Yahoo! Singapore Answers blog

Exhaustion can be an interesting topic. Most of us experience it and many probably see it as something normal, especially at the end of a long and tiring day at work or school, and yet just a few people actually stop to think and ask, maybe there’s a way to avoid being fatigued all the time.

Low energy levels can be a result of so many things, but for most of us, it probably falls under one of the following reasons:

1. Skipping meals due to hectic lifestyle. We need energy to function daily and energy comes from the food we eat.
2. Lack of sleep. Sleep is the period we allow our body to focus on repairing and recharging and if we don’t get sufficient sleep, our body does not get enough time to be rejuvenated.
3. Lack of exercise or physical activity. Exercise increases our energy levels and lack of it means our body doesn’t get to release enough of the hormones that give us a ‘natural high’.

Thankfully, there are solutions to all of these. But I’m sure you have more questions about eating right, exercise and basically how to have and maintain a well-balanced mind and body. Well, now’s the time to ask them because BRAND’s Advisor is here to answer them. Scientists from BRAND’s, the same company that gave you BRANDS’s Essence of Chicken, will be answering questions about health and wellness, and they’ll also take time to ask the community as well.

Recently, BRAND’s Advisor asked what usually are the causes of fatigue or exhaustion for you and how do you deal with it and Wander shared the best answer – the reasons may vary between people and she gave specific examples but the important thing is for us to make a conscious effort to address the problems.

Currently, the question BRAND’s Advisor is asking is “What do you think is the best way to maintain concentration and be clear-minded when at work or school?”. I’m sure this is a question that affects us all since there are usually periods in the day when it’s really a challenge to maintain your concentration on what you have to do. However, a healthy body means a healthy mind as well so this is just as important as dealing with fatigue.

Check out the link and share your thoughts and views about the topic. And don’t hesitate to post a question for the health category right now because BRAND’s is here to answer them.

A month ago, we presented a blog outlining the five golden rules to ask questions on Answers. After receiving good feedback the community and based on your suggestions, we have decided to give out  the five golden rules about answering questions. After all, what would a great question be without a great answer? Here are the rules to ensure quality-answers which will certainly improve the site’s content.

1.       Remember that you are answering to help the asker: Don’t answer just for the sake of getting points or to advertise your own questions to the community. If you don’t know the answer, skip to a question you may be more knowledgeable about. And remember, we now have suggested questions for active users. These are questions that will automatically appear on your homepage. If you want to learn more about this feature, click here. ( Link to suggested questions)

2.       Be polite and respectful: No one likes to be ridiculed and insulted. If you don’t agree with the question, offer your point of view in a constructive and respectfully. Answers IS a diverse community where everyone is entitled to their own opinion. If  you feel that a question or answer violates the community guidelines, report it. Learn more about the reporting system here. (Link to community reputation post)

3.       Use correct spelling: Avoid SMS language and grammatical errors. An answer filled with spelling mistakes and typos is confusing and doesn’t improve the Answers quality. The more understandable your answer is, the higher the opportunities it has to be chosen as best answer or make an impression on someone else.

4.       Be relevant: Don’t digress or change the subject when answering a question. Give a concise answer that sticks to the point.

5.       Link to existing sources that have the answer to the question: If you know an excellent website or book that might help, mention it – as long as it’s not spam of course. Also cite your sources, they are always helpful if anyone wants more information.

If you want to know more about it, don’t hesitate to visit our community guidelines and our help pages. Feel free also to share with the community some good questions or answers that you found on the site in your comments to this post.

Over the last few days, we’ve been rolling out a new design to the category pages that should help you find the questions you care about more quickly. Starting today, these changes will be a permanent feature in your Answers experience.

Here are some of the changes that we have made:
• Easier Category Navigation: We’ve moved the list of categories and subcategories to the top of the page instead of listing down the left-hand side. This should make it easier for you to move to a different category without needing to scroll down the page.
• More Space on the Page: Just like we did with the question page last year, we wanted to offer you more space in the category page by moving to a wider page design which is optimized for a higher screen resolution.
• More Prominent Leaderboard: Who doesn’t want to be famous? The right-hand side of the page now lists the top 10 answerers for the category or subcategory you are browsing. We wanted to give more prominence not only to the category leader, but to rest of the top contributing answerers as well. We also heard from you guys that when a category was being sponsored you still wanted to be able to see how you were doing in that category’s Leaderboards. The new category design allows this.
• More Prominent Question List: You visit the category page to look for questions to answer, right? We’ve made the question list wider and more visible to help youyou’re your answers in there faster.
• Sort by “Most Popular” Questions – We’ve added a “most popular” sort filter on the sidebar so you can see what the community is most interested in with just one click.
• Sticky Question Tabs – Open, resolved, and in voting tabs are now “sticky,” meaning that as you move between categories, your tab choice will persist for the session even as you vote for questions in different categories.

We’re always looking for ways to make it easier for you to use and participate in Answers, and we hope these changes continue to help you find the questions that may be most interesting to you.
As always (but especially when we change stuff on Answers) we would love to know what you think. So why don’t you check out the new category page and leave us a comment with your feedback?