WikiAnswers How-To: Answer a Question

So you've found a question that you know the answer to, and you want to share your knowledge? Sometimes users cannot express this in a way that everyone can comprehend, but if you follow these guidelines, most of the community will benefit the most from your answers. Without the help of you, the users of WikiAnswers, we could not keep on going. If you have any questions about answering this article, please email the author at mra@wikianswers.com and he can help explain this.

1. Remember that you are to stay on-topic to the answer. People do not want to read a hundred paragraphs to see their two sentence answer. It is excellent to provide a background, but if you think it will be too hard to find the answer try to make the answer stand out by separating the paragraphs by topic, or even by bolding the sentence with the answer.
2. Make your answer clear. As explained in paragraph one, make your answer clear and understandable. Make it stand out but keep your answer neat.
3. Use good grammar and punctuation! Everybody hates those nasty run-ons, comma splices, and misspelled words. It will only confuse the audience; which will only hurt your reputation in the longterm.
4. No using slang language! Who wants to have to decipher slang language? It's not appropriate to use slang language and it ruins your trust of other users.
5. Stay away from rude remarks, bad language, and personal references. Don't waste your time and others time vandalizing the website. It doesn't make you cool or popular, it only makes you appear as a fool. If possible stay away from debatable subjects such as religion, but expressing personal opinions is fine if the question asks for your opinion.
6. Don't advertise a company or website in the answer. Often users unwillingly advertise a website; which is against WikiAnswers ToS (Terms of Service). If the question mentions a business you may use that businesses name, but don't go on advertising intentionally.
7. Never put URLs or Web Addresses in the answer! It is unprofessional to put links in WikiAnswers answer's. We have a spot called 'Related Links' which allows you to add links and it rates their safety for maximum protection from viruses/scams.
8. No signing your name or others names in answers. It is unnecessary to do so, because WikiAnswers provides information on the answerer(s). That includes putting "hope it helps, (your name)" . It is assumed you are trying to help them out.