Yahoo!7 Answers Australia

I don’t know about you but I absolutely can’t wait for Spring. I’m looking forward to those first warm breezy days when all the flowers come out to bloom. I love that distinct spring smell and I really can’t wait for those lazy afternoons sitting in the sun drinking a cool glass of rosé.

I’ve found this winter has been particularly hard, as I (somewhat foolishly) chose May as a good month to move from the UK back to Oz. I am getting to the end of my almost year long winter and as a result, I’ve almost forgotten what hot weather feels like.

Spring in Australia starts on 1st September, but funnily enough it won’t be autumn for all countries in the northern hemisphere. According to Au T,

For countries such as the United States, the seasons are determined astrologically – and begin at the solstice and equinoxes. So spring begins when the days hit equal length then get longer, autumn when they hit equal length then get shorter etc. More

The beginning of spring means different things for us all. One of my favourite memories was hearing my Dad say this little ditty every year:

I checked its origin on Answers and it seems that not only are there extra verses, but there is much debate about who wrote it and what the actually words are.

For some around the world, there’s still lots of cold weather and snow in spring, while for others it’s synonymous with a stuffy nose and watery eyes, all the hallmarks of hayfever.

For many, Spring is an excuse to do a big Spring Clean and get into all the nooks and crannies that have been gathering dust for the past year. According to Kathij, spring is traditionally a good time for cleaning, because:

Typically people’s houses have been closed up for the autumn and winter months, and in the old days of candles and open fires everything was musty and dusty, so opening up the house to fresh air and giving everything a good cleaning was necessary. More

What are your favourite things about Spring?

Caitlin
Community Manager

On the homepage of Answers, we have a lovely box where we feature really good questions. It’s one of my favourite jobs actually – trawling through all the great questions and answers until I find some that I think the community would be interested in. Questions as varied as What is the flavour difference between shaken and stirred martinis? and How do you knit a blanket? have been featured in the last week.

We prefer to choose a Feature Question that has an avatar. It can either be a Yahoo!7 Avatar or a 360 picture, it doesn’t matter which. Simply put, having an avatar just looks better. It makes the question stand out and gives an identity to the questioner/answerer.

You’ve got to admit – how much nicer does this look:

compared to this:

It’s beautiful! So how do you get one of these funky avatars, I hear you cry? Just follow these simple steps:

1. Log in

2. Go to your profile page.

3. Click on Edit my Info.

4. Next to the ‘Picture’ header, choose your Yahoo!7 360 photo, or ‘Edit your Avatar’. And if you don’t have an avatar, but would like to, you can create one immediately!

So play around with the Avatar tool and create a whole new look for yourself. Ever wondered how you’d look with blue eyes? Or as a red head? Or wearing a crazy Galactic Emporer costume? Wonder no more!

Caitlin
Community Manager

I’ve been quite overwhelmed by the response from a recent sponsored question we featured about charity. Specifically, ‘What is the one thing you see in the world that leaves you so saddened you want to do something about it?’ We got well over 400 responses ranging from being saddened by poverty in third world countries to animal cruelty to genocide.
One of them was MADDIE, who had an interesting point:

I think it’s ridiculous that there are obscenely rich people in the world trying to venture into space when half the population didn’t eat anything today.

While Edxr641 was more concerned about people at home:

What saddens me the most is when I look around my own country, and my own suburb, and see people addicted to drugs, living on the streets, stealing to survive, etc and we, as a country send more money off shore than we do to help the poor in our own country.

With so many of us who have expressed our sadness about various things that go on in the world, it makes me realise how much compassion is out there.

Although it would be lovely to wait until we win lotto to make that huge donation, the fact is most of our numbers won’t come up (although I’ll still be buying the tickets just in case )

Some of us have already decided to make a difference, such as Quiet.Buck, who said:

People die every day so my SUV gets gas, so my butt gets moved from point A to point B for my own selfish reasons. In turn… I have closed down my automotive company, I have given up my Porsche, condo and 90% of my material items so far (still selling). And I am looking to now move into the woods and live as one with nature…

|S| had a great idea about incorporating giving charity while having a fun evening with her friends.

Last week, I decided to donate money to the next charity I saw. It just so happened to be Daffodil Day, the major fundraiser of the Cancer Council. I bought a few bouquets of gorgeous blooms, then gave them to a friend who was feeling a bit down. Talk about hitting two birds with one stone!

With all the sadness in the world, I think we all need to make sure we do things that will make a little difference to someone’s life. It might be donating to a favourite charity, or carrying an elderly neighbour’s heavy shopping bags home from the bus stop. Whatever it is, it’ll make this hectic, frazzled world of ours a better place. What charitable thing are you going to do this week?

Caitlin
Community Manager

It’s something most of us on Answers have experienced. You submit a question to the Answers community about something that is really puzzling you, or something that your friends can’t answer. Within about 10 minutes, you find that there are multiple well written, succinct responses explaining the answer to your particular query and your thirst for knowledge is satiated.

Thinking how well it went that time, you submit another question and excitedly log back on a while later. What do you find? Nothing. Tumbleweeds. Your question is sitting desolately above a little phrase saying ‘Be the first to answer this question.’

According to Answers user Scotty G, the way you phrase the question and the further information you provide has a lot of do with the quality of the answers you receive. He even compiled a top ten list of ways to get good answers on Answers and sent them to American tech blogger Chris Pirillo. Chris was so impressed, he featured them on his video blog.

We’re well into the 29th Olympic Games, this year being held in Beijing, China.

Personally, one of the things that most fascinates me about the Olympics is the country it’s held in. I tend to watch all those specials about the exotic location and end up planning future trips around those countries. No surprise then, that China is the latest on my travelling wish list. Chances are I won’t get there for some time, but a little dreaming never hurt anyone, right?

One of the most interesting things about China is the Great Wall. Contrary to a recent television advertisement, the Great Wall of China wasn’t built to “keep the rabbits out, there were too many rabbits in China”. It was actually built as a defensive structure against the northern neighbours, and between 2 and 3 million men died building it over the years. It also has been said that it’s the only man made structure that can be seen from space, a theory that is actually debatable.

Doing a little research, I learnt that the Forbidden City in Beijing was the imperial home of the 24 emperors of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties used to live, so was forbidden to ordinary people. These emperors used to visit the Heaven of China to pray and the Summer Palace during the warmer months, all of which look like definite must sees.

China isn’t, of course, just Beijing. Aileen HK recommends quite a few cities in China, including Shanghai, Hangzhou and Zhou Zhuang. She even provides a handy itinerary and highlights of what you can see in each place, with advice such as:

Shanghai – Go to Shanghai Museum + Sex Museum (900 numbers of exhibits there and some are 5000 – 6000 years old, this museum is the only one of the kind within the whole China), afternoon tea in any modern/contemporary area or traditional Shanghai tea house, drinks/clubbing in Xin Tian Di. More

The time of the year you visit China is really important as such a big country has vastly different climates, ranging from the tropics to snowy mountain peaks. CYM recommends:

For the southern part like Quangzhou, Guilin and Yunnan, the best time would be March/April or September/October. If Shanghai and Hangzhou are your destinations, go in April or October or early November as it isn’t that warm then. Personally, I like to travel in late spring(long daylight hours) or autumn as the weather isn’t hot. More

Wow, what great advice. Who else has been inspired to visit China since watching the games?

Caitlin
Community Manager

You may remember a few months ago, we announced that we had changed the default setting of Yahoo!7 Answers to display just ‘Australian questions only’. While this didn’t affect the number of people from seeing your question, only decreasing the number of questions you saw from international users, there was an overwhelming response from those who commented on the blog.

You said you enjoyed seeing more questions in some of the smaller populated categories. We read your comments and after much deliberation we made the decision to change Australian Answers back to default ‘All English Questions’, just like it was before.

This doesn’t mean you can’t change back to seeing only Australian content. If you liked seeing just the Australian questions (and many of you did) you simply have to go to the drop down box on the bottom left below the menu, click on it and select ‘Australian questions only’ instead of ‘All English questions’. This will display all questions that were posted on the Yahoo!7 Answers site as opposed to other international sites. You can even go back and forth between the two, depending on what category you’re in . The choice is yours.

Thanks for providing us with your valuable feedback.

Caitlin
Community Manager

If knowledge could be weighed, you would find tonnes on Answers. For that reason, we recommend you to double check if the Answer you’re looking for is not there already…

How? That’s easy: use the Search Box.

You can do a simple search (just enter the search terms on the box and hit Search), or an Advanced one, which will allow you to select certain parameters:

• You can filter out certain words.
• You can search these terms on the question, on the best Answers or everywhere.
• You can choose the category or subcategory
• Filter by country
• And can select the questions status (resolved, undecided or open). This can be useful not only if you are looking for something, but also if you want to answer questions on a certain topic).
• Finally, you can also select the timeframe in which the question was posted.

Hope this helps you find exactly what you’re looking for!

Caitlin
Community Manager

Yes it’s that time again, the Olympics is back, bigger and better than ever. Beijing 2008 so far has been all about controversy: we’ve heard all about Tibet, the potential for terrorist attacks and the amount of pollution settled over the Olympic city. With only hours until the Opening Ceremony, it’s time to forget about the negatives and focus on the positives, like that fact that we have an amazing Australian sporting contingent and that the time difference is so minimal, we don’t have to stay up all night to watch our favourite events.

Need a refresher course on what it’s all about?

What do the five rings of the Olympics stand for?

The Olympic rings represent the union of the areas – the Americas, Africa, Asia, Oceania and Europe. The colours were chosen because at least one of these colours is found in the flag of every nation. More

Where did the word ‘Olympic’ first come from?

From the Greeks. Named after Mount Olympus where the gods were and hence the first Greek Olympian games were invented. Covering wrestling, running marathons, disk throwing and many other sports. More

How many sports are there in the Olympics?

There are 28 sports to choose from this Olympics. More

How many athletes are competing in these Olympics?

Approximately 10,500 from 205 nations. More

What does the Beijing 2008 logo stand for?

The official emblem of Beijing 2008 entitled “Chinese Seal-Dancing Beijing” cleverly combines the Chinese seal and the art of calligraphy with sporting features, transforming the elements into a human figure running forward and embracing triumph.’ More

Phew, all full of facts yet? If you want to learn more, don’t forget to visit the Olympic Games category on Answers. Yahoo!7 is the Official Online Broadcaster of Beijing 2008, so for all the latest news and results, check out http://yahoo7.com.au/olympics

Go Aussie!

Caitlin
Community Manager

Many Yahoo!7 Answers Top Contributors have very specific areas of expertise and this week’s featured user is no different. Asher3620’s favourite topic is piercing and she spends most of her time on Answers searching for open questions in order to dispense her advice.

Asher3620 notes there isn’t actually a piercing section so she contributes to a broad range of categories. Sometimes she finds it under areas like Fashion, First Aid or Pain Management however most of the questions are in the Skin and Body part of Beauty and Style, which is where Asher3620 enjoys Top Contributor status.

There isn’t an area of piercing that Asher3620 shies away from. Whether it’s tongue piercing, nose piercing, eyebrow piercing, nipple piercing and even areas that you never thought could get pierced, she has advice in spades.  Asher3620 is so popular with her informative, detailed and well written answers that she has 60% best answer rating. Her knowledge comes from working as a Body Piercing Apprentice in an award winning tattoo shop, and also from working in a teen retail store.

Asher3620 has also been active in areas of women’s health, hairstyles, music, and tattoos. Her favourite part of Answers is when the asker choosers ‘Best Answer’ and leaves their feedback. She says: ‘I really enjoy those few words of feedback that let you know you’ve made a difference in someone’s day and answered a question they were really interested in. True it may be a question that could have easily been solved with a two second internet search or a search of Answers itself, but thanks to a few minutes of typing, someone has learned something new. That kind of interchange is what makes Answers so much fun on so many levels.’

From reading some of the feedback, it sounds like the people she has helped has certainly appreciated her wisdom!

Caitlin
Community Manager

PS If you’ve seen an answer that has impressed you as much as asher3620 impressed us and you think the Answerer deserves credit where credit is due, please email us on y_answrs_team_au@yahoo.com.au.

We have been listening to your feedback and have been working hard to keep improving Answers. One thing you may now notice is that we changed the Ask and Answer pages to incorporate tips to help you get the most out of Answers.

Now, when you ask or answer a question, you will see a yellow speech bubble giving you some tips on how to improve your questions and answers:

If there are any spelling mistakes (we all type too fast sometimes), you will be warned and, with help of the Spell Checker, be able to correct any mistakes.

Choose between Ignore or Change and then click Done when ready. This will make your questions and answers look tip top!

We will also warn you if your caps lock is on… in the Internet world, writing in capitals is often perceived as shouting and regarded as bad netiquette.

These are just a few of the tips we have for you. So what are you waiting for? Go discover them all and really make your answers shine!

For the experts amongst you who feel as though you don’t need any help, the tips can easily be closed.  You only need to click on the “x” on the top right of the speech bubble and they are gone.

Don’t forget to leave your comments about these tips – we love hearing from you!

Caitlin
Community Manager