Yahoo! Answers, A Librarian's Worst Nightmare

Slate has an interesting look at the realm of online question and answer forums. Yahoo! Answers is boasting over 120 million users and 400 million answers placing it just behind Wikipedia for most visited education/reference site on the internet. While this may be a great insight into crowd mentality and search preferences, it seems to be a "complete disaster as a traditional reference tool." "For educators fretting that the Internet is creating a generation of 'intellectual sluggards,' the problem isn't just that Yahoo!'s site helps ninth-graders cheat on their homework. It's that a lot of the time, it doesn't help them cheat all that well. [...] Like Yahoo! Answers, Wikipedia isn't perfect. But for savvy browsers who know how to use it, Wikipedia is an invaluable source of factual information. In the last two years, there's been a heated debate over whether Wikipedia is as trustworthy as Encyclopedia Britannica. This obscures a crucial point: Wikipedia is at least reliable enough that such a question can be asked. Take my word for it--no one is going to make any such claims about Yahoo! Answers any time soon."

No

[gustgr]

This [xkcd.com] is a librarian's worst nightmare.

Get your answers here!

[morgan_greywolf]

Answers: $5
Good Answers: $10
Correct Answers: $20
Well-researched Answers complete with reference: time and materials

Dumb looks are still free.

What's wrong with Yahoo Answers?

[Malevolent Tester]

How could a service that provides such vital information as this [yahoo.com], this [yahoo.com] and this [yahoo.com] ever be considered anything other than a vital font of knowledge?

yahoo

[gEvil (beta)]

Yahoo! Answers--the place to go to get your question answered by a certified yahoo.

Is Yahoo Answers Reliable?

[mbulge]

Why not just go to the source?

According to Yahoo Answers:

Resolved Question: Is Yahoo Answers reliable?

Best Answer: No way.

But then again it could be wrong. You can hardly trust something you read on that site.

Why, they might as well use a moderated forum

[justsomecomputerguy]

where members can "score" the comments of others... Nah, it'd never work. Sure to collapse from its own inbred weight in MUCH LESS than a decade...

Re:Get your answers here!

[rwven]

I'm still wondering why this is a Libertarians worst nightmare. Maybe my local librarian has some books on phonics I can borrow...

I'm a librarian, and my worst nightmare is:

[Anonymous Coward]

Margaret Thatcher wearing nothing but a thin layer of whipped cream.

Re:Is Yahoo Answers Reliable?

[UbuntuDupe]

That's probably going to get deleted. In case you didn't notice from the Yahoo Answers ToS:

(4) You agree not to pose any Gödelian [wikipedia.org] self-referential questions ...

Re:Good Enough for College

[R2.0]

Do you get your diploma by mail, with full credit for "life experience"?

Or does your college have the word "community" in the title?

Re:No

[ericspinder]

the internet population can be divided into two parts, those that use yahoo and those that don't.

Yes, it can also be divided into two other parts, those who think this post is 'funny', and those who don't.

Re:Why does it need to be?

[eln]

True. That's why if I want a well-researched answer, I submit my question as an Ask Slashdot article.

Now you tell me...

[butterwise]

I looked up how to open a pomegranate on Yahoo! Answers and ended up giving my two-year-old a lobotomy. Great.

Re:What's wrong with Yahoo Answers?

[idiotwithastick]

A sampling of what I see on answers.yahoo.com (YMMV)

• Did the Milwaukee Brewers really just give or are in the process of giving Eric Gagne $10 million for 1 year?
• What is a hydroxide ion?
• I have TimeWarner Cable and got the HD Receiver...But I don't wanna pay monthly!?
• I need to find a free download, no buying it, of oregon trail deluxe, can you help me?
• How often should I feed my puppies?
• What can u use for personal femine hygene while pregnant?
• My hands get cold,fingers numb,and skin does not bounce back.what causes this?
• What does it mean if I dream about my crush?
• In the game Yu-Gi-Oh GX Tag Force 2 why do I get a penalty after each duel?
• Where can i play inuyasha games online?
• Who is Gaspard Ulliel currently dating???
• Anyone see Marion Gaborik fly?
• How much do used iPods go for?
• I think I'm ugly and not a good person?

Now I understand how Yahoo! Answers is the perfect reference tool. Ask it any question you want, and some guy might come and give an answer to you...

Actual Yahoo! Questions

[Squiffy]

Here are some actual questions I've collected from Yahoo! Answers over time:

- What is the best way to hint to your parents that you are pregnant?
- How do my mum and dad want to renew my wedding vow?
- Do lesbian cheerleaders really exist?
- How powerful does a telescope have to be to see the moon?
- How can I master the art of Levitation?
- Swimming at the waterslides and have to pee really bad... What to do??
- My BODY is my own ENEMY? WHAT would you do if YOU were IN my POSITION?
- What kind of shampoo does Ozzy Osbourne use?
- My nipples are wierd???!!?
- Is it true if you put blood in someones food they will go crazy?
- How many years, months, days, hours, minutes, and seconds are in 200300 if you divide it by 360?
- Do female animals have G Spot?
- Unfortunately, I have very little common sense.
- Is there a way to make my nostrils bigger without surgery?
- Do mice really explode???
- Automatic toilets scare me. Am I alone?

They need to do way instain mother

[Dwedit]

They need to do way instain mother> who kill thier babbys. becuse these babby cant frigth back?
it was on the news this mroing a mother in ar who had kill her three
kids. they are taking the three babby back to new york to lady to rest
my pary are with the father who lost his chrilden ; i am truley sorry for your lots

Anyone who reads somethingawful's weekend web should know how good Yahoo Answers is as a source of information... [somethingawful.com]

Re:No

[thejeffer]

I'm ambivalent.

Re:What's wrong with Yahoo Answers?

[Frizzle Fry]

Actually, the vital font of knowledge is comic sans.

Indeed, the biggest problem with Yahoo Answers

[Colin Smith]

Is that you can't flame moronic little fuckwits who ask shite questions or give shite answers. That's what made Usenet useful.

 

Wikipedia vs. Yahoo Answers - Deathmatch!

[Spy der Mann]

Yahoo! Answers in Wikipedia.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahoo_answers [wikipedia.org] :

Yahoo! Answers is a community-driven knowledge market website launched by Yahoo! on December 13, 2005 that allows users to ask questions of other users and answer other users' questions. The site gives members the chance to earn points as a way to encourage participation and is based on Naver's Knowledge iN.

[ a few paragraphs later... ]

Criticism

The site has been criticized as being more about social networking than providing accurate information.[5]

References

5. ^ Leibenluft, Jacob (2007-12-07). A Librarian's Worst Nightmare: Yahoo! Answers, where 120 million users can be wrong.

Wikipedia in Yahoo! Answers

How do I make an entry on Wikipedia?

        * 3 hours ago
        * - 3 days left to answer.

Answers (0)

Be the first to answer this question.

Any questions?

Re:I'm a librarian, and my worst nightmare is:

[silent_artichoke]

...and so are you!

Re:No

[masterzora]

The internet can be divided into two parts: people who use argumentum ad populum and those who don't.

This is why people use Ask Slashdot.

[Anonymous Coward]

If only those poor bastards had come to Ask Slashdot. Just look at how much trouble we could've saved them!

- What is the best way to hint to your parents that you are pregnant?

1) Ready a video camera & tape this.
2) Find your parents, then say "Mom? Dad? I'm pregnant."
3) Post the "reactions" video on YouTube.

- How do my mum and dad want to renew my wedding vow?

They probably want you to get married in a church this time instead of in Vegas so all their friends will stop asking why they weren't invited to your wedding.

- Do lesbian cheerleaders really exist?

No, much like the moon, they're a ridiculous liberal myth.

- How powerful does a telescope have to be to see the moon?

I think I already said that the moon is a ridiculous liberal myth. Therefore, you'll need a telescope with a negative index of refraction. Consult this guy [timecube.com] for details.

- How can I master the art of Levitation?

Gather enough power wands for an anti-gravity lozenge. Watch out for the koalas with nunchucks. Unlike the Black Manta, you are NOT a ninja.

Alternatively, you can try joining that cult with the gold-domed roof in some cornfield in Iowa. No, not the state capitol building, dumbass, the OTHER place with a gold dome that's in the middle of some cornfield.

- Swimming at the waterslides and have to pee really bad... What to do??

Let nature take its course. Oh, and give me advance notice so I can avoid that water park.

- My BODY is my own ENEMY? WHAT would you do if YOU were IN my POSITION?

Go visit a water park. I'll let you know which one is best once I hear back from my, umm, informant.

- What kind of shampoo does Ozzy Osbourne use?

Most likely some organic shampoo made from hemp. How else do you explain the smell?

- My nipples are wierd???!!?

Yes. Yes, they are. I suggest disconnecting the battery, though. That just makes you look weird.

- Is it true if you put blood in someones food they will go crazy?

That's what they WANT you to believe.

- How many years, months, days, hours, minutes, and seconds are in 200300 if you divide it by 360?

That depends on what calendar you're using and how you calculate it. If you're using Excel, the answer is clearly 10,000. If you use a Pentium, it's about 9,999.99999873

- Do female animals have G Spot?

That's what SHE said.

- Unfortunately, I have very little common sense.

Thanks, but we already know why you're here.

- Is there a way to make my nostrils bigger without surgery?

Beans. Refer to Wikipedia's article on stuffing beans up your nose. Just ignore all those POV-pushers that like to vandalize that page with a "don't" as if they can tell US what to do.

- Do mice really explode???

Computer mice? No. Rodents? Yes, but you'll need some TNT. Search YouTube for tips and advice.

- Automatic toilets scare me. Am I alone?

Yes. Which is why I suggest you join a clique on Facebook or MySpace. Might I suggest the "Biggest Loser Club"? I hear it's very exclusive. They have just one member so far: you.

Re:Huh?

[rk]

Man, I hear you. I read this book once, called "The Holy Bible" and I never found out ANYTHING about a bible, much less a holy one. Instead it was a bunch of stuff about this "THE LORD" guy and a bunch of people that followed him or didn't follow him, then some Roman thugs nail his son to a tree. After that it didn't really go anywhere (a couple other guys get nailed to trees, too, but it's kind of anticlimactic after the first one), but it had a pretty spectacular ending where THE LORD gets some payback that I imagine some special effects guys could go crazy with if they ever made it into a movie.

Overall, it was kind of disappointing, though. Never did find out about a bible and whoever wrote it really needed their editor to reel it in.

This article needs cleanup.

[1stdoc]

Take my word for it--no one is going to make any such claims about Yahoo! Answers any time soon.

[Citation needed]

Re:Huh?

[uniquename72]

I am a librarian, and my worst nightmare is the same as everyone else's: going to the circus and getting fisted by midgets in the back of the clown car.

The multitude of sites that offer 'answers' for a fee is a non-issue.

Re:No

[me at werk]

Then we'd miss out on a valuable [somethingawful.com] source [somethingawful.com] of entertainment [somethingawful.com]. By the way, just How is babby formed? [digg.com]

Re:No

[Anonymous Coward]

what is argumentum ad populum? i'm gonna have to ask Yahoo Answers!

Re:What's wrong with Yahoo Answers?

[humina]

I like the attempt to answer a real question though:

Who is Fidel Castro?

Best Answer:
Before returning to Cuba to lead the Communist Revolution he was a pitcher for the New York Yankees.

Re:Huh?

[Richy_T]

Banana shortage.

Rich