Website Review: Yahoo Answers

Have you ever had a question that you just couldn't come up with an answer for? Have you ever wanted someone's honest and unbiased opinion? Having a mind block and need suggestions for writing ideas, song ideas, etc.? Yahoo Answers is the place for you. (http://answers.yahoo.com)

If you have never been to Yahoo Answers, you will be surprised what you find. It is a community of people asking questions, answering questions, and commenting on answers already given. It is essentially the entire Yahoo community at your fingertips. If you ask a question you will surely get an answer quickly, sometimes within minutes. If it's not the answer you are looking for just wait, more answers will come. At the end of the answering time period (usually a couple days) you will get the opportunity to vote on your favorite answer.

Yahoo Answers is really simple to use. When you go to the website you will see three boxes at the top of the screen. These are your three basic options of things you can do. Ask, Answer, or Discover.

Ask

If you so happen to have a question that you need to ask, click on the box entitled "Ask". If you are not a yahoo member, you will be prompted to register. Registering is easy and free so don't let this stop you. After logging in or registering you will be directed to the "Ask Your Question" screen. There you will enter your question and give any details to better clarify exactly what type of answer you are looking for. You have the option of what category your question should be listed for example: families, sports, business, etc. After you have previewed your question, you can submit it. Now all you have to do is wait for the answers to come. If you don't have time to wait for answers to your question, go ahead and leave the site. When you receive an answer, you will be e-mailed to let you know one has arrived.

Answer

If you are asking a question, you know the importance of receiving quality responses. If there is a topic you know a lot about, you should go to that section and see if you can answer any questions. It's like a new form of volunteering and its fun too. It's even a little addicting. I found myself searching for different topics and categories for questions to answer. The questions aren't always hard. There are fun topics as well like "What are your top 5 movies?" or "What is your favorite restaurant in your city?" It's fun and helpful. This also kills time while you are waiting for an answer to your question.

Discover

This section includes all past questions and answers from Yahoo Answers. These are questions that can no longer be answered but are kept on file. You can search this section for information that you need. You may even find that the question that you want to ask has already been answered. This is a very informative and helpful section, check here before asking a question.

The site also has a points system. There are no prizes for points; it's just to keep it interesting. Different levels of points allow you to answer more questions and rate the quality of other people's answers.

Yahoo Answers is a fun and informative website that I suggest everyone visit at least once. You'll find it to be much more interesting and entertaining than you expected.