more interesting questions:

Would you change your life plans for the man of your dreams?
If you could change your life into an existing TV show or movie, which one would it be?
How would it change your life if something happened to make you much less attractive than you are now?

Surfing on the winds of change,
Mads

Amos
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November 20, 2006 at 1:03 am

Cupid takes a breather

The moment my peers and I graduated from university, we were given (not offered) free membership to SDU. In the mail came a membership card plus newsletters announcing the various events the SDU was organizing, at discounted prices.

I don’t think any of my friends went for any SDU event; the “Single, Desperate and Ugly” tag was too glaring! We had a somewhat prejudiced idea of the “type” of people that would be at an SDU event – we imagined they’d be … single, desperate and ugly! And lacking social skills, since they needed the government’s Cupid to help them get a date.

Yet, more than 40,000 couples have gotten hitched through the SDU – so the unit did achieve what it had set out to do

Amos
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November 14, 2006 at 3:18 am

Hallyu from Korea!

I’m a Korean drama junkie and I’m proud of it.

What’s not to like? The storylines are universal (99% romance themed) yet Asian (obstacles to the romance are usually deep rooted Confucian teachings, like national or familial obligations). The scenery is breathtaking, and the actors and actresses are a good looking crew. Start with these recommended dramas, but in my opinion, everyone should start with All In, starring Lee Byung Hyun and Song Hye Gyo. It’s a classic.

Fueled by my Korean drama obsession, I headed over to Seoul and Jeju last week. Seoul is a beautiful, efficient city. The best way to get into Seoul from Incheon International airport is by bus, but within Seoul the subway or a taxi (during non-peak hours) is the way to go.

The autumn foliage was especially striking, although many prefer to go in winter to do some skiing. There are so many sights to visit in Seoul, so I was determined to get a bird’s eye view of the city just to start out. It was spectacular, and well worth the trip.

Seoul’s not just about palaces and skiing, though. I enjoyed the shopping and food immensely. There were a few instances where speaking Korean would have helped, but most travel guide books have a list of common phrases which proved to be really helpful.

If you’re into the great outdoors, Jeju‘s the place for you. An hour’s plane ride south of Seoul, it’s a popular spot for honeymooning locals. Though this volcanic island boasts many natural wonders - Hallasan, the mountain in the middle of the island; strange hexagonal rocks Jusangjeoli; craters like Sunrise Peak and Sangumburi - the highlight of my trip there was finding the church where the drama All In was filmed. Just being at Sopjikoji was a treat for me. 

No visit to Korea is complete without a trip to the De-Militarized Zone (DMZ) which separates North and South Korea. You’ll have to join an organised tour but it puts into perspective the struggles and aspirations of South Koreans.

I spent about a week in South Korea, but there were so many other places I wished I had the time to visit. There’s always next year I guess Image.

Have you been to South Korea? What was the most memorable part of your trip? Where would you suggest I visit next in South Korea? I’d love to hear your views.

Meanwhile, I’ll just stay put and reminisce about the vacation that was over before I knew it.

Vera

Amos
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November 10, 2006 at 1:49 am

Our first featured member!

Our first featured member for Yahoo! Singapore Answers roars out loud! Meet tigercub, who’s been reigning at the top of the Yahoo! Singapore Answers Leaderboard for several weeks. He has accumulated almost 12,000 points and is at Level 6, and has 598 Best Answers to his name.

Says the 30-something sales executive in Singapore:
“I

Amos
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November 7, 2006 at 3:01 am

Working the runway

* Or Beng Hua and his bevy of models

Singapore Fashion Week has just ended and I know one person who came away from it grinning. Well, two, actually. I came away grinning after watching the Singapore Fashion Designers Contest and Asian Young Fashion Designers Contest. It was loads of fun pretending to be a fashionista, sitting next to the runway and sipping Perrier. The other person who came away grinning was Or Beng Hua, winner of the Singapore Fashion Designer Contest and a dear friend. Beng Hua’s collection, under the label Or Else, was simple yet completely wearable (watch out for him!). And the most amazing thing? There was no sewing involved! I guess I can ditch my sewing machine, which has been collecting dust anyway

Amos
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November 1, 2006 at 7:35 pm

Gremlins, Bugs and Trolls

As Yahoo! Answers has grown, we have invested heavily in keeping the site clean. We have both computer scientists and a small army of editors aimed at removing bad content from the site. It has, however, taken longer to remove abusers than we’d like. Some of the abusers, or trolls, wrongly report abuse on perfectly legitimate questions and answers, and in determining right from wrong we sometimes make mistakes. Some of you have reported that some unwarranted violation notice emails have been sent out to undeserving Answerers for posting content that does not actually violate the Answers community guidelines. We would like to apologize to anyone who has wrongfully received one of these violation notices. We feel that this is completely unacceptable. We are not only working on fixing this, but also enhancing our procedures for handling abuse reports so that situations like this will hopefully not arise in the future.

Aside from our problem with trolls, we’ve just learned that our violation emails are being sent out with a code error in the return email address – making it difficult for Answerers to appeal wrongful deletions. We’ve pushed through a fix that has corrected this, so if you’ve received a wrongful deletion, have sent an appeal but not heard back from us, please resend your appeal as there is a good possibility that we did not receive it.

Unfortunately, this only solves a piece of the problem. As Answers continues to grow, so must our process for handling reported abuse. We are in the working on ways to improve and adapt the structure for handling abuse on the site.

When stuff like this happens it is extremely frustrating for anyone wrongfully accused of contributing to abuse of Yahoo! Answers. The Yahoo! Answers Team feels your pain, as it is not fair to see unwarranted deletion of great content while actual abuse continues to slip through the cracks.  

Community Feedback

We are pursuing a variety of solutions to improve the way in which abuse is reported and removed from Answers, but we would love to hear some constructive feedback from the community regarding a couple of specific issues. You may have some thoughts that we haven’t considered, so please let us know what you think.

-          How can we improve our report abuse process so that it cannot be abused by trolls? 

-          How can we improve our methods of detecting and hunting trolls on the site?

Even though we are not always vocal about each and every idea or suggestion that is passed along, our product team reads every suggestion and takes your feedback into consideration during product design.

Again, we apologize for any inconvenience this has caused. Please let us know what you think with a comment on this blog.

Yahoo! Answers Team

Amos
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