Yahoo!7 Answers Australia

My Yahoo!7 (http://au.my.yahoo.com) is your personal page that you can access with your username and password. You can personalise this page to display whatever modules you decide on whether it be World, Australian or local news, your favourite sports headlines, updates from groups or any other service from Yahoo!7 or the Internet.  Of course, Yahoo!7 Answers is also available on My Yahoo!7.

To add Answers to My Yahoo! page go to http://au.my.yahoo.com and sign in.

You will see a page like this:

To personalise your modules, the options and the pages, you need to click on the buttons on top left of the page:

To add content, clic Add content. You will be able to select from the options offered and also add RSS modules using the URL. For example, if you want to add the Answers module, click on the option Add RSS Feed, type in  http://au.answers.yahoo.com then click Add.

To make your page look unique by changing the colours or the style, click Change appearance.

If you want to modify any other setting, click Change options.

You can drag and drop the modules to make the page look exactly the way you want (for example, you can have the most interesting information on top).

By putting the Answers module on your My Yahoo!7 homepage, you will ensure that you’re up to date with everything that’s going on in the community.

You can also add this blog to My Yahoo!7 to keep track of the latest posts. Just click the Subscribe link to the right of this post (or the link below the post that says Subscribe to our RSS feed!) and subscribe using MyYahoo!7

Caitlin
Community Manager

Watching a bike race is never something I thought I’d be into but this year I’ve found the Tour de France strangely mesmerising. Maybe it’s watching those amazing athletes hurtling at breakneck speed down precipitous slopes, or maybe it’s the gorgeous French countryside that seems to change dramatically every leg. Whatever it is, a fair few Australians aren’t getting much sleep between the hours of 10pm and 2am every evening.

For us amateurs, there are a lot of confusing aspects of the Tour de France that have us scratching our heads. I know the yellow jersey is the daily winner but what about the green and polka dotted ones? According to Joe S:

The green jersey is given to the rider that has accumulated the most sprint points during the Tour. Each stage has bonus points given at different points during the stage. The stage winner is given 35 pts and the following 24 riders are given points on a decreasing scale with the rider coming in 25th given 1 point.

The polka-dot jersey is given to the rider who accumulates the most points on the mountain climbs. The tougher the climb the more points are given to the first 3 riders over the top. More

It doesn’t take long to pick up a few words to use in office water-cooler conversations. My word of the moment is the ‘peloton’ and I was recently heard saying: “Wasn’t the peloton bunched in last night’s stage” to a colleague (while secretly hoping I had used it in the right context). According to Vicki Vale,

The word ‘peloton’ literally means ‘ball,’ … but it is most often used with the meaning ‘group.’ It also can mean ‘squad’ or ‘platoon,’ in French. (That’s where our English word ‘platoon’ comes from.) More

Once you start looking, you find quite a lot of explanations about the Tour de France on Answers, like what the fastest downhill speed is and what the commentators mean when they say a 6.9% gradiant. The cycling aficionados among us might wonder what gear ratios the riders use and what system the organisers use to determine the category of a mountain.

Some of us, on the other hand, just want to know the everyday things, like how the cyclists go the bathroom when they’re in the middle of a stage. If you want a detailed explanation, or even a picture for that matter, just head to this question.

Well with all those questions answered, I can go back to gazing at the cute French villages and bunched pelotons. If you’ve got any more burning questions about the Tour de France, don’t forget to head to the Cycling section!

Caitlin
Community Manager

Ever had an answer so good you wanted to jump for joy? Then we want to hear from you at y_answrs_team_au@yahoo.com.au.

Everyday you, the community, help each other out by sharing your experiences and knowledge on Yahoo!7 Answers. Sometimes a simple answer will do, but occasionally you might receive an unexpected answer that just blows you away. These are the people we want to hear about.

We will regularly feature one of these outstanding answers from the community in our blog. And while everyone’s answers are important, we’re looking for people who are exceptional!

Ideally they should have worked their way up the levels system and have a great best answer percentage.

In addition they might have great knowledge like Pontac:

 How can I become a Sommelier?

 Best Answer: Get a job in a restaurant. A sommelier is — at the simplest — the waiter responsible for wine service. At a larger restaurant the sommelier will be responsible for choosing the wines on the winelist, buying and storing those wines. Read more

Their answers should be as detailed and engaging as Tunisian Belle’s:

What fun things can I do in Tunisia?

Best Answer: There are MANY things to do in Tunisia that are fun! Most of it will depend on what part of the country you want to visit. Carthage is the former capital of the ancient world. There is a museum there that details the history of Carthage, and you can go look around some old ruins. Read more

Pontac and Tunisian Belle are but two of the amazing answerers in our community. We want to celebrate more of them with you.

So if there is an answer that has impressed you and you think the Answerer deserves credit where credit is due, please email us on y_answrs_team_au@yahoo.com.au.

Caitlin
Community Manager

Batman is back and it’s one of the most anticipated movies of the year. To celebrate the release of this epic film, we’ve partnered with Yahoo! Movies to bring a little Dark Knight frenzy to Answers.

We’re asking you, the Answers community, for the perfect question for Christian Bale, who plays Batman. The best question will be put to him, on your behalf, by Yahoo! and recorded on video.

So, what do you want to ask Christian?

When you’ve decided on your killer question, email the UK team y_answrs_team_uk@yahoo.co.uk. You have until Monday afternoon 5pm AEST to post your question; the best question will be answered by Christian on video next week and then posted on this blog.

All about Batman

In The Dark Knight actor Christian Bale brings to life Bruce Wayne, aka Batman, who’s fighting against the fearful Joker, played by the late Heath Ledger. Rumour is we see our hero cross the thin line between good and evil like never before…

If you need some inspiration, you could check out some of the questions that have already been discussed on Answers. There’s everything from Batman Comics to a discussion on the differences between The Dark Knight and previous Batman films and even a question about what you can learn from Batman.

Celebs on Answers

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen interesting and popular question from celebrities. Featured on Answers has been the likes of Cate Blanchett, Bruce Willis, and Natalie Portman. But this time, we’ve reversed the rules of the game so one lucky Answers member will have the opportunity to ask our celebrity a question.

Don’t forget to get your question in by 5pm Monday AEST by emailing the UK team y_answrs_team_uk@yahoo.co.uk. For more information on Batman and to preview the trailer, check the Yahoo!7 Movies trailer.

Caitlin
Community Manager

If you’re a Sydneysider and have battled your way through thousands of flag wielding tourists this week, I won’t have to remind you that this week is ‘World Youth Day’. Yes I know it runs for 6 days so why is it called World Youth Day? Amanda Dee wondered the same question and was told:

“The official World Youth Day is Sunday 20th July where the pilgrims and anyone else interested gets to have mass with the pope. Apparently World Youth Day was originally held on Palm Sunday in 1986 and has been celebrated on a Diocesan level every Palm Sunday ever since.” More…

World Youth Day has actually stimulated quite a bit of debate for Australians. Some are worried about the amount of money that the NSW Government has spent on hosting the week. Answerer Mandy M gave a very succinct response, stating points such as promoting tourism and the potential that the young people could eventually return as international students, bring much needed dollars to a very lucrative industry.

A lot of people are also debating the new laws that were passed a few weeks ago empowering emergency service workers to stop people who are engaging in conduct that causes annoyance or inconvenience. Some parts of the law were overturned in an eleventh hour court case yesterday, the Federal Court ruling the definition of ‘annoyance’ to be too broad.

Of course, many of us Australians are still hoping there will be at least one ‘annoyance’ during the week, the Chaser boys may indeed plan some sort of prank to amuse us all. Nikita asked for some suggestions of what sort of mischief they could get up to. Some popular ideas include:

“They should make their own ‘Pope Mobile’ and drive it around…Maybe make it into a bit of a float… ‘the Pope Floater’….Gross.” Girl Goes Back to the Future

“I think they should volunteer.” HerbalPhil Wellness Warrior!

“The should perform some miracles, including 1. Water being turned into Wine. That’s always a winner with the youth of the world. 2. Resurrection. 3 days is probably a bit too long in our fast paced world. 3 hours would be pretty impressive.” Anthony C

A few too many mixed meanings in there for my liking but we’ll be interested to see if the Chaser boys decide on any of your suggestions this week. Let’s just hope our pilgrim friends see the funny side!

Caitlin
Community Manager

You’d have to be living under a rock to not know about the recent flurry of celebrity babies. The Kidman/Urbans, Jolie/Pitts, Alves/McConaugheys all welcomed tiny bundles of joy into the world over the last week. With these genetically blessed offspring however, come some very unusual names. Sunday Rose (aka Sunday Roast) has certainly caused much debate, as I’m sure the names Vivienne Marcheline and Knox Leon will in coming days (in particular, what is their obsession with male names ending in X?). Matthew McConaughey and Camila Alves have gone with the biblical name of Levi that is currently going through a trend revival.

It isn’t just celebrities that love unusual names. Many Mums and Dads-to-be turn to the Answers community when deciding on their favourite baby names, finding out whether a first name works best with a middle name etc…  It’s this kind of honest third party advice that many people can’t get from friends and family but can find in at Yahoo!7 Answers. Pretty much every name from Arcadia to Zedekiah Zachary has been discussed and I’m sure many a parent has found their ideal name from trolling through the endless suggestions on Answers.

Although Sunday, Shiloh and Suri began life with an über trendy name, there are many celebrities that didn’t feel their name stood out enough. For example, Sting’s parents didn’t name him that because he was a particularly painful child, instead he chose it in adult life because he had a penchant for a particular black and yellow striped top. He was actually christened ‘Gordon Sumner’.

These sorts of stage names have been particularly popular with many famous artists. Alice Cooper doesn’t seem so hardcore when you think of him as ‘Vincent Damon Furnier’ and the name ‘John Francis Bongiovi’ doesn’t get my heart racing quite as much as Jon Bon Jovi. Obviously Gordon, Vincent and John felt they’d make a better impact in the rock world with punchier, more unusual names. It makes you wonder though, how much of an impact does our name make on our lives? Does the name of person really make or break them?

With their celebrated genes and unusual names, our favourite superstar offspring are already destined to make an impact on the entertainment industry in years to come. Or perhaps they’ve gone too far – will we soon see Gwyneth Paltrow’s daughter Apple requesting to be called Anne, Michael Hutchence and Paula Yates’s daughter Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily opting for Helen and Spike Lee’s daughter Satchel asking to be known as Sarah? Well, stranger things have happened!

Caitlin
Community Manager

Some of you have reported issues when receiving e-mail notifications from your network activity. We are aware of this and are working to fix it. While we are at work, here is another way of checking what your Answers buddies are doing:

1. Go to Yahoo!7 Answers

2. Log in using your Yahoo!7 Answers ID & password

3. Under the Best of Answers module, you will see the Activity of your Network

4. Click on ‘My Network’s Q&A’

5. You’ll be taken to a page where you will see all your friend’s questions, answers and starred questions.

 Please let us know if you need further clarification

Caitlin
Community Manager

Have you noticed something new when you visit the homepage of Yahoo!7 Answers? Are you seeing more questions about meat pies, Aussie Rules and all things True Blue? You may or may not have noticed, but Yahoo!7 Answers has made a small change to help to bring all the local content to the surface so you find the most relevant information at the click of a mouse.

Previously when you visited Yahoo!7 Answers, the default setting was to display questions from all English speaking users. This meant that often you would see questions from Americans about 4th July fireworks, from Brits asking where to find decent wet weather gear and from the Canadians asking about (or aboot) bears on the Yukon.

We have recently changed the default setting so now only questions from Australian users are shown up when you enter Yahoo!7 Answers. We decided upon this change to give a better experience to you, our loyal users. We want you to immediately be able to see more local content and be able to answer the questions that are most relevant to you.

If you want to see questions from overseas, you can easily change back to all English questions. Simply go to the drop down box on the bottom left below the menu, click on it and select ‘All English questions’ instead of ‘Australian questions only’ (see the bottom image for a screenshot). Voila, you’ll be able to see all the English speaking international content once again. It doesn’t affect who sees your questions – they can still be seen by Answers users all over the world so for non Australia specific questions, you’ll still receive plentiful advice with an international flavour to it.

We think is going to make the experience on Yahoo!7 Answers even better. It’s a relief that now when you see a question about thongs, you know that they’re talking about the ones on your feet

Caitlin
Community Manager

Hi! I’m Caitlin, the new Yahoo!7 Answers Producer. I’m going to be continuing on the tradition of writing (hopefully) interesting and informative blogs to keep you up to date with all the happenings at Answers.

I’m a newbie at Yahoo!7, so of course have just gone through the exhausting process of job searching. To be honest, I quite like the initial stage of applying for new jobs. I love the feeling that anything is possible, that my dream job is just an application form away. Of course, then the real work starts and you have to update your resume and figure out how to write a good cover letter.

It’s always difficult to know how to approach job searching. You send off countless cover letters and CVs then half the time, you’ve forgotten what you’ve applied for. There are always a few special jobs that you think are perfect though and your heart beats quicker every time the phone rings in the hope that it might be them asking you for an interview. If they don’t call after a few days though, you wonder how long you should wait to follow up with a phone call after you email a resume.

Hopefully all that hard work on your resume and CV finally pays off and you get called up for a few interviews. Of course this brings with it another minefield of questions. What should you wear to create the best first impression but show that you’ll fit in to the culture of the company? Every field of work is different but sometimes there are some difficult questions that employers and recruitment agents like to ask so it’s helpful to think of a few answers you can give.

With so much great advice from the Answers community, searching for a new job doesn’t seem quite as daunting. To be honest though, I’m glad it’s all behind me and that I’ve found a job that looks to be both a challenge and an adventure. Wish me luck!

Caitlin
Community Manager

Welcome Caitlin…

I am very pleased to introduce the new Answers Community Manager, Caitlin. After returning from a stint working in the UK, Caitlin has joined the Australian Answers team to work on bringing you, the Answers community more of the things that you want and address your needs. She will also update you with the latest news of what we are up to and is on the lookout for new featured users. In her own words…

“Hi! I’m a Sydneysider born and bred, however as Alana mentioned, I spent the last 2 years working for Skype and Teachers TV in the UK. I also indulged in typical London pastimes of going to gigs, warming up in the pub and whingeing about the weather. I took full advantage of Easyjet’s cheap flights and did some cool things like playing golf in southern Estonia and going to the world’s first Pilsner brewery in Czech Republic. I love playing soccer, reading trashy novels and am really glad to be back with friends and family in sunnier climes. I’m very much looking forward to working on Yahoo!7 Answers with the community.”

No doubt you are all looking forward to reading her blog posts like I am and I encourage you to visit the blog regularly to see what Caitlin has to say.

Alana
Product Manager