Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers blog

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Answerers ask plenty of questions about the TV series Lost, but it would seem that answers to the program’s mysteries can be hard to come by. Each new episode raises a host of new complications, leaving many with more questions than answers about the island.

Flash back to one month ago. You may recall that the producers of Lost, Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof, posed a question to the Answers community regarding the infamous smoke monster haunting the island.

Asking our community this question is essentially the Web equivalent of a litmus test. What are people thinking about the program? What direction are the writers taking regarding one of the island’s key mysteries? They simply asked Answerers, and they received nearly 9,000 responses in return. Where else can the producers of a hit TV show pose a single question and receive such a wealth of responses?

Whether audiences are figuring out the answer or are still left in the dark is known only to Carlton and Damon, but we’re hoping that we are given some answers to the monster mystery sometime this season. Why else would they choose this question to ask the community?

Ultimately, Carlton and Damon have chosen their best answer, and their reasoning is, as expected, cryptic:

“We were amazed at the imagination and prodigious creativity applied to answering the question, what is the monster? We have chosen our favourite answer.

Not that’s it’s the right answer.

Sorry, but we can’t really give away the ultimate secrets of the monster quite yet. The answer we selected might be somewhat right, totally right — or completely off-base. But we liked it and found it very cool and intriguing. Thanks to everyone who took the time to write in. We loved reading your thoughts — and thanks for watching!

Carlton and Damon”

So what does this mean? Search the best answer. Could there be clues in there to help unlock the mystery? Did ar233 hit upon something the rest of us missed? We find this portion of ar233’s best answer intriguing:

“I think the monster was originally a highly advanced security system designed to separate participants in the experimental Dharma hatches.”

Congratulations to ar233 for having their answer selected by Carlton and Damon as best answer. Follow this link to read the rest of the answer.

Is it possible that ar233 stumbled upon the truth behind the smoke monster with this answer? We suppose we’ll just have to wait and see.

What do you think? Will the mystery behind the Lost monster be resolved this season? Please leave us your thoughts as a comment.

– Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team

It’s huge, it’s exciting and it’s well and truly here. Get ready and brace yourselves, for over the next two months we are going to be bowled over by the year’s greatest sporting event – The ICC (International Cricket Council) Cricket World Cup. Hosted by the West Indies, the tournament will see 16 nations fighting passionately with bat and ball with just one aim in mind – to lift the precious cup. With some of the sport’s greatest players taking part, the event is sure to create some incredible contests.

Cricket? Exciting? Yes, it may be true that in this footie mad country, cricket has always been hit to the boundaries, and cricket fans will wonder exactly why this is. If, on the other hand you’re one of the people that think cricket is just a boring or confusing sport, well think again: If a batsman and his innings or a bowler and his wickets doesn’t mean anything to you, now is the time to get your head around all the rules and show your support for the English, Irish or Scottish teams. Sure, it’s easy to be left feeling stumped when you hear some crazy terms such as “golden duck,” “doosra” or “cherry,” but Answers is always here to make things clearer.

Like any other sport, cricket too has its superstars: the players who manage to keep fans glued to the TV screen. Maybe you’d love to watch the brilliant bowling of Glenn McGrath or see Andrew Flintoff scream “howzat!” Or you might prefer the batting mastery of Brian Lara and the splendid strokes of Sachin Tendulkar. These are just some of the master cricketers that have gained fame from the game and continue to keeps fans in awe by pushing the boundaries of the game. But which player will cause the biggest storm on the pitch this year?

Of course, the most important question on every cricket lover’s lips right now is which team is going to cruise through the Caribbean challenge and walk away with the cup. The Australians have denied any other teams victory since 1999 and so it’s no surprise that they still remain favourites. Other teams, such as West Indies, England, India and Sri Lanka are also being touted as contenders. Why not join in the debate and reveal who you think will be the champions or follow the action on Yahoo! UK & Ireland Sport. Win or lose one thing’s for sure – this Cricket World Cup promises to be an event to remember.

– Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team

Since the launch of the Answers Network, we have received a considerable amount of feedback from the community. We’ve read through a lot of positive feedback, and are happy to hear that many of you find the new Answers Network useful and are enjoying the new feature. We really value your thoughts and ideas, and we hope that we’ll continue to hear from you.

We’ve also read through some very helpful and constructive criticism of the new feature. Given your feedback, we’re aware of some confusion surrounding the Top Contributors badges, and the concerns surrounding privacy. So, we decided to put together a FAQ to help clear things up and hopefully put minds at ease.

Top Contributors

Q: What is a Top Contributor?

A Top Contributor is someone in the Answers community who, through their participation on Answers, has shown that they are knowledgeable in a particular category. Each Answers user can be a Top Contributor in up to three categories.

Q: How are Top Contributors determined?

The Top Contributor badge is dynamic, and you earn it by being an active participant who contributes quality answers in a particular category on Answers. Anyone can earn a Top Contributor badge as it does not depend on points or level.

Top Contributors are not permanent, which is to say you must continue to be an active answerer in order to retain a Top Contributor badge. Similarly, even if you are not a Top Contributor today, you can earn the badge by contributing high quality answers in any category or multiple categories of your choosing.

The more actively you contribute quality answers and best answers to a particular category, the more likely you will earn a badge for your contributions in that category. Just like featured users or category leaders, the badge is another way to honour and feature community members who are actively participating and knowledgeable in particular categories on Answers.

This is our first version of the Top Contributor badge, and we acknowledge that it is not perfected, yet. We will be continually improving the logic and heuristics used to choose Top Contributors in an effort to ensure that people who receive them are the most deserving. We’ve heard your feedback and we understand that there are concerns about abuse of this badge, and we will change the rules for Top Contributor as needed to combat gaming or abuse.

Q: I’m a Level 1-4, why am I considered a Top Contributor?

As mentioned before, an Answerer’s level or total points accrued in Answers don’t actually factor into consideration for Top Contributor status. If you are a Level 1-4 and have been selected as a Top Contributor, it is because you are actively providing quality content to a particular category.

Q: I’m a Level 4+, why am I not a Top Contributor?

Again, a user’s level is not the deciding factor for Top Contributor consideration. As mentioned before, Top Contributors fluctuate depending on your weekly participation habits in each category, so you may find yourself sporting an orange badge in the near future.

Q: What if I don’t want the Top Contributor badge?

We see this as a badge of honour and want to acknowledge the time and effort that Top Contributors have put into answering questions in a particular category. We hope that Top Contributors will be proud of their badge. However, we’ve heard concerns from you that the badge may unfavourably bias rating and best answer selection against Top Contributors. We’re investigating this further and if such bias develops we will provide you an option to hide the badge.

Q: Some Top Contributors have contributed some less-than-quality Q&A to Answers, why are they still considered Top Contributors?

There is a slight delay in the process of calculating and updating the Top Contributors on Answers, so there is a chance that you may see this occur from time to time. However, if Top Contributor’s Q&A becomes less than favourable, they will not remain a Top Contributor for long, as the next update will likely bump them out of the running.

Privacy on the Answers Network (Beta)

Privacy and stalking behaviour are two things that the Yahoo! Answers Team takes very seriously. As mentioned in the post introducing the Answers Network (Beta):

“We’ve managed to pack in the majority of functions envisioned for the Answers Network, but we didn’t get to everything in time for the release window. So, there will be some updates to this feature in the near future. We are working on increasing the capability of choosing who you are sharing Q&A with in your personal network – including being able to block and ignore users, and greater control over the visibility of contacts and fans.”
However, what about privacy concerns with the current Beta version of the Answers Network? Here are a few answers to help clarify these concerns.

Q: If someone adds me as a Contact, what happens?

When someone adds you as a Contact, they will appear as a Fan in your profile. You will not see Q&A updates from them. People who are your fans have access to your Q&A on the site through their profile page. Everyone else still has access to your Q&A through your profile page.

Q: So what happens if I choose to add one of my Fans to my Contacts?

If you add a Fan as a Contact, they will get moved into your contacts tab on your profile. Anytime you ask a question, they will see your question appear in their “Network Q&A.” Likewise, their content will appear in your “Network Q&A” when they ask questions.

We recommend that you only add people you are familiar with as Contacts. If you happen to add someone to your Contacts, and decide later on that you do not wish to receive their updates in your “Network Q&A,” simply remove them as a contact.

Q: What if I do not want people adding me into their Contacts?

The Answers Network is totally optional. If you do not want people to be able to add you to their “Contacts,” follow these steps to opt out:

• Go to your profile and click on “Edit my Info.”
• Uncheck the box that says “Allow other people to be my Fan” under the “Sharing” preferences.
• Save this new preference

Thanks for continuing to make Yahoo! Answers such a great place for people to share knowledge. We hope you are enjoying the Answers Network (Beta).

–Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team

Here at Answers we believe in communities sharing knowledge and helping each other. In order to build such a community while preserving the spirit of Answers, we have a set of community guidelines for members to reference. We have recieved a lot of feedback from the community regarding the guidelines over the past few months, so we’ve revisited our guidelines in our latest update. We hope you will find it easier to digest, and we welcome further feedback. Here are some of the highlights:

• “Do’s” section – Most of you already know what you can’t do. But what can you do to be a valuable contributor to the community? This new section provides a couple of pointers.

• “Don’ts” section – This section was meant to set the tone for the community. It’s not an exhaustive list by design, because we believe such a list creates a need to follow rules by the letter of the law, and not the spirit of the law. In general, if you are not committing crimes, cheating, or being obscene on Answers, you are ok.

Click here to read the newly updated community guidelines, and send us any suggestions in the forum.

Thanks for doing your part to make Answers a great place to share knowledge.

–Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team

What is the Answers Network (BETA)?

We’ve received a lot of feedback regarding the quality of content on Yahoo! Answers. While we are continuing to find ways to attack trolls, fight spam, and filter and delete abuse on the site, we’ve also learned that a large portion of the complaints surrounding content quality really centre around the need to customise and personalise what you see when you visit Answers on a daily basis.

This is why we are introducing Answers Network (BETA) – a brand new feature for Answers. Have you ever come across knowledgeable people on Answers who always ask, answer, and star interesting and helpful questions that you wish you could find again and again? Now you can with the addition of the Answers Network.

How does it work?

The Answers Network lets you build a personal network of “Contacts” on Answers. You can add anyone who shares your passions, or piques your interest, through their Q&A on the site. You can also invite people that you know from outside of Answers to join your network. The benefit of adding people to your network is that you will have direct access to the questions they ask, answer, and star on Answers – making your Answers experience more personal and helpful.

How do I build my Answers Network?

There are several ways to connect to people through the Answers Network. The first way, is to roll over a person’s avatar and to click on the “Add to My Contacts” link in their id card. Another way is to go to someone’s profile page and click on the “Add to My Contacts” link at the top of their profile. You can also build your network by inviting friends from outside of Answers to join your Answers Network.

OK, I’ve added people to my “Contacts.” Now, how do I access their Q&A?

The most recent Q&A from your “Contacts” appears on the Answers homepage and on your profile page. If you want to look at more Q&A, click on “My Network’s Q&A”, which is located at the top of your profile page.

How do I see who has added me as a “Contact”?

People who’ve added you as a “Contact” are called “Fans.” You can view your fans by clicking on the “Fans” tab on your profile page. When you add someone as a “Contact,” you will appear in their “Fans” tab as well.

You mentioned adding people from outside of Answers to my “Contacts.” How do I do that?

You can easily get your friends into Answers by inviting them to become one of the “Contacts” in your Knowledge Network. Visit our “Invite a Friend” page to start sending out invitations to your friends.

What if I don’t want to participate?

The Answers Network is totally optional. If you do not want people to be able to add you to their “Contacts,” follow these steps to opt out:

- Go to your profile and click on “Edit my Info.”

- Uncheck the box that says “Allow other people to be my Fan” under the “Sharing” preferences.

- Save this new preference

How can I learn more?

There are many ways to learn more about the Answers Network.

- We’ve put together a video tutorial that gives a short overview of how the new Answers Network works. Click here to view the video.

- Answers staff will be answering questions about “Contacts” and the Answers Network around the site, so be sure to add the Answers staff to your “Contacts” for the latest updates. Visit the UK & Ireland Answers Team’s profile

What’s next?

We managed to pack in a good majority of the functions we’d envisioned for the Answers Network, but we didn’t get everything into the release window in time. So, there will be some updates to this feature in the near future. For instance, we are working on increasing the capability of choosing who you are sharing Q&A with in your personal network, which includes being able to block and ignore certain users, and possibly even features that allow you greater control over the visibility of your contacts and fans. In addition, we are also looking into adding the ability to import contacts from places like Yahoo! Messenger.

Remember, the Answers Network is a still a BETA feature, so we are very interested in hearing what you have to say about it. We built this new feature based on feedback we’ve received from the community, so we hope to continue to get more input from you to help improve the overall Answers experience. Please continue to send us your feedback in the forums.

– Yahoo UK & Ireland Answers team