Yahoo! Answers

Yahoo! Answers at http://answers.yahoo.com/.

Plot: A question and answer forum provided by Yahoo!. Members are allowed to ask and answer questions. To encourage responses, rewards are offered through a point system.

Genre: Question and Answer, Websites

Reading Level: Users must provide a name, valid e-mail account, and other information. As such, younger users may need caution before using. Also, answers are not edited for terms or content, so be aware.

Personal Thoughts: The site was a major disappointment. Review the criteria:


1. Accuracy (+1) +1...sort of. While the answers were accurate, they were extremely vague.
2. Direction to further information (other sites, books, etc.) (+1 per resource) + 0
3. Speed of response (+1 if given within 24 hours) +1

Points will be taken away for:

1. Inaccuracy (-1) -1; see response to accuracy.
2. Joke, troll, or unrelated responses (-1 per response) -1
3. Direction to Wikipedia (-1) + 0

Yahoo!Answers is a free site with free responses. While the point system encourages accurate responses, "answerers" that continue to offer poor responses are in no way limited or punished, diminishing the quality of answers. Additionally, users are not required (or encouraged) to verify information or provide links to their sources. As such, the site is more of a "use at your own risk" rather than a reliable resource.

Three Musketeers and Changes

Summer exploded in my face a bit, but we finally chugged through The Three Musketeers. The time did, however, give me an opportunity to re-evaluate the state of the blog. While I enjoy the freedom of an open reading blog, more focus could enhance the quality and direction of the site. So, I am going to revert to the original purpose of the blog (minus the grading issues). Starting next week, the blog will focus on materials aimed at or useful to tweens, the age group between 8 and 13.

Most tweens have returned to school. While recommended reading will wait (probably until the first full week of September), I would like to conduct an experiment. The Internet provides a growing number of students with resources. A developing resource comes through online question and answer pages. Next week, we will ask a simple question: What is a qat? and judge AskColorado, Yahoo! Answers, Answers.com, and AskKids according to the following criteria:

1. Accuracy (+1)
2. Direction to further information (other sites, books, etc.) (+1 per resource)
3. Speed of response (+1 if given within 24 hours)

Points will be taken away for:

1. Inaccuracy (-1)
2. Joke, troll, or unrelated responses (-1 per response)
3. Direction to Wikipedia (-1)

My reasons for downgrading Wikipedia directions are threefold. Wikipedia is not an official source, so most school assignments will not accept it. Furthermore, anyone can change a Wikipedia page, for good or for "lolz," so accuracy is not guaranteed. Also, once Wikipedia revealed that tsunamis are caused by yo mama. I really should have taken a screenshot of that. Anyway, it killed my faith in Wikipedia, so I will not consider it an acceptable resource.

Anyway, onward!