Yahoo! India Answers blog

Hey everyone,

The India Answers Team is happy to announce that that the site is back after undergoing essential maintenance. We can see from your hundreds of passionate comments on our blogs worldwide that you are all fond of the site and there are even a few Answerholics amongst you. We’re sorry we had to deprive you of your favorite site for a few hours. But please trust us when we say the work was essential and will make Answers stronger and healthier from now on.

In the short term, there will be another planned outage Thursday November 20, starting at 12:30 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. PST / 3:30 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. PST / 8:30 a.m. to 1:00pm a.m. GMT. This will conclude the planned maintenance for the immediate future.

Rest assured after this maintenance, the site will look just the same as it did before and should help it avoid future downtime.

Many thanks!

Hi everyone,

Answers is undergoing some planned maintenance on Tuesday, November 18, from 2 pm to 5.30 pm. Answers will be unavailable during that time. If there is any change to the schedule, we will inform you here with updates.

If you’re looking for something to do during the downtime, why not check out some of these pages:

• Get your finger on the pulse of all things fun, lifestyle, news, videos…
• Check out some awesome pictures here!
• Enjoy a new search experience and read about Katrina Kaif
• Check out cool hangouts in your locality here

Bhumika Anand

On a Monday morning, if you are a believer there is much to be glad about. You don’t fret too much about the traffic; the blues about getting back to work don’t hit you that strongly either. For the optimists and the hopefuls, Monday is a day of new beginnings. It’s not surprising then that most questions that get asked on our site on Monday are to do with religion and spirituality or the stock market - iffy and intensely personal topics both.

Have you ever wondered about one’s existence and the way our faith shapes it? Does everyone need to have a religion? Or putting it another way, as Top One does, what is the religion of a human being? Is there really a simple explanation like the faith you were born into?

Looking at faith from another perspective is Anil M. who asks us, what the greatest sign of God’s love is. A question atheists would also like the answer to because if there is a proof, they would want to validate it.

Or is religion and spirituality just a code of conduct that one follows? What is your take on religion? Have you ever wondered why all the religious dicta are so difficult to emulate? Which of the Ten Commandments is the most difficult to follow?

Answer these and ask some of your own. How do you perceive spirituality? What is your explanation for life and all that we experience? Do you have the faith? Or are you still trying to find meaning?

Whatever your thoughts, share them with us. Leave us a comment.

Bhumika Anand

Recently some of the community asked us to clarify what images and avatars are acceptable on Answers. Avatars and images are a great way to personalise your Answers profile, they add a creative touch and can express to everyone who you are and what you’re interested in answering. But as some users have expressed confusion, we wanted to respond to everyone on what’s OK and not OK.

How do I choose an image or avatar for my profile?

To choose an image or avatar for my profile, take the following steps.

1.    Go to Answers [INTL].answers.yahoo.com
2.    Click on My Profile
3.    Sign into your Answers account with your Yahoo! ID and Password
4.    Click Edit My Info and go to the subheading Picture

In the Picture section you will see the default, which is No Picture, that gives you a grey avatar. If you wish to use one of the Yahoo! Avatars, click “Edit my Yahoo! avatar” link, choose from one of the Yahoo! avatars and the select the Use my Yahoo! Avatar button on your Answers Profile.

If you want to use an image on your Answers profile, you can upload one to your Yahoo! 360 profile and then click the “Use my Yahoo! 360 picture”. This then brings up the issue of what is an acceptable image on Answers.

What is an acceptable image on my Answers Profile?

Answers is a broad and diverse community, full of passionate askers and answerers and we’re keen to ensure the images you use to personalise your profile reflect this. It is, however, important to remember that Answers Profile Images are subject to the Community Guidelines (http://INTL.answers.yahoo.com/info/community_guidelines) and Terms of Service (INTL LINK) and many of the clauses in each of these apply just as much to images as to questions or answers.  Members who have violated the Community Guidelines are at risk for review and possible termination of their Answers accounts. In extreme cases, members risk losing their Yahoo! ID, and consequently, access to all other Yahoo! services.

Being mean or obscene

Because kids as young as 13 may participate in Yahoo! Answers, sexually explicit and vulgar language and images are not welcome on the site.

Several of you have been asking for clarification on what constitutes a sexually explicit image and we understand the same image can generate differences of opinions in the community. However from a Yahoo! Answers standpoint you may not use an avatar that depicts nudity or sexual acts. Specifying what constitutes an adult image can be tricky, but as a rule of thumb, if it’s a photo of something you would acceptably see on a family public swimming pool, it’s OK. Beyond that, it’s not OK. This includes depictions of people, computer-generated images and cartoons.

Violating the law

Members of Yahoo! Answers are not above the law, so don’t post anything that violates the laws of your country, state, province, or city. Don’t try to trick people into sharing their personal information, steal anything (like copyright or trademark material), or break into places you shouldn’t be. Don’t threaten, harass, impersonate, or hurt others, and don’t invade other people’s privacy.

The Violating the Law section of the Community Guidelines also applies to Profile images. Needless to say any image that breaks the law is unacceptable on Answers, in whatever form it takes. Using images to “threaten, harass, impersonate, or hurt others, and don’t invade other people’s privacy” is also unacceptable. Images that make gestures to insult other members of community, incite hate speech or attempt to disrupt the functions of the site are also unacceptable.

What is the future of Answers Profile Images?

Currently, if you wish to have your own image rather than a Yahoo! Avatar on your Answers Profile, you need to add an image to your Yahoo! 360 Profile and then select “Use my Yahoo! 360 picture”. But early next year Answers will be transitioning to use the new Yahoo! Profiles platform http://INTL.profiles.yahoo.com instead of 360. Between now and then we would strongly recommend you sign up for a Yahoo! Profile before we make this transition.

Profiles is all about you-your connections, your updates, your privacy settings, your life. Yahoo! Profiles will help you better connect with the people that matter to you in the easiest way possible, whether it’s sharing your recent updates or connecting with people from your address book. Learn more about Profiles here [link to the Profiles blog: http://www.yprofileblog.com/ - for localized versions, please check with the Profiles/Mail Team]

The Profiles platform also brings the additional benefits to Answers of being able to report an image itself, rather than the question or answer that it accompanies.

– Yahoo! [INTL] Answers team

So the writing’s on the wall – Ganguly’s gone, Kumble’s gone, Dhoni’s leading the cricket team in all forms of the game and we’ve recorded a historic win against the Aussies! And, so what’s buzzing on Answers this week is cricket, cricket and even more cricket!

Dhoni’s the talk of the Answering town this time round. His gestures of letting Ganguly captain the last few overs of the Nagpur test and asking Kumble to hold the Border-Gavaskar trophy aloft have been drawing accolades from the cricketing fraternity and the world. Is there a team spirit today in our team that has been missing for a long time, courtesy Dhoni? Has he managed to get the team to come together as one for the sheer love of the game?

What do you think of the Aussies’ tactics all through the series? First the Gambhir-Watson spat, then the well-timed releases of autobiographies of a few players, and finally, Ponting’s much-disputed decision of using part time bowlers on day 3 of the final test? Do you think this reflects the old saying, “A captain is only as good as his team”? Was it because of the captaincy that India won and Australia lost?

Die hard Ganguly fans will speculate about his retirement, but he’s done with the game now – at least as a player. So will Dhoni keep the flame burning bright? Is he the right heir to carry forward Ganguly’s legacy of being the most successful captain, like Biraj 15 asks? Ben seems to think so – he’s even optimistic enough to say Dhoni can better Ganguly’s record. (Psst, I think so too!)

What do you think, Answerers? Leave us a note!

Suma

Hi everyone,

Answers is undergoing some planned maintenance on Wednesday, November 12, from 8.30 am to mid day and again on Thursday, November 13 from 8.30 am to mid day. Answers will be unavailable during that time. If there is any change to the schedule, we will inform you here with updates.

If you’re looking for something to do during the downtime, why not check out some of these pages:

• Get your finger on the pulse of all things fun, lifestyle, news, videos…
• Check out some awesome pictures here!
• Enjoy a new search experience and read about Katrina Kaif
• Check out cool hangouts in your locality here

Bhumika Anand

Most of you are really experienced members of the community, but we wanted to highlight some useful things for the newcomers.

These are little tricks you can use on Answers to get the most of your experience here.

A starry starry night…

What are stars for? Well, we have already blogged about this, but it’s always good to remember that stars are there for two main purposes which go hand in hand: give more prominence to the questions you find interesting on Answers and notify your friends of the things that have caught your eye.

To star a question, just click on the little star icon under it. And to unstar it… just click again.

http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/answers/ratings/ratings-126764.html

Who are your friends?

We know this is quite a philosophical question, but in Answers we try to give you a “down-to-earth” solution. When we talk about your friends, we are referring to the people in your knowledge network. To add people to it, just hover on their avatar and click “Add as a friend”.

Find more info here. [http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/answers/network/contact.html]

Tell us a little bit more about you

Share your passions, your background, or your story with the community. Tell us a little bit more about you on your profile page. As you know, apart from uploading a picture or creating your own avatar, you can write a short text about yourself for other people to know you better!

Know your place in the world

You’re from New York but you are seeing content that looks quite British? Are you planning to cook chicken curry but are only getting recipes for roasted turkey? Unless you’re deep diving into other cultures, you might want to check where you are – Answers is quite big and we are present in many countries. To make sure you’re exactly where you want to stay, scroll down to the bottom of the page and select the site/country you want to go to!

Update your e-mail address

We are aware that an e-mail address is not forever… so you might want to check that the one you wrote on your profile is correct. As always, here at Yahoo! we highly respect privacy, so your e-mail address won’t be visible unless you specify it. We just want to make sure it’s the right one in case you want to receive the answers to your questions in your e-mail.

Do you want other people to contact you… or do you prefer to keep your details private?

With Yahoo! Answers it’s easy. You can choose whether your profile shows your e-mail address or your IM. Just modify your preferences on your profile. As always – it’s up to you!

We hope these tips and tricks help you have a nice stay with us, and –as always- we’re waiting to hear from you!

A new US President is an exciting prospect for both the entire US electorate and the global Answers community as a whole. And while Yahoo! India Answers does not endorse any one political viewpoint, a new President will bring leadership when the US and indeed the global economy needs it most.

Luckily for Answers users the Presidential candidates have never been so close. Both Barack Obama and John McCain have used Answers as a platform to encourage debate and discussion over the last year, receiving over 34000 replies collectively.

Barack Obama posed the question:

How can we engage more people in the democratic process?

The Best Answer, one of over 17000 that “tremendously impressed” Obama, came from Rebecca W in CA. It began:

“As a parent of 2 teenage daughters, I hear the frustration they share with “rigged class elections, popularity vs. content, etc.” within their own peer elections. I worry that our youth is missing the truth and honor of “personal integrity” and need to learn democratic integrity first from their parents and then from public role models such as teachers, community leaders and elected officials.

The democratic process should begin in the home with active parenting; not passive or dictatorship styles. Active parenting provides a forum to share and to hear ideas, solutions, praise, criticism, etc. as well as an understanding that one’s ideas should always be heard, considered and respected, but not necessarily always taken. This foundation then naturally expands into school where teachers may mirror this type of democratic atmospheres. Additionally, I feel more demonstrative practice is needed within the school system in order for our youth to understand the democratic process on a personalized local level. Washington is far away; OUR community is right in front of us.”

Read the rest of her answer here:

Yahoo! Answers does not endorse any one political viewpoint and so naturally we extended an invitation to all candidates to share their knowledge with the answers community.

As such John McCain posed the question:

What would you do to stop wasteful government spending in Washington?

The Best Answer one of over 16700 replies, came from Suthern R:

“Reward federal agencies for coming in under budget and STOP punishing them for saving money. Right now, if a group in the federal government does not spend all the money allotted in the budget for that year, they lose the money and they are further punished by having their budget reduced by that amount the following year. This flawed practice only encourages them to spend any excess monies at the end of the fiscal year to avoid having that money taken away and not getting the same budget the following year.”

Read the rest of his answer here:

After his question John McCain gave his some insight into his thoughts on what he sees as irresponsible spending on the Answers blog:
– Yahoo! Answers team

Five big political questions:

Based on your own family’s experience, what do you think we should do to improve health care in America?
– Hillary Clinton

Congress is working on legislation to address global warming - what would you like to see included?
– Nancy Pelosi

How can we change the tax code to ease the burden on our families and promote growth and innovation?
– Mitt Romney

What do you think it will take to reverse the effects of global climate change?
– Al Gore

How can we help to prevent and someday eradicate breast cancer, which has touched the lives of so many people?
– Hillary Clinton

In April 2007, we launched Community Moderation, a system that allows trusted Answers users to work together to report and remove content that breaks the Community Guidelines and the Yahoo! Terms of Service. Due to its very nature, there is always a great deal of interest in this system and how it’s working, so we wanted to give you an update on it and how the subsequent appeals process works.

What is Community Moderation?

Traditionally on Answers if a question or answer broke the Community Guidelines or Yahoo! Terms of Service, an Answers user could report it. This report is reviewed by a real person and a decision is made whether to keep it up or to delete it. This system is still in place.

However, Community Moderation works in parallel to the old system. Once a report is submitted to Yahoo!, Community Moderation automatically measures the contributions and reporting history of both the reporter and the person being reported.

Community Moderation then determines whether it can remove the reported question or answer directly from the site based on community input or whether further review is needed.

So how do I build a good reputation?

First and foremost, it’s important to familiarise yourself with the Community Guidelines. If you’re interested in reporting bad content on Answers, it’s very important that you’re accurate. When you feel you have a good idea about what’s acceptable on Answers as you begin to report content, you will build a good reputation and gain influence.

On the other hand, misuse of the new system will result in a lowered reputation. A low reputation means that the power to report and remove potential abuse is diminished, and may even risk suspension.

The community is very important to the Answers team: without it the site is nothing, so we have set up protection mechanisms to filter out specific targeting of one user by another. Similarly the system promotes accurate reporters, giving them more influence.

How accurate is Community Moderation?

According to our current analysis 94% of reports removed by Community Moderation in the US were correctly removed. Occasionally it makes mistakes, which we would strongly encourage you to appeal, but on the whole your efforts in reporting are making a massive and accurate difference to the site.

What should I do if my content is erroneously removed by the community?

By the very nature of the system, incorrect reports are occasionally going to happen. If your question or answer is reported, we’ll send you an email stating that it has been removed. If you feel that the system’s decision was incorrect, first read the Community Guidelines to check. If you think there’s a strong case, click on the “Appeal” link in the email to submit an appeal. This will be reviewed by a Yahoo! employee. If we agree, your question or answer will reappear on Answers, and the member(s) who reported you will have less influence when they report potential abuse in the future.

As a team, we’d like to strongly emphasise the importance of appealing, once you’ve read the Community Guidelines and are certain your content has been removed in error. This is because if your appeal is successful, not only will your content be reinstated but your reputation will be boosted and those that reported you will lose reputation.

Recently we blogged about the wonder of Answers, and different people from the global Answers team had their say on what makes the site so great to them. In part two we continue with input from Answers team members in Australia, France, UK and more…

Caitlin Yahoo!7 Australia Answers team on having the bottle to ask…

“Answers is useful for those questions that everyone ponders but no one seems to know the answer to. I’ve found out things as diverse as why wine bottles have different shapes, what the name of that Italian quiz show I really like is and why car manufacturers swap their badges. Although the questions all had me stumped, to other people they were easy and they responded with brilliant answers in a matter of minutes. This leads to why I like answering questions. I love the give and take – I know nothing about cars but I’m really good at giving relationship advice and I know all the tricks to travelling on a budget. Answers reminds me that one man’s junk is another man’s treasure. We all have our own unique knowledge and Answers is the vessel that helps us share these resources.”

Marilyn Yahoo! Answers USA on sharing her musical knowledge…

“Answers rocks because not only can you get answers but you can actually give answers. I think of myself as a person with great knowledge in a particular show or ‘name that tune.’ So I am constantly trying to share what I know with other users. It’s a great feeling and you can’t find anything else like it on the internet.”

Douglas Yahoo! Answers France team on the simplicity of one site…

“Since Answers’ launch, I am amazed by the manner in which it has reversed the way we look for knowledge. Before Answers, we had to go around the web, look for pieces of info and put it all together in the right order to make it understandable. Since then, Answers has filled a gap on the web with a place where knowledge reaches you from people willing to share and structure it for you. This represents the true power of human-web collaboration for me.”

Frank Yahoo! Answers Global Product Manager on web search tricks…

“Loads of people struggle to find what they are looking for through web search or on online encyclopaedias, be it because they are not that experienced with using web search (link to http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/search/basics/basics-04.html ) or just due to having specific needs. Recently I struggled to find answers to specific questions around the UK tax system and although you will find a wealth of information through web search it’s very hard to be sure that you interpret the information in a way to know you have found the right answer to your specific case. Answers helped me achieve this.”

Juliette Yahoo! Answers Product Operations on the future of search…
“I’ve always been quietly curious about what other people search for. But not only can searching become painful and very lengthy when you’re after one specific piece of information, but you can also get so easily distracted from your initial query. The former has to do with the technicalities of keywords and web crawling, the latter relates to the depth of information you can find online: limitless. Answers is the answer to this vicious circle: the information is easily retrievable and well structured to enable anyone, not only techy people, to find it. And it’s handy: you’ve got everything you need in one place, from finance to food, photography to physics. For me, Answers has the potential to become the next generation of search engines. And who knows, one day people might say “just Answers-it on the internet” instead of, well, you know what…”

Helen Tran, Community Manager, Yahoo! Vietnam Answers, on having known great people on Answers…

“During my stay with Vietnam Answers for about a year now, I’ve seen the wonderful effort that ’strangers’ are willing to put in an answer to help their fellows out. I’ve always believed it’s the users that make Answers as great as it is today. During the past year,  I’m glad to have got a few chances to know some of them through our meet-ups. I also came to know a user who, for a few reasons, has not been able to physically go beyond his house’s doorstep, but who has 79% best of answer rate, 4,381 answers and people calling his user-name when they ask an internet & computer question. Once he told us, ‘I’ll keep answering as long as people here keep asking’. To me that’s the wonder that Answers brings about… So, if you allow me more lines, I’m sure I can name many other great people who have made Answers this wonderful.”

Jakrapong Kongmalai, Community Manager, Yahoo! Answers, Thailand, on finding people on Answers…

“When I first read all the contributions, it inspired me to write my feelings on Yahoo! Answers Thailand, I thought I would finish it in a few minutes. But it took me nearly an hour. It’s not that I don’t know what to write about but there are so many great things happening here and it’s really hard for me to explain in just a few words (I can actually write a book about it). For Thailand, most of the Internet users are used to the forums (Thai people call it “webboard”). When we launched Yahoo! Answers in Thailand, we needed to announce that we are not another “webboard” but we are Q&A Service which allows you to share your thoughts and experiences in the form of a question and answer… Suddenly, Yahoo! Answers differentiates itself from the other online services in Thailand. What we trying to do here is to be a small part of Thai knowledge society. So, as a Community manager, I have to know my community… I am starting to know them one by one and…
I found an online games guru who knows the easiest way to win games.
I found a well-known author who shares her tricks on how to get attention from men (She wrote a How-to book similar to “How to lose a guy in 10 days”),
I found a monk who answers questions about life by inserting ideas of Buddha teachings,
I found a housewife who knows how to cook authentic Thai food with her family’s special recipe
I found teachers who love to help students do their mathematic homework,
I found a doctor in the undeveloped area who always dedicates his time to answering health questions.
I also found an executer (who used to kill prisoners by law) to share his knowledge on the Philosophy of Life!
Yahoo! Answers is the place for various kinds of people who have different backgrounds, different professions, but all have the same objective which is to share their knowledge, passion, and thoughts with their heart.”

This is the second in a two-part series of blog posts on our thought on Answers. Read the first post here. But the site would be nothing without you, the Answers community. Why not have your say about what you enjoy most on Answers by leaving a comment below. We’re all ears!

– Yahoo! [INTL] Answers team