Yahoo! Singapore Answers blog

Boo! Don’t be scared! Answers will be down this Saturday, October 31th starting at 12 Noon 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 (http://yanswersblogsg.com)
- Stop by the Answers Suggestion Board
- or, if you dare, can take part in a Halloween themed Answers competition (details below)

Additionally, please be aware that the Yamster will be setting back his clocks at 6pm on November 1st, 2009. During this time no new questions will show on the Answers pages but things will be back to normal 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 accoutrements like masks, spiders, and spooky scenes that would make any Yamster squeel. 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 Avatar 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 9am on Monday, November 2nd. 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 9am on Monday, November 2nd
- 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 Avatar 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

As we strive for high quality content on Answers, we also 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 are what makes Answers vibrant and fun. Respectfully expressed opinions that contribute to useful knowledge for the community are accepted on Yahoo! Answers. However, anyone who promotes hate speech, uses slurs to refer to groups of people, insults other members, and act in a belligerent manner towards others should be reported.

What is 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. Their opinions may contradict your own, but please consider whether or not they are actually in violation. Do you think it contains slurs? Do they insult other participants? Do you think it is obscene or illegal? Remember that people are entitled to their own opinions, and it is up to everyone to express them in a respectful and constructive manner.

To be responsible, report only those opinions that violate the rules of our community. (Please find the Community Guidelines here) In fact, 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

Recently, many of you wrote to us about unresolved questions and questions that are in tie-breaker status on the site. The best way to make sure no question remains undecided, is to resolve it either by picking a best answer, or putting 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 as a tie, your question remains in voting as a tiebreaker. Once a vote has been cast, the question is checked shortly afterwards to determine if there is a best answer. 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 an area you are expert in, you can easily vote for the best answer. If you choose a category you don’t know much about, you end up learning a lot by reading the answers. You can pick the best answer, based on detail, helpful tone and general quality, without having to be an expert.

Have more questions? Let us know.

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 polling and surveys, and how these are different from chat. Generally, polls and surveys seek advice and looks to gather a collective opinion around a subject – that’s exactly what we want to see.

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

Make use of the polls and 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 a particular way.

Avoid ‘yes’- ‘no’ and rating questions: It encourages games and chatting and will result in a violation.
Here you have a couple of example of good quality polls and surveys
http://sg.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091009020531AAwL5CA
http://sg.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091009015738AAysmYx

Maybe you have some further tips to share?

It happens sometimes. You post a question and get no answer or you just can’t find that ‘best answer’. Here’s a quick reminder of how you can save points while getting the best out of your questions:

* Once your question is open for business, you can always add details. Just hover your mouse over the Edit (pencil icon) in the action bar below the question to add details.

* Instead of asking the same question again, why not to give the community more time to answer? You have the option to extend the expiration of your question by 4 days- plenty of time to increase your chance at getting the answer you are looking for. Since your question is initially given four days to be resolved, extending it means 8 days to get an answer. At the end of the 8 days, you will either have to pick a best answer or put your question up for voting. You will not be able to extend it any further. To extend the open period for your question, hover your mouse over the ‘edit’ section and select Extend Expiration from the option menu.

* If your question does not get an answer and expires, it will disappear. If this happens, you can try looking through answers for a similar question that was resolved or you can post your question again. However, think before asking again: did you give enough details? Was the question written clearly? Try to give as many hints as possible to your potential answerers!

* And finally, a tip for a super question: pick the best answer. It’s a great way to reward that person who took some time to give you a brilliant answer to your question… Who doesn’t love a bit of an ego boost from time to time