As you all know, the web is a pretty big place and just like in the real world, you can encounter all sorts of people. Here at Yahoo! Answers, as we strive to improve your experience on Answers, we are also committed to your online safety. That‘s why we offer many ways to control the personal information you want to display and who can contact you.
Since the amount of information you display on social networks is completely up to you, we wanted to remind you how to control these settings on Answers.
Want privacy?
• Don’t display your real name. Pick a nickname or a screen name. A nickname without any personally identifiable information is best.
• Don’t post your real photo. Pick an image or go for an avatar or no image at all.
• Don’t reveal personal information in your profile.
• If you don’t want the community to see your questions and answers, make them private.
Want to control who contacts you?
• Limit your network of friends. Your contacts can view your activity on Answers. Controlling your network allows you to add or remove friends, and also block users.
• Activate or deactivate contact options. We never display your email address, but through this feature you can control whether other people can contact you or not.
And now, a question for you: Do you feel too much personal information is shared in the online world? How do you feel about it?
We’re all shocked and saddened by the sudden passing of Michael Jackson. Who knew The King of Pop would leave this world so soon?
Michael may have been the source of controversy, but he certainly left an indelible mark in our world
Fan or not, no one can deny his incredible talent and the memory of him which will persist in all of us indefinitely. From Jackson 5 to Thriller, Michael Jackson innovated music. His amazing songs and astounding dance moves moonwalked their way from generation to generation.
Some of his accomplishments include 1982’s Thriller - the world’s best-selling record of all time; being inducted to the Rock and Roll hall of fame twice, multiple Guinness World records and the sale of 750 million records worldwide. His death not only reminds us of how amazing this performer was, but it also stresses the importance of living everyday like it was the last.The little boy from Gary, Indiana will forever be remembered through his incalculable musical legacy.
There are many reasons to love Answers. Some thrive on providing helpful answers that benefit the community. Others enjoy being able to benefit from so much knowledge by a simple click. If you’re an expert in a specific area, why not use that knowledge and become a Top Contributor? A Top Contributor is a member of the community who has shown that they are knowledgeable in a particular category.
How can I become a Top contributor?
With a little dedication a top contributor badge can be yours too. Check out Answers and pick categories you have the most expertise in. Answer questions in the most informative way if you want to increase your chances at getting the best answer. You can be a top contributor in up to three categories. Remember that the top contributor badge is dynamic, which means that you earn it or lose it depending on your recent participation in a particular category. In other words, the more you participate, the more likely you will earn a badge and but if you stop participating, you will lose your badge. To recover your badge, you have to increase your activity in a specific category again.
Also, most of the users on the Answersleaderboardhappen to be top contributors. The leaderboard allows you to see who’s in the lead and check out their stats. It’s updated every week. Who knows, with a little work, you might make it there too!
Keep in mind that while sharing what you know is encouraged, it is also important to make sure you don’t share anything that puts your answer in violation of the Community Guidelines.
Have more questions? Leave us a comment and let us know!
Here at Yahoo! Answers, we strive to provide quality content for the community. Every day, trusted users work together to report and remove any content that violates the Community Guidelines. Since abusive content is the most talked-about topic, here is a refresher on what we expect from our users.
Do’s Courtesy
Asking and Answering clearly
Sharing what you know
Citing Sources
Categorizing correctly
Staring/ Thumbs-up great questions
Reporting abuse
Don’ts Ranting
Posting questions aimed at giving out your opinions than seeking knowledge are a no-no. So is answering questions for the sole purpose of venting. When you post a question, it must be written in the form of a question. When you answer, it must attempt to answer the question being asked.
Insulting and Being Obscene
Sexually explicit and profanity and images are not welcome on the site. We also do not tolerate any form of insult, discrimination, hate speech. Answers is a diverse community hence everyone should be respected.
Spamming
Answers is not a recruiting site, a dating site or an advertising billboard. Posting irrelevant links for personal or financial gain is prohibited.
Cheating
Creating multiple accounts to reward yourself along with copying and pasting other people’s answers and asking for points is an infraction.
Being harmful and violent
Don’t promote violence or harmful practices. Threatening and harassing other users also violates the guidelines. Anything that is considered illegal in everyday life is also illegal on Answers.
Illegal Content
You can share information about where to download free entertainment and programs as long as it’s a free and legal download site.
We have received many questions about why this or that was deleted, and we think these explanations will help you understand better the Community Guidelines. In extreme cases, members risk losing their Yahoo! ID, and consequently, access to all other Yahoo! services. If everyone follows the rules, content quality will be at its best.
Have more questions? Leave us a comment and let us know!
With summer around the corner, it’s easy to lose yourself in thoughts of sunny beaches, summer romance, snorkeling, surfing and scuba diving.
Who wouldn’t want to relax under the warm tropical sun?
However, one quick look at your bank account and it’s “snap out of it” right away. With the economy not showing much sign of improving and gas prices spiking again, traveling seems to be pretty much out of the question. Rest assured, you can still enjoy the summer with a good old stay-cation! We’re pretty lucky to live in country as vast as Canada. In fact, forget Hawaii and the Caribbean this year! Believe it or not, Canada has more than 240,000 kilometers of coastline. Why travel down south for something you have right at home? Prince Edward’s Island offers the most kaleidoscopic regions. Quebec’s Îles de la Madeleine’s beaches are the perfect spot for a beautiful getaway. With water temperatures of over 20 C in late summer the islands are in the shape of a half moon stretching across a distance of 65 km.
A contender for best inland beach, Manitoba’s Grand Beach will definitely make you want to get your tan on. These are just few of a plethora of magnificent vacations spots you will find in this beautiful country of ours. After reading up on these mind-blowing places, I think I’ll enjoy a Canadian stay-cation this summer.
Are you traveling this summer? Will you visit Canada?
Believe it or not, it’s already been a year since we introduced the new Yahoo! Answers blog to the community. As we strive to enhance your experience on Answers, we wanted to improve the ways we communicate and expand the ways we engage with you. Remember that you can access the blog from the Related Links on the lower left-hand side of the Answers homepage, or you can bookmark it on your browser.
And remember, if you use Twitter, you can follow us here, and if you prefer using RSS to keep up to date, you only need to click subscribe and add us to your RSS reader.
We hope the Blog has been very helpful and entertaining this past year! We have received a lot of comments over the last year which has been a great way to learn more about what you like, what you don’t, what you think about Answers and what you think about many topics we cover. We always welcome your comments on each of our posts and it’s always great to learn more about you!
Talking of learning more about you… we have a couple of questions for you now to help us give you more of what you want on the blog:
1) Do you remember your favourite blogpost?
2) If you could see anything on the Answers Blog -what would it be? More celebrities, more competitions, more about the product, more about other Yahoo! products, any new blog features you’d like to see? Use your imagination and let us know!
A couple of weeks ago, like millions of avid television viewers, I was glued to my television set to watch the finale of a certain show called “American Idol“. Does the name Susan Boyle ring a bell? This singing sensation was skyrocketed to stardom after auditioning for Britain Got Talent. Love it, hate it, reality television has a certain appeal and can be addictive. There seems to be a reality show for anyone nowadays. Survivor, So You think You Can Dance, Project Runway, Canada’s Next Top Model, you name it, your television programming has it. How did his frenzy begin? Alan Funt’s Candid Camera certainly made its contribution to the genre when it debuted in 1948. This PBS series An American Family debuted in 1973 and chronicled the dysfunctional Loud family docu-drama style. Let’s not forget a certain reality crime show that debuted in 1989. Cops is now an icon of the genre. The Real World and Road Rules premiered on MTV in the 1990s, hence establishing the popularity of reality television. Nowadays people are even getting hitched on live television.
You’re asking or answering a question and you want to mention a great site as a reference. How do you make sure your link doesn’t violate the Answers Community Guidelines? We’ve been getting a lot of questions about including links in questions and answers. Here is a reminder on what is considered acceptable and what is an infraction of the Community Guidelines.
What is considered spam?
Spam is unsolicited email. The spam answer usually has little or no relevance to the question and contains either a link to a spam page or an email address. If you notice someone answering questions compulsively with a link to an unrelated site (usually a site offering money or selling products), report it! You’ve found a spammer.
What about links to a question I posted?
Some people end their answer with “Please answer my question: http://answers.yahoo.com/…” But the question they link to often has nothing to do with what you were asking .This kind of linking also violates the Community Guidelines as it is the same as spam-unsolicited links.
What kind of link is acceptable?
Know a website or book that might help the asker? You can! That’s why we included the “Sources” box on the answer page. Just paste the URL into the “Sources” box. You’ll be making your answer much more complete.
By posting the useful links in the ‘sources’ box and by reporting spam, you’re helping make Answers a better site.
Have more questions? Leave us a comment and let us know!
Back in March, we launched the “Suggested Questions” module on the homepage. Suggested Questions are intended to provide our most active users with a list of questions we think match their area of expertise.
Since launch we have been taking on board your feedback about this feature and have now made some improvements to this that include:
• Resolved questions will be removed more effectively to leave you with only a selection of open Suggested Questions to answer
• Questions will be matched to you much more quickly so you can always see the freshest and most relevant Suggested Questions
• Improved the relevancy to ensure we deliver your questions only to the most appropriate answerers
Still not seeing Suggested questions? Remember you need you to be active on a topic for a certain time before we can build up enough information on your areas of expertise before we can start offering you suggested questions.
We hope these changes will improve you experience with Suggested Questions. Remember that you can modify your profile settings if you want to see a different number of Suggested Questions. And that only you will see the questions related to your activity, not the wider community.
Please continue to share your constructive feedback with us and we will keep working on making this feature more relevant and faster in delivering you the questions you want to see.
