Comments on: Yahoo's Ask

Yahoo's Ask

mathowie — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 08:25:46 -0800

huh, Yahoo launches an Ask section.

By: killdevil

killdevil — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 08:31:37 -0800

I wonder if the green color is a coincidence?

By: fenriq

fenriq — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 08:31:42 -0800

Boy I hope they've gotten some good moderaters as it'll fall apart rather quickly without some firm guiding hands controlling it.

I like how the accent color is green, I wonder where they got that idea?

By: moift

moift — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 08:33:50 -0800

I wonder if the green color is a nod to AskMe?

By: horsewithnoname

horsewithnoname — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 08:35:41 -0800

There are already some excellent questions being posted.

By: crunchland

crunchland — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 08:36:06 -0800

I wonder how many more people will note that the site is green?

By: horsewithnoname

horsewithnoname — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 08:37:49 -0800

You could post the question on Yahoo.

By: Plutor

Plutor — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 08:39:48 -0800

WOW ITS GREEN STOP

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 08:40:56 -0800

Ooooh, disclaimer. It's actually pretty basic and sensible. Plus, they have a scoring system but I bet it's like skeeball and you can just exchange points for crappy plastic toys. BUT your score affects how much you can make use of the system. Fascinating. Interesting notes from the help files.

Q. I have multiple Yahoo! accounts. Can I use these accounts to participate as different people?
A. No. We consider this behavior to be abuse. Please refer to our Community Guidelines for guidance on acceptable behavior.

Q. What can I comment on and rate?
A. Once a best answer is determined and an Open Question becomes a Resolved Question, participants can comment on and rate the best answer. Commenting and rating allows participants to add to and give their opinions on answers even after the question is resolved.

Q. Why was my question, answer, or comment deleted?
A. Yahoo! does not edit the content of questions, answers, or comments in Yahoo! Answers. However, we reserve the right to remove content that we determine, in our sole discretion, to be inappropriate and/or in violation of the Yahoo! Answers Community Guidelines, Yahoo! Community Guidelines or the Yahoo! Terms of Service. Depending on the level of offense, you may risk deactivation of your Yahoo! ID and consequently everything associated with it, including email accounts, groups, posts, homepages, and profiles. If you are unsure whether your content is appropriate or consistent with these policies, please err on the side of caution and do not post it in Yahoo! Answers.

and this

Please note that the most common reasons for reporting abuse are:

Adult/Obscene Content
Advertisement/Promotional Content
Copyright Infringement
Fraud/Negligence
Impersonation
Invasion of Privacy/Harassment
Not a Question or Answer
Profanity
Repeated Postings
Solicitation
Unreadable (rife with misspellings/bad grammar)
Violence/Crime
[more]

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 08:41:20 -0800

plus, it's green. green means go.

By: matteo

matteo — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 08:51:55 -0800

I have problems with my monitor, which color did they choose for the site?

By: eddydamascene

eddydamascene — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 09:01:42 -0800

GREEN IS THE COLOR OF ENVY

By: amro

amro — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 09:01:44 -0800

There are already some excellent questions being posted.
posted by horsewithnoname at 8:35 AM PST on December 8 [!]

I believe horsewithnoname is referring to a question asking why the site looks so much like AskMe, but a minute or so after it was posted (not by me) "customer care" deleted it. Nice.

By: Plutor

Plutor — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 09:02:33 -0800

Is Yahoo Answers green in reference to Ask Metafilter?

By: amro

amro — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 09:03:07 -0800

Oops, maybe not, that one wouldn't have been in Food & Wine.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 09:03:17 -0800

I do like the last five unanswered and answered questions in each category, at the bottom of each question and answer set -- I should totally steal that.

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 09:11:46 -0800

I deleted it myself actually, it was just a proof of concept question.

By: Plutor

Plutor — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 09:14:36 -0800

Mine's staying. I demand closure.

By: If I Had An Anus

If I Had An Anus — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 09:17:48 -0800

I scored 102, but I can't get past level 5.

By: Plutor

Plutor — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 09:22:31 -0800

The thing about this is that it reveals something about Yahoo users. They're too lazy to do a search for even the most obvious of questions.

And now it's down. JRun!

By: iconomy

iconomy — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 09:32:34 -0800

I don't think it looks even remotely like AskMe. They've used a totally different color of green as an accent color. Other than that... ?

By: raedyn

raedyn — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 09:33:04 -0800

Yahoo users. They're too lazy to do a search for even the most obvious of questions. - Plutor

And this differs from AskMe how? Lots of lazy questions here, too.

By: lodurr

lodurr — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 09:34:27 -0800

I know why they did this: They're firing the five minimum-wage guys in boemfouk texas who were fielding all their tech support email, and redirecting all their tech support questions to answers.yahoo.com.

I mean, seriously, have you ever actually sent a tech support question to Yahoo? If you ever hear back, it's [relatively] exceptional service.

By: Robot Johnny

Robot Johnny — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 09:36:01 -0800

...Yahoo users. They're too lazy to do a search for even the most obvious of questions.

Yeah, the site definitely needs the same disclaimer AskMeFi does: "Be sure to search with Google before asking a question on Yahoo! Answers"

By: Plutor

Plutor — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 09:44:55 -0800

raedyn: "And this differs from AskMe how? Lots of lazy questions here, too."

I know it's popular to bad-mouth your fellow Mefites, but I don't think that's true. I think that the level of detail on AskMe far exceeds that on YahAns. It's pretty rare that I see a question on the green that could be answered with the first result in a search on a single-word query.

By: loquacious

loquacious — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 09:45:23 -0800

Is it wrong to rip off ideas from the intarweb, even if they're really good?

By: JeffK

JeffK — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 09:48:56 -0800

Q. I have multiple Yahoo! accounts. Can I use these accounts to participate as different people?
A. No. We consider this behavior to be abuse.

Does that mean P_G has been banned from there as well?

By: lodurr

lodurr — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 09:53:45 -0800

Honestly, what's the ripoff? It's not as though it's a new idea. In fact, it's a pretty old idea, that's come and gone through various incarnations and existed in various forms.

What would be egregious -- well, lacking in class, at least -- is if they tried to target ask.mefi, or block links to it in their answers.

Yahoo's an 800 pound gorilla, yada yada.

Riddle me this, YaHaters: What would you have said if it was answers.google.com?

By: The Jesse Helms

The Jesse Helms — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 09:54:12 -0800

You should of got Bezos to file 1000 patents with his IPbot.

By: crunchland

crunchland — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 09:56:14 -0800

Q. I have multiple Yahoo! accounts. Can I use these accounts to participate as different people?
A. No. We consider this behavior to be abuse.

Maybe Matt can totally steal that idea, too.

By: loquacious

loquacious — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 09:56:33 -0800

Wow. You can even mark answers as "best answer".

If I was working at Yahoo!, I'd totally have to give some kind of non-evasive or obscure props to AskMe and other similar sites.

If I were Matt, and I weren't so committed to the whole freedom of infomation thing, I'd be calling some extremely expensive lawyers right now.

By: dobbs

dobbs — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 09:58:40 -0800

$5 says someone posts YahAns to the blue in the next 24 hours. :)

answers.google.com

Doesn't this already exist? I thought it was posted to the blue in the last few weeks.

By: If I Had An Anus

If I Had An Anus — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 10:01:46 -0800

You can only answer a question once which kinda sucks.

Q: Is masturbation bad?
A: Bad in what sense?
Q: I mean will I go to hell?
...no answer allowed...

By: lodurr

lodurr — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 10:02:01 -0800

loquacious: Wow. You can even mark answers as "best answer".

So there's one thing they didn't copy, for sure. After all, you can't do that on ask.metafilter.com.

(I'm serious. Go look.)

By: Plutor

Plutor — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 10:02:12 -0800

dobbs: "Doesn't [answers.google.com] already exist? I thought it was posted to the blue in the last few weeks."

Yes, Google Answers was launched in April 2002.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 10:05:26 -0800

Just to be clear, I posted this as a "huh, that's odd" kind of thing. I didn't mean they were stealing and the green is completely different. The design of the site looks like bulletin board software with all those avatar photos next to people's names.

By: lodurr

lodurr — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 10:09:10 -0800

fwiw, matt, I wouldnt' think you'd mean it that way. I interepreted it maybe as a little bit of a "see, we were on the right track" callout. If you can monetize ask.me without killing its spirit, I think that's a great thing.

It's just that people sometimes get het up defending the honor of something that doesn't care about having its honor defended.

(I will actually be fairly surprised if answer.yahoo gains any traction at all.)

By: smackfu

smackfu — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 10:10:40 -0800

What would you have said if it was answers.google.com?

By: loquacious

loquacious — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 10:11:45 -0800

lodurr: Huh? Small words and plain, direct english, please. I'm still waking up after working a night shift last and I'm pretty sure I'm getting sick.

By: loquacious

loquacious — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 10:13:01 -0800

lodurr: Er, I mean small words about this. Just to be clear. 'Cause I'm certainly not.

By: lodurr

lodurr — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 10:13:46 -0800

ask.metafilter.com does not have a means of flagging something as "best answer."

What it has is a means of flagging something if it gets a lot of votes as a "fantastic post/comment." Different thing.

By: lodurr

lodurr — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 10:14:56 -0800

Go to bed. Take zinc. Cover your windows completely. Not necessarily in that order.

By: LarryC

LarryC — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 10:16:34 -0800

New Wife-Birthday present?

We've been married for 6 months and our love life is a little blah, the idea of going to a (female) strip club with my wife popped into (and stayed) in my mind, my birthday is coming up and she has said she would do or give me anything I want. We have gone to a strip club together but always had friends with us before. Is it a good idea?

Yahoo Answers is totally hot.

By: loquacious

loquacious — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 10:16:42 -0800

Err. The question-asker can mark "best answer" in AskMe. I was just assuming that this was the same on yahoo, as I can see it as a question-asker there.

Yeah, you can't even reply to your own question, either. That's dumb.

*stumbles off looking for more tea*

By: cribcage

cribcage — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 10:17:06 -0800

I think it's great. Because Yahoo is AOL-sized big, it'll probably be inundated with lower denominators (ignorant and/or malicious users)...but the fact that they're implementing the model is a step in the right direction. If you've read any of the early essays on "cyberspace," the most optimistic predictions were that it would become a community where people could help each other to accomplish all sorts of things. Any step toward "community" and "helpful" is to be praised.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 10:17:13 -0800

fwiw, matt, I wouldnt' think you'd mean it that way. I interepreted it maybe as a little bit of a "see, we were on the right track" callout. If you can monetize ask.me without killing its spirit, I think that's a great thing.

Naw, it's more of a huh, I'm kind of surprised to see them wade into these waters, but good luck. I don't really think monetizing ask mefi is the ticket -- it's great as it is and I'm more interested in making it more useful.

By the way, the person that asks a question does have a means of marking something as best answer, it's just not open to everyone.

By: lodurr

lodurr — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 10:24:13 -0800

Ah, I understand. Just never noticed it. All my ask.mefi forays have ended up discouraging me from doing what i asked about, so maybe that's why. (Not the quality of the answers -- more a matter of them exposign unforeseens.)

By: piratebowling

piratebowling — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 10:29:25 -0800

"How can one know that Bush is honest or not ?
Asked by Jacques Le President - 5 minutes ago - Politics"

I certainly hope one of you posted this.

By: peacay

peacay — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 10:31:13 -0800

Actually the part Jessamyn mentioned about the possibility of all associations with Yahoo being deleted for bad behaviour might limit the amount of noise from the average yahuman dickhead population. I'm with cribcage - promoting community and reasonable behaviour standards ought to be a good thing for the internet community in general.

By: Plutor

Plutor — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 10:42:17 -0800

Is anyone else getting "Sorry, Unable to process request at this time -- error 999." for every single request on YahAns? Maybe they're angry that I pointed out the green-stealing.

By: DevilsAdvocate

DevilsAdvocate — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 10:49:47 -0800

Is it wrong to rip off ideas from the intarweb, even if they're really good?

I dunno. Is it wrong for the intarweb to rip off ideas that are much older than the intarweb itself?

Riddle me this, YaHaters:

OK, I don't like Yahoo Answers, not because it's borrowing the idea, but because their implementation is poor. 1) "you have 110 characters to work with" 110 characters for a question? Doesn't allow for a lot of detail, does it? 2) Apparently questions are closed after a best answer is marked, which can be a real problem. Too bad, because there's a lot more to be said about this question than what's written there. 3) HTF are people choosing the best answers anyway? The "best answer" here is easily the worst of the three answers given. (OK, I lied, the last one isn't an implementation issue.)

And as long as we're listing similar services, Wikipedia Reference Desk looks like it goes back to June 2001.

By: mystyk

mystyk — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 10:52:42 -0800

Well, imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. Still, you know that yahoo will claim the idea is entirely original.

By: mystyk

mystyk — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 10:53:54 -0800

I suggest referring to it as "AskYa".

By: If I Had An Anus

If I Had An Anus — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 10:55:10 -0800

It's just you, Plutor.

By: Jofus

Jofus — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 11:00:01 -0800

This just made me laugh and laugh.

By: nobody

nobody — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 11:17:15 -0800

Apparently questions are closed after a best answer is marked, which can be a real problem.

It actually looks like it's set up so that after a best answer has been marked, comments can be appended to the answer itself. (Click "Comments" and an additional thread unfurls).

By: cortex

cortex — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 11:24:44 -0800

I parallel evolution to much to presume, here? I really like the green, and obviously so do a fair number of other people, but just how big is the ask.metafilter.com footprint that Yahoo must have been inspired by us?

By: loquacious

loquacious — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 11:45:18 -0800

cribcage: See I agree with that, that anything that effectively helps spread knowledge is good. Which is why in my muddle-headed methods I was trying to stipulate I wouldn't be suing Yahoo, even if I were Matt.

Also, I was just looking for similarities between AskMe and AskYa.

By: grouse

grouse — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 12:01:54 -0800

I suggest referring to it as "AskYa".

Mikey likes it.

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 12:07:22 -0800

Google Answers has that same deal where comments can still be added on to a question after it's been sufficiently answered. This is all pretty interesting to answer nerds like me. Note that ask.yahoo.com goes someplace else, the new site is answers.yahoo.com. Here is some summary stuff about the sites for anyone who isn't familiar with them.

Who Answers Your Questions?

AskMe - other mefites
AskYa - other yahoos
GooAn - piecework screened researchers

Who Can Comment on your Question?

AskMe - other mefites
AskYa - other yahoos
GooAn - anyone with a Google login

Does it cost money to ask a question

AskMe - no (unless you are a new member and need a $5 signup)
AskYa - no
GooAn - yes

Are answerers paid in money for answers?

AskMe - no
AskYa - no
GooAn - yes

Are you paid in reputation for answers?

AskMe - yes
AskYa - yes
GooAn - yes

How long does a question stay open?

AskMe - ~~30 days~~ a year
AskYa - 14 days
Goo An - 30 days

Is there a way to clarify my question?

AskMe - yes
AskYa - no [?]
GooAn - yes

Can I choose a best answer?

AskMe - yes
AskYa - yes
GooAn - no

Can I raet the answers I get?

AskMe - no
AskYa - yes
GooAn - no

How do I learn more?

AskMe - wiki
AskYa - Help
GooAn - FAQ

By: delmoi

delmoi — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 12:10:26 -0800

Wake me up when msnfilter gets an ask section.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 12:12:24 -0800

Jess, askme threads are now open for a year. If any would have known that I'd thought it'd be you :P

By: quonsar

quonsar — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 12:28:48 -0800

By: cacophony

cacophony — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 12:38:47 -0800

Cute, quonsar. Very cute.

By: lodurr

lodurr — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 12:40:53 -0800

How droll.

By: lodurr

lodurr — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 12:41:08 -0800

(No, really: How?)

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 13:08:28 -0800

thanks Delmoi, fixed it.

By: Emperor Yamamoto's Eggs

Emperor Yamamoto's Eggs — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 13:28:52 -0800

Admin is this a sin please hope me

By: tpl1212

tpl1212 — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 13:37:43 -0800

I like how all the "Smiley Box Avatar Icons" next to each make it seem like a band of grinning simpletons are answering your questions.

By: tpl1212

tpl1212 — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 13:44:40 -0800

(I hope that "align-left" business doesn't break this page...please hope me if it does)

I can also imagine how innappropriate the grinning smiley face boxes would be for a sad or depressing discussion:

[SMILIE] I just ran over my kitten and it is dying slowing in my arms...what do I do?

[SMILIE] OMG THAT"S SO SAD

[SMILIE] Put your wittle kitten in the freezer...it will go to sleep. Tell him you love him before you do.

By: Mid

Mid — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 13:45:34 -0800

As opposed to here, where you know without pictures that there is a band of grinning simpletons answering your questions.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 13:56:20 -0800

Three of the five questions on the front page when I looked:

Asked by khoa397
    which president of USA cultivate peanuts?
Asked by petrapan
    fastest animal on earth?
Asked by TAD
    What is the greatest band of all time?

I guess "grinning simpletons" might be a little harsh, but it's definitely AskMe's goofy kid brother. Anyway, this thread has given me a much-needed laugh.

By: WestCoaster

WestCoaster — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 14:50:41 -0800

For those who are have answered all the AskMetafilter questions that they can find, and are looking for more: as a few minutes ago, there were roughly 2800 unanswered questions on Ask Yahoo.

On the other hand, the front page list of recently asked questions only shows those asked in the last 43 seconds.

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 16:17:37 -0800

I'm wondering if this question/answer combo will stay up there. Note, those asterisks were put in with the software, not by me.

By: IshmaelGraves

IshmaelGraves — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 16:30:46 -0800

I'm wondering if this question/answer combo will stay up there.

The answer, apparently, is no. What did it say?

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 16:45:31 -0800

The question was "What is fisting?" I've actually gotten that question at the reference desk before, and I answered it here with all appropriate tact. However I did have to use the words vagina (which was not removed or elided), anal (which was not removed or elided) fucking (from the Wikipedia article, which was asterisked out) and anus (ditto) in my answer.

By: blue_beetle

blue_beetle — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 17:07:43 -0800

We totally need avatars here. Then we would be the coolest!

By: nebulawindphone

nebulawindphone — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 17:08:06 -0800

Weird that they ban "anus" but not "anal." I mean, the porn spam I get is all anal this and anal that and never an anus in sight.

By: horsewithnoname

horsewithnoname — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 17:08:26 -0800

I've been meaning to ask. Where would I find 'fisting' under Dewey Decimal?

By: nebulawindphone

nebulawindphone — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 17:12:39 -0800

In between Mr. Decimal's left and right butt cheek, presumably.

rim shot

By: oddman

oddman — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 17:15:44 -0800

jessamyn, my view of you just blew up.

By: SassHat

SassHat — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 17:31:37 -0800

Aw, don't you guys wish you could give and receive "thumbs up" and collect "points?"

It would be as warm and fuzzy as a Girl Scouts troup meeting.

By: scarabic

scarabic — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 17:48:24 -0800

The featureset is great. Could probably use some tuning. And their login sucks. If it's not useful, it will be because of the human factor. Anyone remember when Yahoo! had comments on all news stories? Sheesh. What a clusterfuck.

AskMe is a better community but not as good a platform. It may turn out that the advantage in community matters 100x more than the platform. We'll see.

By: Ethereal Bligh

Ethereal Bligh — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 18:03:49 -0800

"I don't think it looks even remotely like AskMe. They've used a totally different color of green as an accent color."

Is this the beginning of a radio ad?

By: euphorb

euphorb — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 18:10:14 -0800

Of course there is the original web-based knowledge exchange, AskMe, which no longer exists online in it's earlier incarnation

By: scarabic

scarabic — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 19:41:28 -0800

As long as we're being foolish, AskMe was a ripoff of Keen.com anyway. I think there was some green on the page there. Busted!

By: If I Had An Anus

If I Had An Anus — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 19:55:26 -0800

anal this and anal that and never an anus in sight

*cries, hugs nebulawindphone*
We'll get through this together, ok?

By: sjvilla79

sjvilla79 — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 20:12:37 -0800

I'll stick with AskMe thanks. Images in case the posts are removed here and here.

By: sjvilla79

sjvilla79 — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 20:16:41 -0800

And what an awesome resource!

By: brundlefly

brundlefly — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 20:37:27 -0800

Priceless.

By: sjvilla79

sjvilla79 — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 20:41:39 -0800

Yeah, what brundlefly said. I was just about to post the same thing.

By: gyc

gyc — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 20:56:45 -0800

This question is also great, and it fits the "cleaning & laundry" category perfectly.

By: scarabic

scarabic — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 21:52:41 -0800

Fucking hell. They have 13 reasons why you might want to flag something, and none of them seems to cover RACIST AND OFFENSIVE AND BAD AND FUCKING DELETE THIS SHIT NOW BEFORE YOU TAKE A COFFEE BREAK BITCH HOWS IT TASTE MOTHERFUCKER YES THEY DESERVED TO DIE AND I HOPE THEY BURNED IN HELL

By: moift

moift — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 22:10:10 -0800

You get 'em, scarabic.

By: sjvilla79

sjvilla79 — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 22:27:45 -0800

I posted something which would require more than thirty seconds of conscious thought. No surprise that it hasn't any replies as yet. I mean perhaps I should have asked about semen dripping down a woman's bottom and into here vagina instead. The crowd there seem more responsive to that kind of thing anyway.

By: sjvilla79

sjvilla79 — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 22:30:29 -0800

...and into here vagina instead.

Well, that would be her vagina. I'm just hopeless with vaginas though. Can't even write about them without being all thumbs! Darn.

By: scarabic

scarabic — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 23:47:53 -0800

I really pity Yahoo! tonight as there appears to be a huge initial swell of puerile interest in fucking with some new toy, rather unfortunately combined with the inevitable press attention of a major release.

I don't know that the noise will ever die down to an acceptable level, but I'm willing to guess that the WHAT IF I MAKE SPPOGE IN A WIMMINS ASTERIX questions will die down from where they are now.

I can just imagine the Trust & Safety employees at Yahoo! getting off work with sore wrists from all the deletion. They're working overtime in shifts tonight, you can count on that.

By: scarabic

scarabic — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 23:49:21 -0800

Your question requires a LOT more than 30 seconds thought, sjvilla79. It's like you're requesting a PhD thesis. It took me about 5 seconds to say "uh-huh, yep, pulling my chain, NEXT!"

By: taz

taz — Fri, 09 Dec 2005 02:43:40 -0800

what is a life span of a aids addict?

i want content on Photoshop?

how do i make a fast car?

Do cows drink milk?

Is East at the right hand?

where is the taj mahal?

where is the eiffel tower ?

How to make Him feel my love when my cellphone ran out of money to connect???

*zips up her comfy green askme and hides inside*

By: sjvilla79

sjvilla79 — Fri, 09 Dec 2005 03:43:50 -0800

Your question requires a LOT more than 30 seconds thought, sjvilla79. It's like you're requesting a PhD thesis.

You know you're not the first person to say this to me (generally speaking). But yeah, that was my point in posting it in the first place. And it seems to have worked.

By: sjvilla79

sjvilla79 — Fri, 09 Dec 2005 03:46:23 -0800

I also wanted to add but forgot earlier that YA doesn't so much remind me of AskMe's green backdrop and whatever. Rather, it looks and feels more like 43 Things. Just saying.

By: lodurr

lodurr — Fri, 09 Dec 2005 04:28:56 -0800

taz: Consider that all of teh examples you pick are chances to educate.

For example: "what is a life span of a aids addict?" "A: Well, to start with, AIDS is a disease, not a drug. And with proper treatment, the lifespan of someone with AIDS is indefinite -- they could live for a very long time. But without treatment, someone with AIDS will most likely die in a few years."

More likely, the responses will be along the lines of "Yo, dumbfuck, you are such a dumbfuck!" But we can hope....

By: lodurr

lodurr — Fri, 09 Dec 2005 04:32:36 -0800

sjvilla79, I looked at your Yahoo Answers profile, and you ask a lot of questions like that. Which, to me, highlights an interesting difference between Yahoo Answers and Ask.Mefi: If you asked those questions here, most of them would get deleted. Not because they're not interesting questions (they're interesting to me), but because they're "chatfilter" or "GYOB-filter".

The big question is how YAnswers will treat that kind of question, both now, six months from now, and a year from now.

By: sjvilla79

sjvilla79 — Fri, 09 Dec 2005 05:36:27 -0800

lodurr, yeah I had today off. Well, the afternoon anyway. I figured I'd kick the tyres on YA and see how it handled. And it was fun for a day. Heck I might even go there to talk shit now and then (mostly while drunk). Isn't that what the site is anyway?

Yeah, I don't see anything more in it and don't expect anything from it. I'd be flattered if I were Matt though. I'd also be pissed that Yahoo didn't make me an offer on the format (e.g. Flickr). Or did they? Beep!

By: arcticwoman

arcticwoman — Fri, 09 Dec 2005 08:41:54 -0800

Hey, it's green.

By: graventy

graventy — Fri, 09 Dec 2005 12:08:41 -0800

Wait, it's green?

By: jeremias

jeremias — Fri, 09 Dec 2005 16:55:22 -0800

Do cows drink milk?

Hmm.
Deceptively complex.

By: ootsocsid

ootsocsid — Fri, 09 Dec 2005 21:00:43 -0800

Whenever I sit down on the floor with my male, Border Collie mix dog, he keeps trying to shove his butt in my face. I want to kiss him on the head, and he keeps turning around. Why? What is he trying to tell me in dog language?

By: ootsocsid

ootsocsid — Fri, 09 Dec 2005 21:01:58 -0800

what time is it their?

By: Pigpen

Pigpen — Sat, 10 Dec 2005 18:42:08 -0800

mathowie writes "Just to be clear, I posted this as a 'huh, that's odd' kind of thing. I didn't mean they were stealing and the green is completely different. The design of the site looks like bulletin board software with all those avatar photos next to people's names."

Colour me ~~green~~ confused then... isn't MeTa for topics specific to Metafilter? How is this thread specific to Metafilter, if not "Yahoo is stealing from Mefi!"?