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."

Re:Why does it need to be?

[QMalcolm]

This is true mostly. For instance if I was trying to find a DVD of the Athens 2004 Olympics opening ceremonies, or something rare or obscure or whatever, I'd just pop it on some guy on Yahoo Answers to dig through ebay or craigslist to find it for me. If I want to know about Greek mythology I'd obviously choose the Wikipedia page over whatever Yahoo has to offer.

Re:Comparing Apples and... What??

[Choad Namath]

Exactly. You don't use Yahoo! Answers to learn basic facts, you use it for questions that are more suited for human answers. You ask "What hotel is near the good bars in Portland, Oregon?" not "What's the melting point of Sn?"

Re:Huh?

[Spy der Mann]

a real life librarians worst nightmare is a fire.

Specifically, a fire in the Central Library caused by some guy with a scar on his face - followed by the State Alchemists telling you to scribe all the books you read because you happen to have photographic memory. Now THAT's a librarian's worst nightmare ;-)

CustomizeGoogle is your friend

[kjfitz]

I use the CustomizeGoogle [customizegoogle.com] Forefox plugin to filter out all about.com and answer.com results. Makes life just a little bit simper.

worthwhile doesn't mean correct, though

[Trepidity]

Books are chosen for libraries because someone might find them useful someday. Horribly biased books by well-known people almost automatically get in. Books with outright lies in them get in, especially if the subject is politics, but also if it's science. Less extremely, books with lots of selective coverage get in.

It's not universally true, but in my experience a book is only really useful as an introduction to an area if you know something about the book's author and how the book has been received by others in the area. Wikipedia is usually better about presenting that sort of information up front---if there are differences of opinion in a field, a Wikipedia article is fairly likely to mention both of them, whereas a book by one "camp" may well completely ignore the other camp or grossly misconstrue it.

Re:Get your answers here!

[morgan_greywolf]

Yeah, but you have to admit, the urban legend is a hell of a lot funnier than the truth. (Okay, okay, so I have the sense of humor of a 12-year-old. This is Slashdot after all ;))

FWIW, at least Wikipedia gets it right [wikipedia.org]. Does that make Wikipedia better than the Brittanica of the 1970s?

Re:Yes and no, sorta

[75th Trombone]

drilling multiplication tables into childrens' heads, when in all likelihood they'll spend their entire lives not twelve inches away from a device that can do it a million times faster

Ehhh, I gotta object to this one. It's way faster to do low-number multiplication in your head than it is to do punch it in a calculator. Can you imagine if you had to whip out a calculator or scrawl on some paper every time you wanted to multiply 12 by 8?? Also, for mathematically inclined people, multiplication tables are an excellent way to introduce them to some rudimentary arithmetic patterns.

The paid answers model

[ribuck]

... to gain credibility for their QA section, they need to introduce paid overseers ...

The paid answers model is a quite different model to the "worth what you pay for it" free answers model. Not only do you get better answers, but you often get more interesting, better-phrased questions.

Take a look [uclue.com] at [uclue.com] these [uclue.com] examples [uclue.com] from paid Q&A site uclue.com [uclue.com], for example.

Depends on what you want

[Divide By Zero]

If you want more Yahoo! Answers points or to be highly rated, yes. You also have the problem of the "winner" being decided by somebody who doesn't know. Imagine a quiz show wherein the host doesn't have the right answers, all three contestants ring in and respond, and then the host picks. That's kinda what Yahoo! Answers is.

If you're looking for factual answers, it's also a nightmare due to the fact that it's populated by a metric butt-ton of twelve year olds, doing the asking, answering, and voting. By and large, they don't know how to configure a Cisco 3825 or who suggested that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. The SNR on Yahoo! Answers is so low that it borders on useless as a research tool. When I'm feeling charitable, I'll pop over there and answer a few questions in an area I have expertise in and where the correct answer isn't already written, but if you don't know, cross-check ANYTHING you read there, and whatever you cross-check it with, you probably should have started there.

If you feel that your question can be adequately answered by going over to your local middle school or junior high at recess or lunchtime, getting up on something tall and shouting your question, and you just don't feel like going to the trouble, Yahoo! Answers is a fine resource. Questions in this category tend to include, "whats an awesome sk8board?" and "who here likes fergie?". For more complicated questions, you might get a knowledgeable human passing on the sidewalk to answer, but don't bet on it.

The Slashdot Polls are a more scientific resource, and their warning could be applied to Y!A with a few minor modifications: This whole thing is wildly unreliable. Respondent bias, ignorance, people messing with you, you name it. If you're using these answers to do anything important, you're insane.

Re:Why does it need to be?

[doublem]

You might want to read the site:

http://yahooanswerssucks.blogspot.com/ [blogspot.com]

It's one person's attempt to explore the stupidity that is Yahoo Answers. The truth is intelligent, well researched answers get you banned, while mindless drivel gets you a "Best Answer" rating real quick.