Yahoo! New Zealand Answers Blog

As many of you will have noticed, over the last 24 hours we underwent some maintenance work that caused Answers to be unavailable and some unexpected behaviour when it returned. This formed part of essential engineering work that needed to be completed and we’re happy to be able to confirm this is now over.

We are aware, however, that during the time the site was unavailable we caused frustration and disappointment to many of you, our most committed and loyal Answers contributors. So we want to say sorry for the inconvenience we caused.

We have seen many of your comments about the maintenance work and we are happy to clarify that this will not affect any Top Contributor badges, Leaderboards or any other features. We would also like to assure you we only undergo this kind of work when it is truly necessary and intend to minimise any occurrences of this kind in the future.

Many thanks for your patience and understanding on this!

There has been a lot of interest and activity around our move to Yahoo! profiles. A benefit of using one profile for your Yahoo!Xtra experience means you can now share your Answers activity with those you are connected to via your Yahoo!Xtra profile, even if they aren’t Answers users.

Sharing your updates will help you get better responses to your questions and will let show off your knowledge to your entire social network!

We have added two new `Updates` features to Answers:

• one notifies your contacts each time you ask a question
• one notifies your contacts of each question you answer

Now, when you are at the “Preview your question” stage of asking a question you will be prompted to `Manage your updates`.

Here you choose if you want to share your updates to your social connections.

By default, updates will be set to “Don’t share my updates” to keep your content private unless you choose otherwise.

To give you control over what and when you share, this option can be changed anytime you ask or answer a question. You have full control over this setting from the “Edit my profile” page, too.

By not sharing your updates, whatever you do on Answers will not appear on your Yahoo!Xtra profile.

When you ask or answer a question, we offer a link to your profile to show you exactly who you are currently sharing your updates with.

Click the “Manage who sees your updates” link to be taken to profiles, where you can control who sees all of your Yahoo!Xtra updates.

Had enough of seeing this message?  Check the box and we promise it won’t bug you again.

We’ve tried to make controlling your updates as simple as possible, but if you want more information about managing your Answers updates you can find it on these Help pages: http://help.yahoo.com/l/nz/yahooxtra/answers/updates/

If you are still unsure about how your profile works or how to change features on your Yahoo!Xtra profile, check out the Profiles blog at www.yprofileblog.com and this specific article that is addressed to Answers users.

We hope you like this new feature - we do!

Happy updating!

We’re always working on improvements and new features to ensure you, the community, get the most out of Yahoo!Xtra Answers. Today is no different.

We have recently introduced a new “Suggested Questions” module on the Yahoo!Xtra Answers homepage. Some of you have told us that it can be time consuming to find questions that match your interests. You also told us that one of the things you love about Yahoo!Xtra Answers is when an expert in the field finds your question and gives you an amazing answer. So, we looked for a smart way to present questions to the most relevant answerers.

With this new feature, Yahoo!Xtra Answers users will be able to see questions that are better suited to their interests and areas of expertise, rather than just those most recently posted. And, while it will only appear for some of our most active members, we think it can positively impact our whole community by helping improve both the quality and speed of answers on the site.

The suggestions are based on your most recent activity on Yahoo!Xtra Answers. For example: if you recently answered many questions related to a specific make or model of mobile phone, it is most likely that you will get more suggested questions related to this subject matter. It’s that easy.

You’ll find Suggested Questions displayed on the homepage of Yahoo!Xtra Answers as well as on the confirmation page after you have asked or answered a question.

If you aren’t seeing the module, don’t fret. For now, only Yahoo!Xtra Answers users with a significant amount of activity around a topic will receive suggested questions, but the more active you are on Yahoo!Xtra Answers, the easier it will be for us to know what you are passionate and knowledgeable about.  Once we know this, it will enable us to present you with questions that best match your interests, too.

As always, we want to give you as much control as possible, so you can modify your profile settings if you want to receive a different number of Suggested Questions. Alternatively, if you prefer to only see the most recent questions, you can opt-out of Suggested Questions completely (if you change your mind, you can re-activate this feature). Simply, edit your profile and untick the “Suggest me questions based upon my activity” option.

Remember that we need you to be active on a topic for a certain time to start offering you suggested questions.

And, of course, these questions are private: only you will see the questions related to your activity. So, what are you waiting for? Check out your Yahoo!Xtra Answers homepage and enjoy the new shortcut to share your knowledge.

Please visit our help pages for more information on suggested questions. http://help.yahoo.com/l/nz/yahooxtra/answers/content/

From now on, instead of importing your image display from Yahoo! 360, Answers will use the image from your Yahoo!Xtra Profile. For those who like to have different images, keep in mind that in the future only one image will be displayed in all of Yahoo! Services. Users should update their image and make sure they keep the one they want. To ensure that the image you want to show on Answers is the right one, we recommend you go to http://profiles.yahoo.com now and activate your new profile. Once you’re there, you’ll be asked to verify some information that you’ve previously shared with Yahoo!Xtra, and to select the image you’d like to share with the Answers community.

If you have never used other Yahoo!Xtra services and haven’t activated your profile yet, your image will show up as the “Gray Face.”

For those of you who display an Avatar on Answers - don’t worry. This won’t change.

Both Avatars and nicknames will continue to remain the same on Answers.

Have more questions? Leave us a comment and let us know!

We have some planned maintenance scheduled for this week in two time blocks. The first will be Wednesday 12th November from 21:30pm through to 1:00am (Thursday) NZT.

The second will start the following day on Thursday 13th November from 21:30pm to 1:00am (Friday) NZT.

Update:

We decided to push back the maintenance period. It will now occur on Tuesday the 18th of November from approximately 9:30pm to 1:00am (Wednesday) NZT.’

Update #2:

We have some more maintenance scheduled on Thursday 20th November from 21:30 NZT. We anticipate the work will take approximately four hours, and Answers will be unavailable during that time. If there is any change to the schedule, we will inform you here with updates. This is the second of the two planned outages and will conclude the planned maintenance for the immediate future.

Update #3:

We have pushed back the last part of maintenance for one day. Answers will be unavailable from Friday 21st of November from 21:30 NZT.

If you’re looking for something to do during the downtime, why not check out some of these pages:

• Learn about love, life, and all things in-between on Yahoo!Xtra Lifestyle.
• Keep up to date on all the latest news, sport and finance on Yahoo!Xtra News.
• Join our community and have your say on  Yahoo!Xtra Message Boards.

We appreciate your patience while we complete this vital maintenance.

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 traveling 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 USA 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!

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: www.mamasabe.com. 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!

We all know that over the years, Yahoo! Answers has helped many people out there. From relationship advice to gardening tips to questioning scientific truths, millions of users have found the knowledge they were looking for.

In this award winning short story, The Life of Brian (or Lack Thereof), the central character’s fascination with Answers is only partly about helping other people with his intelligent and unique answers. He also uses the site as an outlet for his competitive nature, pitting himself against overseas devotees with (in his opinion) less superior brain matter.

The 18-year-old short story writer, Brisbanite Maree Spratt, used her brother as the inspiration behind her entry into the State Library of Queensland Young Writers competition. It was her sensitive portrayal of Brian and her pithy writing style that earnt her first prize.

According to Maree, Answers was an ideal choice as an internet preoccupation for many reasons:

I wanted my character to spend a lot of time on the internet … however I didn’t want him to trawl through social networking sites or chat rooms, because they can be quite anarchic and are too people-focused. Someone as hard working and productive as Brian would see them as pointless. Yahoo! Answers seemed like the perfect virtual hang out for my character because it’s all about giving and receiving knowledge, which is one of his preoccupations. I also knew that the points system would appeal to his productive, ambitious side.

When researching Answers, Maree took a look around the site and was impressed with the dedication of the Answerers. She said one particular question stood out: ‘I’m going out in three hours and want to do something different with my hair. Any suggestions?’

Maree noted:

She even listed the different brands of curling irons and hair products that she owned. People actually answered back. Since I can’t muster enough energy to care about my own hair, I thought it was amazingly altruistic of them to get involved in the hair dilemma of an online stranger.

If you’d like to read Maree’s award winning short story, click here for the pdf version. Congratulations Maree!

Greetings Answers community,

Once again, we would like to thank you for your contribution and congratulate you for the great value that comes with the knowledge you have shared on the site.

This time your contributions have been noticed by PC World who have included Yahoo!Xtra Answers in their list of the most useful and interesting sites on the net as one of their great how-to sites!

PC World acclaim Yahoo! Answers as “one of the best examples of community participation on the Net” and rate you all as “informed members of the community.”  This is something we have known for a long time and are pleased the rest of the world is coming to realise this too!

The full article (in English) is available to read here.
We hope you feel as proud as we do!

Here at Answers we’re always working on new features and enhancements for the site, but we also recognise sometimes things do go wrong and need fixing. Earlier this week we addressed a number of outstanding bugs that we know have been bothering many of you. They are:

• Emails are now sent to your contacts when you submit a question. When you receive an email about a new answer, the text properly describes the answer.
• We have significantly enhanced the breadth of the dictionary in the spell check function when asking and answering a question.

We are committed to fixing the outstanding bugs on Answers, as well as developing possible new other features, but in the meantime we wanted to share this news with you and thank you all for your patience while we addressed them.

Regards,