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Most people that have surfed the net, at some point have used a Yahoo service. Weightier it be Messenger, mail, Search, Chat, etc... Among one of the newer ones in Yahoo Answers, where you can ask questions and have them answered by other Yahoo users. You HAVE to have a Yahoo ID to ask and answer questions there. However, you do not need one to brose through the questions open for answering and the older already closed ones.

There are rules but Yahoo does not enforce them as good as they should, the no spamming rule if frequently ignored. The idea has great potential but it is ruined by the ones that are just trying to get a lot of points. You start out with a certain amount of points when you first use yahoo answers. I forget how many, but I do know that it is just enough to ask a few questions, because they take away points when you ask, and you earn them by answering. You also get points when users vote your answer the best answer. The points do not get you anything other then up a level. To me that makes then "pointless", pun intended, and a waste I have no idea what the highest level is.

I think it only encourages stupid "answer", if you can even call some them that. I worst "answer" has to be "I don't know", we do not want to know that they do not know. People can get snippy on there and down right rude at times. At some point, the people there forgot that they are there to answer questions to the best of their ability, not pick fights with people they do not know. Do they realize that they are making themselves look bad?

There is a flagging system in place but it is flawed. You have to be at least on the second level in the points to flag anyone. I can see why they would a level limit on flagging, but getting to that second level is hard. Easier for the ones "pointing". Making the majority of people able to flag are the ones spamming and giving stupid answers. Leaving the casual browser and occasional answerer, like me, having to sort through useless answers.

I think Yahoo needs paid monitors that police the site. They do not need to be high paid college graduates, just committed to ensuring a high quality in answers. Yahoo could even join the work from home fad and hiring people like me. I would love to do that.

Learn more about this author, Tiffany Nicholson.
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