Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers blog

It seems that Yahoo! Answers has caught the eye of Indian President A. P. J. Kalam. He recently addressed the nation before the celebration of India’s 60^th Independence Day, and in his speech he referred to Stephen Hawking’s question and response on Yahoo! Answers when discussing the future of human society. 

“At this stage, with so much of natural and man made disasters facing planet Earth, let me share with you a thought from Stephen Hawking. He is considered as one of the world’s leading theoretical physicists who discovered the super string theory. He asked an open question in June 2006, “How can the human race survive the next hundred years?” When he received well over 20000 mixed responses on e-mail, he admitted that he does not have an answer. You have heard me today on the eve of the 60th Independence Day. I am sure that you share my strong belief that with the strength of our youth and our civilizational heritage we can together find an answer. Hence, let me conclude with the mission ahead.”

You can read more about it over on the Answers India blog.

The fact that the President of any country is pointing to the youth of civilization as a source of knowledge – and hopefully answers – is pretty resonant.

Can you picture the Queen making a statement similar to President Kalam’s in her Christmas message this year?

–Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers Team

The Yahoo! Answers Brain Bus Tour rolls on this weekend (Saturday 18^th and Sunday 19^th of August) hitting Monster Mania: Masters of Monster Trucks at Hop farm in Kent. As they used to say in monster truck parlance: “Saturday!!! Saturday!!! Saturday!!! BE THERE!!!” Though we’ll be there Sunday too, provided the Brain Bus hasn’t been crushed of course.

The basic premise of monster trucks is fairly straightforward: massive, oversized trucks performing death defying stunts. But if you dig a little deeper, what exactly makes a monster truck “monster”  and how did the phenomenon start?

The sport’s history began over 30 years ago. Over the years the tyres have got bigger and bigger, from 48 to 66 inches and beyond.  So we’re curious what is the biggest monster truck of all time?

Monster truck shows involve racing, crushing cars and freestyle events. The drivers take the races very seriously, comparing themselves in spirit to the high speed NASCAR events in the US but with crowds wowed by the spectacle of endless car-crushing, monster trucks is often dubbed “motorised professional wrestling.” So where does a sport end and “sports entertainment” begin?

In this flamboyant event the trucks have colourful names like “Bigfoot” and “Swamp Thing,” so it makes us wonder should Premiership football consider adopting these styles of names? Certainly this has worked for UK rugby league and county cricket clubs of late.

With all this colour and high drama, we can’t help but worry about the practicalities of it all. Given monster trucks can run over most known barriers, if the driver passes out how are accidents prevented? Given the narrowness of some English lanes, how do monster truck owners even get their trucks to events? And finally given monster trucks are traditional trucks modified with super-size parts, is it possible to modify other vehicles? With all the recent summer rain, we’re thinking the Brain Bus could just do with some 66” rims.

 – Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team

Ever wanted to see yourself amongst celebs?  Rubbing shoulders with Bono or Martina Navratilova? 

Now you can with our new Wall of Fame.

We will be regularly updating the wall with our celebrities and featured users so this could be you.  If you feel you are an expert on Answers let us know in the comments below, or email to y_answrs_team_uk@yahoo.co.uk and you could appear on our Wall of Fame!

Currently one of our featured users, Pontac is up there with Bono, Martina, Lee Sharpe and the DJs Frank and Bill.

Pontac is an expert in the Food and Drink category with some particularly valuable answers on fine wines.  Take a look at some of Pontac’s answers or read more about him on the blog.

Remember – everyone is an expert in something.  We want to know what your expertise is in! 

–Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team

Why should I rate questions?

Rating questions tells us which questions are interesting, intriguing, or simply worth asking. 

Can I rate more than one answer to a question?

You can rate as many answers as you like for any question.  Rating is not like voting, so you don’t have to pick just one best answer.  One of the reasons for introducing this feature is to allow more people to provide feedback to all the answers, even if they’re not picked as the Best Answer. 

When do I use the Report Abuse link? When do I use the thumbs-down button?

You should continue to use the Report Abuse link to report questions and answers that violate the Community Guidelines. Each abuse reports is reviewed by customer care, and the content will be deleted if it violates the Community Guidelines.  Use the thumbs-down for an answer when you feel that the answer is not being helpful to the asker. Use the thumbs-down for a question when you feel it doesn’t quite violate the Community Guidelines, but you feel it belongs more on a chat board, and not on a Q&A site like Answers.

What happens when I rate an answer with a thumbs down?

When you rate an answer negatively, you’ll see that the answer disappears from your view. You can make it appear again by clicking on the Show link. This only affects your view, and doesn’t make it disappear for other users.

Will people use this feature to hide other people’s answers they disagree with?

Currently, negative ratings don’t hide anything from anyone else’s view.  It’s very important for Answers to continue to provide a forum for the free exchange of ideas.  We don’t intend the ratings to be a method of censorship. It allows your opinion to be heard, but doesn’t shut down a healthy debate.

Will people be mean, and target people they disagree with to rate their questions and answers negatively?

Negative ratings are not meant to be a personal attack on the author.  A healthy debate of ideas requires both sides of the argument, and we believe the majority of Answers users believe this principle, also. 

Why is rating functionality limited to Level 2 users and up?

As mentioned above, ratings is a powerful way for you to voice your opinion on the content of Answers, and determine the direction of the product.  By waiting until you reach level 2 to exercise this privilege, we discourage abuse of the privilege.

Why don’t I get points for rating anymore?

During the first phase of the ratings rollout, we want to encourage users to rate questions and answers because they want to register their opinion, and not because it’s a fast way to get to the next level. As you know, we listen to the community, so as we find out more how people use the ratings, we may change this in the future.  Continue to tell us what you think about this issue. 

Don’t I get those bonus points from positive ratings on my best answers anymore?

No, you don’t.  Again, the relationship between points and ratings will evolve over the next few months, but we intend to match our point system to reward answers that the community thinks is high quality.

– Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team

“Our fascination with comic superheroes is time-tested. Why do we continue to relate to them?”

- John Woo

Legendary movie director John Woo has come on board to ask a question for Yahoo! Answers. He’s asking an interesting question about society’s fascination with comic book superheroes to coincide with his recent move into comics.

John Woo has a longstanding love for comics, and although curious to see what a superhero movie would look like if placed in his capable hands, we are admittedly more interested in the direction he’s taking with his next film. We are not the only ones anticipating his next movie.

After his early work with Chow Yun-Fat – specifically The Killer and Hard Boiled – John took a diversion to more mainstream movies with the likes of Mission: Impossible 2. Now John is re-teaming with Chow Yun-Fat for The Battle of Red Cliff.

Red Cliff is based on The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a renowned piece of Chinese literature set near the end of the Han Dynasty. Woo’s artistic visuals will likely translate well for this film don’t you think?

–Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team