Yahoo! India Answers blog

After receiving your feedback on Search within Answers we’re pleased to announce some major changes to the Search experience on Yahoo! Answers.

We’ve made quite a few changes to the search functionality, so to make navigation a bit easier, we’ve broken things down for you by section, so let’s get started.

The NEW Answers search page

Let’s take you through some of the changes you’ll see:

1)      We’ve now added the ability to sort results by relevance, by newest/oldest, and by fewest/most answers directly to the top of your results.

You can continue to use the left hand navigation to customize your search and we’ve made some amends to these dropdowns:

2)      Added filtering by `Tied questions` to the Question Status dropdown

3)      Added a new dropdown to filter by `Number of Answers`

4)      Changed the time options available in the Date Submitted dropdown to give you a greater range of options and to include a filter for the `last 24 hours`

5)      Next to the Search Answers button you’ll notice we’ve re-added `Advanced Search` so let’s take a deeper look at that next…

Advanced Search

Advanced Search is back and gives you even more options for customizing your search.

Advanced Search allows you to filter your search using specific parameters in order for you to receive results that are more accurate.  These filters are saved and added to your saved searches.

You can filter your search by using the following:

• Keyword match in: All Q&A, Questions or Best Answers
• Category
• Location: All English questions or US/IN questions only
• Question Status: Open Questions, Questions in Voting, Tied Questions or Resolved Questions
• Number of Answers
• Date Submitted

You can enter certain Boolean search terms in `Keywords`.  These are: AND, ANDNOT, AND, OR

Not sure about Boolean?  Then use the `All these words`, `any of these words`, `exact phrase` or `don’t include these words` boxes and we’ll insert the Boolean commands for you.

My Saved Searches

Many of you make use of the `Saved Search` option to help you quickly find content around your specialist subjects.    We’ve now enhanced this feature so from the new My Saved Search page you can now:

-          Save up to 10 searches.  The main pane displays the selected search in real time.  The last sorting option you use is saved the next time you log in.

-          Edit your searches to keep them up-to-date

-          Delete your searches when you no longer need them

-          Drag and drop to arrange your Saved Searches to get the most used ones at the top of the list.

-          Manage these searches from the new Saved Search page (LINK – ) by editing or deleting

-          Get your Saved Searches delivered as a daily digest email (see below)

-          Have the Yahoo! Trending Topic of the day included in your search results.  You’ll notice one search already there which you didn’t search for.  We’ve given you a `trending search` to start.  This is a keyword based on what is trending from Yahoo! Search.  It changes on a daily basis depending on what people are talking about on the web.  The trending search can be deleted to give you full control of the 10 searches you save.  However, beware that once you delete the trending search it will be removed forever.

Since we first made changes to the Search experience on Answers in March we have received extensive from the Answers community.  We’re pleased to say we’ve been incorporating this feedback in developing some exciting new changes to how Search works – with some cool new functions to help you get the best out of this feature which we will be unveiling later this week.

However, before you can see the future of Search on Answers, we need to take you back to the past… just for a few days!  For Technical reasons we have to rollback to an older version of the Search page before we can add code to introduce new features – it’s a bit like when the Yamster’s wheel gets stuck.  We have to roll it back a little before it can go forward  again!

As from Monday we’ll be using the old URL structure on Search pages.

Here are the impacts and how you can work around this until we get the new page live:

1)     If you’ve bookmarked your Searches you will get the error page as the URL will no longer be valid.  In the interim you will need to go to the Search page and enter your search again.  This will return you the full set of results.

2)    If you currently edit the Search URL to use &orderby=+date (to sort by most recent) and &orderby=-date (to sort by oldest) you will need to use the previous parameters.  These are:

• Instead of &orderby=+date use &s=+date
• Instead of &orderby=-date use &s=-date

We are sorry for the inconvenience this may cause, but we can assure you it will be very temporary and that you will really value the new Search functions we’re launching in a few days!

‘The World Interviews David Beckham’ begins in just under 10 minutes time, you can watch it live! http://fb.me/DIrRgDzG

David Beckham needs no introduction.  He is one of the most iconic athletes and decorated football players of all-time. He is the second most capped England player in history, scoring in three FIFA World Cups.  However, David’s name now stretches beyond just football –in recent years, his name has also become synonymous with style, fashion, and recently, through his work as UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, he has become known as a key advocate of charity work.

Here at Yahoo! we are honoured to have David as our Global Ambassador working with Yahoo! Sport to interact with as many football fans as possible and sharing his thoughts on subjects ranging from his favourite World Cup player to his preparation for the big day – with much more in between!  If you haven’t checked this out already, take a look at David’s coverage on Yahoo!:

Here’s a taste of one his interviews.

The World Interviews David Beckham

Following the World Cup, we’ll be conducting one more interview with David and like everything else in his career, it’s going to be BIG!

We will be hosting The World Interviews David Beckham LIVE and exclusive on Yahoo! And YOU – the Answers community, are the ones with the golden opportunity to have your question put to David.

We’ve asked you the question:

If you could ask David Beckham one question, what will you ask him and why?

Maybe you want to ask about how his career took off? His future ambitions beyond football?  Or even find out what it is really like to walk out onto the pitch with 100,000 fans cheering your name?

Whatever your question, come up with the most original, interesting, topical or relevant question and yours could be the one we ask when the World Interviews David Beckham on July 14^th!

If that isn’t enough… we’ll also be rewarding the Best Answer for Yahoo! India Answers with a football signed by David Beckham!

Remember that your answer MUST follow all the Community Guidelines and Terms of Service. If you do not follow these guidelines your question will NOT be considered.

By answering the question you will be accepting our Competition Terms and Conditions.  The competition is only open to residents of India.

The Winner

We’ll be announcing the Best Answer and competition winner on Monday 12^th July and will contact the winner through the email address associated with the Yahoo! Answers account .

The winning question will be announced on this blog and on our Facebook and Twitter pages. Follow us on Twitter or `Like` us on Facebook and you’ll get the updates immediately.

Happy answering and Good Luck!

P. S. Make sure you click on the question and answer there. Your questions to Beckham posted as comments to this post will unfortunately not be considered. Thank you.

Following our cool new Yahoo! Answers feature that will allow you to share your Answers content with your Facebook friends, it was logical to continue our collaboration with the social network. You can now become a fan of our official Facebook fan page !

To join our friends on Facebook, you just need to process the following steps :
1. Sign in or up Facebook
2. Go on our Facebook fan page (http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Yahoo-Answers-India/31319990529?ref=ts)
3. Once you’re on the official fan page, just click on the button « I like » available at the top to become one of our fans
4. Well done, you’re now one of our Facebook friends

5. Later, you can also look for Yahoo! Answers in the search bar. Then click on the link to go directly on the fan page.

On this page, we’re going to show you the last blog updates; open questions from the team, partners and even some from the community. But be attentive because we keep some original surprises for you…

If you’re not totally addicted to Facebook (it happens), you can still follow us on Twitter : TWITTER ACCOUNT (http://twitter.com/YahooAnswersIN)

Once you have started joining us on Facebook, “tell us what you think” on the Forum or leave your comments here, on the blog.

To most of us in school history was about learning by rote dates and years and important conquests.

It was like a necessary chore to help us pass all our tests and examinations. Did we learn anything from studying about the past? Perhaps. But when you are young it is very easy to look to the future and not dwell too much on the past. Even so, educational curriculum everywhere has still not done away with the subject that is most people’s bête noire.

So I was quite fascinated when I saw this question by Ramses Daphne on Yahoo! India Answers: How is the study of history relevant to young people’s lives?

Most of the answers make sense but my favourite was the one by laCommunarde:

Reasons to learn history
Top reason: So one can understand why thing are the way they are, and hopefully find way of improving them: humanity learns from its mistakes, but only if it remembers them
-To keep it from happening again.
-To learn from its example based on what works, what doesn’t, what could use improvement, etc
-To know if your politicians are basing what they’re saying on lies
-To know when various event are being bent inaccurately
-To better understand the sources of current conflicts so one can find a solution agreeable to all sides that will actually work
-Interest in improving oneself

Do you agree? What do you think about learning history? Leave us your thoughts. Leave us your comments.

And talking about history, here’s another question that is very interesting.

Ever wondered like Nidhi Agrawal about the different types of sources used by historians to learn about the past?

Albiontubaplayer says:

1.) Primary Sources
-Oral Histories (first hand accounts)
-Pictures
-Documents (Census, Deeds, Journals, Diaries, etc.)
-Artifacts
-Buildings/Architecture

2.) Secondary Source
-Books
-Newspapers
-Academic Journals

About CM’s Pick:

Ask a question that is interesting and chances are your question will feature in a new section called Community Manager’s Pick or simply CM’s Pick. The answerer that the CM judges the best will also be featured on the blog! At the end of the week, after a lucky draw, two Answerers (one asker of question and one answerer) will win 100 additional Answers points!

And as promised, two of last week’s winners have got an additional 100 points each. Last week’s winners are:

Leo

Thar D

So keep Asking and Answering.

Bhumika Anand
(Community Manager)

One thing I have always loved about Answers is that you can learn a lot about what is happening in the world today by spending just a little time on the site. This, even if you have not touched a newspaper in years or watched late night news on television in weeks!

And so it is no surprise that today my pick is this question by ♫Aѕнιѕн♫ тнє ∂єѕι вσу who wants to know:
What is the reason for the violence going on in Kyrgyzstan?

I think Leo has given a great answer:
Resentment at widespread poverty and ethnic divisions between north and south occasionally,the Kyrgyz make up nearly 70% of the population, with Uzbeks accounting for about 15% and concentrated in the Ferghana Valley in the south.Tension between the Kyrgyz and Uzbek communities in the south over land and housing, and relations with Uzbekistan were strained following the flight of refugees into Kyrgyzstan after clashes in the Uzbek city Andijan in 2005.

Leo’s answer is short, concise and explains exactly what the entire Kyrgyzstan issue has been about.
Read more about this tragedy struck country here. Read about the 2010 riots here.

Do you think you can add more clarity to the Kyrgyzstan issue? Answer away.

Do you have a question related to current events? Ask away.

And isn’t it so terrible that such a fate has befallen this beautiful country? What do you think? What justifies violence? Do let us know. Leave us a comment.

About CM’s Pick:

Ask a question that is interesting and chances are your question will feature in a new section called Community Manager’s Pick or simply CM’s Pick. The answerer that the CM judges the best will also be featured on the blog! At the end of the week, after a lucky draw, two Answerers (one asker of question and one answerer) will win 100 additional Answers points!

So keep Asking and Answering.

Bhumika Anand
(Community Manager)

Keeping a room clean, fresh and fragrant is any house-holders nightmare. You just can’t help it – the kitchen smells often take over your house. Or the cleaning detergents give your house a very antiseptic smell.

I know when we get together, most of my friends and I discuss tips by which we can keep a room sanitary and yet make it look like an interesting boudoir – full of sweet smells!

So going through Answers today, I really liked that I found this question asked by Thar D : How to keep the room fresh always with good odour?

I found Em’s answer very useful:

Occasionally burn incense, don’t let anything nasty or dirty in there, burn beeswax candles, keep fresh flowers in there, and leave the windows open (if they’re near nature) during nice days. Tthat’s the natural way. You can also put a little bit of an essential oil (lavender, peppermint, vanilla etc) in a sponge and that sponge in a tupperware with holes in the lid, and leave that in a corner.

Personally, I believe in the power of fresh air and fresh flowers. What do you think? Do you have a tip to share as well. Do let us know. Leave us a comment.

About CM’s Pick:

Ask a question that is interesting and chances are your question will feature in a new section called Community Manager’s Pick or simply CM’s Pick. The answerer that the CM judges the best will also be featured on the blog! At the end of the week, after a lucky draw, two Answerers (one asker of question and one answerer) will win 100 additional Answers points!

So keep Asking and Answering.

Bhumika Anand

(Community Manager)

At this very moment, the best football players from all over the world have made their way to sunny South Africa to compete for the prize of all prizes. All eyes will turn to the Rainbow Nation to see if the numerous critics and doubters were right after all: They don’t believe the country is ready to host the greatest show on earth. Well, the time for words and debate is over, let the action begin and we’ll find out for ourselves!

Behind all the exciting games and magnificent stadia we will be seeing on our screens and the long hours we will be spending encouraging our team on to at least one more win, there is a fascinating country extending well beyond what will be shown.

Don’t worry, this is not a history class, nor a geography test about South Africa.  It is just a quick introduction to some facts you may find interesting (like the fact that Kruger National Park is almost the same size as Holland). Hopefully what follows will help add context and flavour to a whole month of football and activities that will happen in Answers.

The Rainbow Nation

South Africans often describe themselves as the Rainbow Nation due to their wide ranging diversity in people and cultural groups. South Africa has a population of 45 million people speaking 11 official languages, with Zulu, Xhosa and Afrikaans being the most common home languages (English is the fifth most common home language, but is understood by most people as, primarily for economic and political reasons, it is the lingua franca).

The best known and biggest cultural group in South Africa is the Zulus. They proudly defend and practice their own traditions, and became a very important force against the British army in the late 19^th Century.

Unusually, the country has three capital cities: Cape Town (Legislative), Pretoria (Administrative), and Bloemfontein (Judicial) .

The South African flag as we know it today was adopted on Liberty Day, April 27^th 1994 (during the first democratic elections after the abolition of apartheid.

Sports

Sport in South Africa is almost a national religion! Children actively engage in all types of sport from a very young age and inevitably dream of emulating their heroes in football, rugby, cricket and just about every other sport you can think of.

Since the first democratic elections were celebrated in 1994, South Africa has hosted a variety of international sporting tournaments: The Rugby World cup in 1995  (which they won), Football’s African Cup of Nations in 1996 (which they won), and the Cricket World Cup in 2003 . The country has also hosted auto racing’s A1 Grand Prix since 2006.

South Africa has always been a formidable competitor in Rugby Union. The national team, the Springboks, have won the Rugby World Cup on two occasions: 1995 and 2007.

Bafana Bafana (as the South African football team are known, meaning “The Boys”) have the hopes of a nation riding on their shoulders. The South African Football Association (SAFA) was banned from all international football events from 1974 till 1992, so winning the African Cup of Nations in 1996 was a significant triumph. Since then Bafana Bafana have proven somewhat inconsistent, slaying giants one moment and losing dismally to underdogs the next. So anything could happen in June/July 2010!

Famous South Africans

You may know of several other famous South Africans, but here we offer a small list of some of the names that have conquered the world, and you may be surprised by some of them:

J.R.R. Tolkien, writer and author of “Lord of the Rings”.

J.M. Coetzee, writer and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Nelson Mandela, revolutionary leader, first black president and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Charlize Theron, the first South African actress to win an Oscar.

Christian Barnard, the doctor who realised the first ever heart transplant.

Jody Sheckter, Formula 1 champion in 1979.

Gary Player, World Golf Hall of Famer and winner of 9 major tournaments

Desmond Tutu, Archbishop and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984

Hugh Masekela, Grammy Award nominated musician best known as a trumpeter

As we mentioned, this is just a small introduction to South Africa, and the beginning of a whole month of activities that we have prepared for the Answers Community around the FIFA World Cup.  Stay tuned, and you will find yourself in the middle of a number of contests, activities and rewards that we’ve set up for you along the way.

“May the best team win!”

Starting today, you will notice a cool new Yahoo! Answers feature that will allow you to share your Answers content with your Facebook friends! This means your friends on Facebook can now help you answer your questions if you choose to share them. Your Facebook friends can also join Yahoo! Answers and connect with our amazing community to have the many questions they have answered.

What are the benefits?

One of the many advantages of social networking sites is having the ability to connect with thousands of people.   Linking your Answers account with your Facebook account increases the number of people that can answer your questions!  Some of the benefits are:

1. Make it easier for your non-Answers friends to answer your questions if you choose to share them beyond Answers
2. If you choose to share your great answers with your Facebook friends too then they will see your answers right at the top of the list when coming to Answers from Facebook

Control options:

On the `Preview` page you’ll see the check-boxes for where you want to share your questions and answers to.  The setting you choose here will be the default for all of your content but you have the option to change this with every posting.  This gives you full control over which info you want to share with your friends and those questions you want to ask only to the Answers community.

Things to keep in mind:

If you do decide to share your Answers activity with your friends on Facebook, keep in mind that your Answers screen name will be visible.  Your Answers activity will be associated with your Facebook identity and vice versa, which means your Facebook friends will be able to see all your Answers activity (including past activity).   If your friends on Facebook ‘like’ your question, their contacts will be able to see this activity too.

Remember, more visibility to your questions means more answers from a wider range of contacts so we hope you will find the new Facebook integration a useful addition to your Answers experience!

Once you have started sharing your Answers and Facebook accounts, “tell us what you think<http://feedback.help.yahoo.com/feedback.php?.src=ANSWERS&.done=http://answers.yahoo.com>” on the Forum or leave your comments here, on the blog.

One of our top contributors Spiritualseeker mailed me this question because he thought it was an interesting one. And I had to agree. So here it is with many thanks to Spiritualseeker.

What does an online existence mean to you? That’s what P’Quaint wants to know: What do you think will happen if I flaunt my TC badge to browbeat a person in a philosophical discussion/debate/disagreement in real life? Will this carry weight or make me look…er…umm…Pathetic?!? [There I said the word ] So far, no one has a clue of what I do on Y!As… What do you think?!?

Most of our users have given some excellent answers, but I loved this answer from KitKat the best:

I need to keep this short and sweet (my alarm goes off in 4 1/2 hours) so I will say this – I still get emails from a girl whose question I answered over two years ago. Her mother had passed away and she had serious doubts about surviving without her mom. The girl was 15 when her mother died. I was 13, when mine died 30 years ago. She tells me that I saved her life. I don’t believe that is entirely true, but whatever she took from my words/experience made a world of difference to her, and I am ever so grateful that I happened to be there, here, for her that day. My real life friends know about my Y!A “career” lol and it is no surprise to them – I play this role with them, too.  So, yes, to your first question – depending on what you do with it, this time that we spend helping others (and ourselves) counts for something. The pathetic part would come from the flaunting and browbeating, which just wouldn’t be a cool thing to do, no matter what badge of honor you wear.

What do you think, Answerers? How do you feel about your online existence? Leave us a comment.

And here are the lucky draw winners of last week who won themselves 100 points each:

Rose

Sachin.George the shadow dodger

Congratulations, Sachin and Rose!

About CM’s Pick:

Ask a question that is interesting and chances are your question will feature in a new section called Community Manager’s Pick or simply CM’s Pick. The answerer that the CM judges the best will also be featured on the blog! At the end of the week, after a lucky draw, two Answerers (one asker of question and one answerer) will win 100 additional Answers points!

So keep Asking and Answering.

Bhumika Anand

(Community Manager)