Choose a best answer, prevent a tie!

Did you know that on average, 10% of questions are in tie-breaker status at any given time on Yahoo! Answers? And, at any given moment, there are literally millions of questions open on Answers?

For many members, it’s easy to get swept up in the “Ask” and “Answer” flow as you watch the steady stream of answers that come in when you ask a great question. But then the tough part comes: picking a Best Answer! How do you choose?

If you’re looking for a few tips on how to pick your next Best Answer, here are a few taken straight from our community:

  • “To put it simply, I go with the one that is the most useful or the least useless. I do notice the number of thumbs-ups and downs the answer gets, and I use that and the level/BA percentage of an answerer to determine whether or not I should trust the answerer, but the main deciding factor is what I think of the answer itself. A concise but comprehensive explanation beats a long drawn-out half off topic lecture.” – Luigi
  • However, “According to the specification of the question I read carefully and I compare it to the other questions, I make sure their answers make sense and have more clear explanations. Not always the thumbs up are right and this person can be wrong, So I read & understand before I give my best answer…8)” – “Evo_Raptor”
  • “[…] If there are two equally good answers, I choose the one with better grammar, punctuation, and spelling.” – *Sombra*
  • “I pick Best Answer by re-reading through all the answers again from my question. Then pick the one that was the most helpful, informative, and the answerer was polite while giving me the information I needed.” – Future Pet Vet
  • “Whoever has clearly spent the most time answering the question and not just put silly 1 word answers or sarcastic comments. Also, if I believe the answer is 100% true.” – Craig and Charlie

Even with tips like these, picking a best answer can be tough—and for many Answers community members, it becomes so tough, questions go unresolved and end up in tie-breaker status.

But for those of you who enjoy helping the undecided pick a Best Answer, be sure to check out the Answers TieBusters group—a group dedicated to clearing the backlog of undecided questions found on Answers: here.

All in all, remember: If you asked a question, choose a Best Answer! Otherwise your question may end up in Answers limbo, and you may never give someone the joy of earning a Best Answer!

– Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team

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  1. Can’t find how to ask a question! I want to know if there is an edition of System Mechanic that will work with windows 98 2nd edition? Can anybody help?

    Comment posted on February 24th, 2010 at 12:27 pm by alan
  2. can i find friend in your site

    Comment posted on April 5th, 2010 at 2:35 am by wasfia
  3. will u come to me

    Comment posted on July 20th, 2010 at 4:19 pm by falxad hussein
  4. I couldn’t see how to pick the best answer in the first place.

    Comment posted on September 5th, 2010 at 1:12 am by x GROMIT x
  5. Please explain how to give good answer I had answerd many questions but do not have manY best answers and also what is mean by url thankyou

    Comment posted on January 16th, 2011 at 4:15 pm by rashpal
  6. How can we get bones point in yahoo answers?

    Comment posted on January 20th, 2011 at 12:33 pm by Mazhar Shah
  7. It would be nice if we could just pick out a few best answers now and then, rather than commit to it. But I don’t see any way to just search for unresolved questions. Maybe you guys can persuade Yahoo to add a search facilty fot these?

    Comment posted on May 15th, 2011 at 5:16 pm by julie
  8. MOON BEAM THANK YOU SOOO MUCH IT REALLY HELPED

    Comment posted on May 25th, 2011 at 5:44 pm by DIANNE
  9. What the? How do you pick a best answer? Help, please?

    Comment posted on July 3rd, 2011 at 10:17 am by Zoh-raaawr
  10. After one hour, your question will change — a Choose as Best button will appear under every answer. Click the one you think is best. It is better to wait about one day, to get a good choice of answers.

    Comment posted on July 6th, 2011 at 11:14 am by admin

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