Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers blog

For many around the world, the weeks leading up to 31st October are a flurry of pumpkin carving, putting up decorations, designing costumes and buying additional ‘candy’ for hyped up kids.

Despite it being one of America’s favourite holidays, the origins of Halloween are believed to have started with the Celts, in what is now known as Ireland. One avid history buff, p-dogg, says that 1st November was ‘New Year’, marking the end of summer and harvest and the beginning of winter.

“Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth.” More>

As time progressed, the celebration became merged with the Catholic All Saints’ Day on 1st November.

“The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints’ Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween.” More>

Versions of the tradition moved from Europe to the USA during the waves of migration in the 19th century. But what does the original celebration have to do with the American version featuring trick-or-treating and pumpkins?

Lizzy  says dressing up as ghosts and ghouls was actually an ancient tradition, believed to be so the real people would blend in with the otherworldly creatures that were haunting the earth that night.

“This gradually evolved into trick-or-treating because children would knock on their neighbours’ doors, in order to gather fruit, nuts, and sweets for the Halloween festival.” More>

According to Bridghid, pumpkins weren’t involved in the original Samhain tradition, however carved out vegetables were.

“Celts would walk around with various root vegetable lanterns to guide the roaming dead to the next world. They also carved spooky faces into them (the lanterns, not the dead) to keep malignant spirits away.” More>

Well there you go! It’s nice to know behind every money making holiday, there’s a semblance of tradition. If you’re celebrating Halloween here in the UK or Ireland, have a great day!

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 US 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 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…”

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!

‘Traces of Hope‘ the game started two weeks ago and we’re glad to announce that a lot of you have now finished the game. We’ve gathered your feedback to reflect on this rather extraordinary digital charity initiative.

“Traces Of Hope is worth a look,” explains Stuart from Kotaku.com. “The Red Cross are a great cause and they are genuinely trying something new here.”

Brammeldi from Unfiction Forum is more sceptical “That was rather uneventful. I was actually expecting more…I mean what was the point…?”

So are you more of a Stuart or Brammeldi? If you’ve completed the game, we’d love to hear your feedback, please leave us a comment!

If you haven’t signed up yet and would like to test your knowledge or learn more about The British Red Cross action worldwide, visit the game home page now and start the quest today!

Maybe you’ve signed up but are just stuck between two missions? In that case, Answers has the answer!

We’re glad to introduce you to Sukie, the official British Red Cross spokesperson on Answers.
She started participating on Answers some weeks ago and is here to answer your questions about disasters, how to tackle the type of health problems that occur in disaster zones, and of course, Traces of Hope-related questions! You can already find some tips here and here.

You can check out her profile where you’ll find information on countries you can safely visit in Africa or what volunteering opportunities there are available for young people.

Happy playing!

In September 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 real person. 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.

We all rely on our friends and relatives to help solve everyday problems, but sometimes they’re not around to help you out or haven’t found themselves in your particular conundrum. And that’s where Answers comes in: somewhere online where you can ask how-to and why-is-it questions, to get answers from the millions of people out there!

We know you’ve all experienced the wonder of Answers, that glow you get from getting a really great solution to your current headache, but occasionally we, the Answers team, come across questions asking why we should even share knowledge on Answers at all? People question: what’s the point?

So we thought for once, instead of asking you why you think Answers is a great place to share and exchange knowledge, we’d flip the script. We’ve asked various members of the global Answers team, from those who work with the community to those who build and maintain the site, what they think is so great about participating on Answers and what their favourite moments have been.

Here is what they said:

Martin Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team on the power of a bus…

“Since Answers launched the UK and Ireland, we’ve loved watching the community grow. Seeing people get a great answer and walk away with a problem solved, thanks to Answers, is a wonderful thing. But nothing compares to literally being there when a first-time participant just… “gets it.”

During 2006, we took Answers on the road, finding experts and enthusiasts wherever they might be: food events, flower shows or university campuses. As we took them through asking a question, the responses varied. But there was always a common moment, that made the whole trip worthwhile, when a great answer appeared. I could compare it to a “Eureka” moment, was like a metaphorical light bulb switched on above their head, but it was deeper than that. Suddenly to them, like it did to millions of other people worldwide, Answers really made sense.”

Silvia Yahoo! Spain Answers team on cooking up great ideas…

“I really love cooking and in Answers I find a place to exchange knowledge related to food. I like to try new things, especially from places I’ve never been to. Answers is a really good place to find recipes and ask for techniques. You can check out the results of the answers provided by the community here. I also like to help people who are learning to cook with simple recipes and tips.”

Christian Yahoo! Germany Answers team on expanding his knowledge circle…

 “Profiting from others’ experiences is great. Each of us relies on the advice of our circle of friends. Yet on Answers, you can benefit from many more people and their experiences and knowledge – and you also can gain the friendship of others. Even if I still rely on my friends, the Answers community has helped me with so many things I could never have found out with regular web search, I’ve lost count.”

Fionna Yahoo! Canada Answers team on power of Answers…

“To me, Yahoo! Answers *is* the Internet. The Internet is an infinite and instant source of interactive information … and so is Yahoo! Answers. It’s a vast community of people using the most powerful search engine of all — their own brains — to help each other. Yahoo! Answers perfectly encapsulates all the power and possibilities of the entire Web in one place.”

Mark Yahoo! Answers Global Product Operations on making a difference to someone…

“Like most people, thoughts regularly pop into my head on subjects that I want to know the answer to.  I could spend my time researching to find out… but prefer instead to take the old-fashioned (and lazy!) approach of asking people directly.  For this, Answers is unbeatable.   

But, in my eyes, the thing that really makes Answers great and continues to amaze me is that every second of every day people around the world are busy using Answers to find information in exactly the same manner.  Every contribution we make can make a difference to someone else in another part of the globe.”

This is the first in a two-part series of blog posts on our thoughts on Answers, 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!