Yahoo!7 Answers Blog Australia

The migration to the new Yahoo!7 profile platform is almost complete for Answers and we understand some of you are concerned about certain changes. Rest assured, as we are always working on improvements, your feedback is very important hence we would like to address some of the issues you have raised over the past weeks.

What if I want a different image for Answers?
Remember, you can change your profile image whenever you want. Feel free to post a different profile picture so you don’t feel like you are always displaying the same image. Also, don’t forget you can also use an avatar on Answers. We have many cool avatars that can be personalised to reflect your individuality (check them out here: http://au.avatars.yahoo.com). As mentioned before, for those of you who display an avatar on Answers, both avatar and nickname will continue to remain the same.

What about resizing my image?
You’ve also noticed images have to be cropped in your Yahoo!7 profile. If you’re worried about losing part of the image, why not choose one with a large background? This way, the square cropping required in your Yahoo!7 profile will have a minimal effect.

In other words, the same image I display on Answers will also appear in places like Flickr?
Your universal profile on Yahoo!7 is gradually being rolled out in phases, so there are currently a few properties (including Flickr, MyBlogLog, Messenger, etc.) that do not use profiles at this time. The profiles team is working closely with each of the other Yahoo!7 properties to create a smooth transition to the new profiles service. We know that you value your experiences on Yahoo!7 and want to make sure that the integrity of these sites (and your membership) is maintained, which is why this process has been done gradually instead of all at once.

Please continue to share your constructive feedback with us, as we know the only way for us to improve these services is with your help.

It’s a pretty exciting night for Australians. Earth Hour began in Sydney as an initiative by the City of Sydney Council and now it’s a huge global event with over 50 million people taking part last year. This year, they’re aiming for 1 billion people, which is a huge goal but if we all do our bit we can help make a difference.

Got some questions about Earth Hour? We’ve got the Answers!

What’s the point of Earth Hour?

It only exists to raise awareness of energy usage and the benefits of conservation. In reality, it does nothing in the way of actually significant energy usage reduction…

The hope of the creators is that this event will get people thinking about their energy choices the entire year. More

What should I do about Earth Hour as I have an event planned?

Perhaps you could incorporate it by turning out main lights in the hall for one minute. I probably wouldn’t turn them all out because who knows what might happen. Or perhaps you could set up a donation jar at the entrance and then donate the money to WWF, which is the organisation who organised Earth Hour. Have fun! More

How does wasting energy promote global warming?

Well, first of all, one of the main gases that cause global warming is carbon dioxide.

By saving energy, the power station that generates electricity to power your house doesn’t have to generate as much energy. Currently, the main method of generating energy is to burn coal, which produces a lot of carbon dioxide.

So, in short, we save energy –> power station doesn’t need to generate a lot of energy –> power station doesn’t need to burn too much coal –> less carbon dioxide is given off –> less carbon dioxide means slower global warming. More

Need more of a reason to join the cause? Check out this video from the organisers.

How about you, how will you be spending Earth Hour tomorrow night?

We had our pub trivia evening last night and it was a great event enjoyed by all. We indulged in the tasty delights of the Rag & Famish kitchen (and a few refreshing bevies) before getting stuck into the real fun of the night – trivia.

We felt compelled to obey the instructions on our limited edition beer coasters and put away our iPhones & blackberries for the evening, focusing only on our intellect for the Answers.

We got off to a good start – we knew the name of Martin Crane’s dog in Frasier and we worked out that a picture of a woman with a lion tattoo on the back of her neck was Mena Suvari from American Beauty. We totally rocked the questions about 90s fads, such as what was the Japanese toy that looked like an egg? and what was the furry toy that you train to do things such as speak English?

However there were a few topics that we were particularly lacking in expertise. Did you know that Russell Crowe’s character in Gladiators was called Maximus Decimus Meridius? We didn’t! We also didn’t know that the Volga River is the longest in Europe (who said the Danube??!) and we didn’t know that the city in the famous expression ‘See this city and then die’ was referring to Naples.

Despite these mistakes, we came a respectable fourth. We had a great time distributing our coasters and meeting the community members. Everyone who attended received some of our limited edition coasters and a lovely Yahoo! hat.

We got some great feedback but for those of you who couldn’t make it, what would you have liked to ask us or tell us to help make your Answers experience better? We’ll send some Yahoo!7 Answers coasters to the best 3 suggestions!

Caitlin
Community Manager

We’re always working on improvements and new features to ensure you, the community, get the most out of Yahoo!7 Answers. Today is no different.

We have recently introduced a new “Suggested Questions” module on the Yahoo!7 Answers homepage. Some of you have told us that it can be time consuming to find questions that match your interests. You also told us that one of the things you love about Yahoo!7 Answers is when an expert in the field finds your question and gives you an amazing answer. So, we looked for a smart way to present questions to the most relevant answerers.

With this new feature, Yahoo!7 Answers users will be able to see questions that are better suited to their interests and areas of expertise, rather than just those most recently posted. And, while it will only appear for some of our most active members, we think it can positively impact our whole community by helping improve both the quality and speed of answers on the site.

The suggestions are based on your most recent activity on Yahoo!7 Answers. For example: if you recently answered many questions related to a specific make or model of mobile phone, it is most likely that you will get more suggested questions related to this subject matter. It’s that easy.

You’ll find Suggested Questions displayed on the homepage of Yahoo!7 Answers as well as on the confirmation page after you have asked or answered a question.

If you aren’t seeing the module, don’t fret. For now, only Yahoo!7 Answers users with a significant amount of activity around a topic will receive suggested questions, but the more active you are on Yahoo!7 Answers, the easier it will be for us to know what you are passionate and knowledgeable about.  Once we know this, it will enable us to present you with questions that best match your interests, too.

As always, we want to give you as much control as possible, so you can modify your profile settings if you want to receive a different number of Suggested Questions. Alternatively, if you prefer to only see the most recent questions, you can opt-out of Suggested Questions completely (if you change your mind, you can re-activate this feature). Simply, edit your profile and untick the “Suggest me questions based upon my activity” option.

Remember that we need you to be active on a topic for a certain time to start offering you suggested questions.

And, of course, these questions are private: only you will see the questions related to your activity. So, what are you waiting for? Check out your Yahoo!7 Answers homepage and enjoy the new shortcut to share your knowledge.

Please visit our help pages for more information on suggested questions. http://help.yahoo.com/l/au/yahoo7/answers/content/

As you’re a Yahoo!7 Answers regular, you’re probably one of those people who love learning new things and testing your random knowledge. So if you’re anything like us, you love a good old pub trivia night. What could be better? Jugs of beers, companionship and some curly questions like who was the first man on Mount Everest’s peak? and who came up with the arrangement of numbers and symbols on a computer keyboard?

So if you’re in Sydney, we’re inviting you to come and play pub trivia with us, the Yahoo!7 Answers team. We will be at the Rag & Famish hotel in North Sydney next Tuesday night 24th March to see if we’ve learnt anything from years of working at Answers.

As an additional bonus, we’ll be giving away our limited edition Yahoo!7 Answers beer coasters as well.

So come and join our team or bring some mates and compete against us. Imagine the kudos of beating the Answers team!  We’ll be in purple Yahoo! caps, not unlike these ones our avatars are wearing!

Details: 7:30pm Tuesday 24th March 2009
Rag & Famish Hotel
199 Miller Street
North Sydney NSW 2060

Hope to see you there!

Caitlin & Alana

Following last week’s announcement, the transition to the new Yahoo!7 Profiles is now taking place on Answers. You will start noticing changes in your options.

What does this mean? From now on,  instead of importing your image display from Yahoo!7 360, Answers will use the image from your Yahoo!7 Profile. For those who like to have different images, keep in mind that in the future only one image will be displayed in all of Yahoo!7 Services. 360 users should update their image and make sure they keep the one they want.

To ensure that the image you want to show on Answers is the right one, we recommend you go to http://profiles.yahoo.com now and activate your new profile. Once you’re there, you’ll be asked to verify some information that you’ve previously shared with Yahoo!7, and to select the image you’d like to share with the Answers community.

If you have never used other Yahoo!7 services and haven’t activated your profile yet, your image will show up as the “Grey Face.”

For those of you who display an Avatar on Answers – don’t worry. This won’t change.

Both Avatars and nicknames will continue to remain the same on Answers.

Have more questions? Leave us a comment and let us know!

Around the middle of March each year, many of us put on our favourite green outfits, find a new taste for dark stout beer and practise our bad Irish accents with phrases such as ‘Top o’ the morning to ya‘.

Yep it’s almost St Patrick’s Day, the day of celebration for Ireland’s patron saint. Both in and out of the Emerald Isle, St Patrick’s Day is a popular event that is celebrated by many, regardless of their heritage. It’s funny though, no other country in the world commands such a party. For example, England’s patron saint is St George but you’d never think of heading to the local English pub for a pint of ale on St George’s Day, would you? That is, if you even knew when St George’s Day was… Why is that? According to Christine:

When mass emigration occurred in the 19th century, the Irish stuck together and built up communities, like the Italians, Greeks etc, whereas the British did not for some reason. So its natural in a foreign land that large ethnic communities would keep their traditions alive more so than others. More

St Patrick’s Day is particularly popular in America, where many are descendents of the Irish. In fact, in Chicago, they even dye the river green to celebrate (see the picture to the right).

They use a vegetable-based dye that is harmless to fish. The powder actually starts out orange and then turn green when it’s mixed in the water. More

The Americans seem to have taken St Patrick’s on as their own and many Irish say they don’t even celebrate the day in the same fashion as the rest of the world:

We don’t dye our rivers green or drink green beer, we don’t sit down to a feast of cabbage and corned beef, or go around pinching someone who isn’t wearing green. These are all American customs. In Ireland, the older folks go to mass, the rest of us celebrate with the Patrick’s Day festival, which lasts for 5 days. On the day itself, we go to the parade, then hit the pub and dance the night away. Check out www.stpatricksday.ie and see all that goes on over the week. More

Who is this St Patrick anyway? There must be more to the day than drinking Guinness and wearing green.

St. Patrick was an Englishman who was taken prisoner by the Irish Pagans. He was returned to his family but God told him to go back and convert the Pagans. With help from God he returned and taught them about the Holy Trinity using a three leaf clover as an example. Thus, the clover is a universal sign for St. Patrick’s Day. More

How about you? Are you going to do anything special for St Patrick’s Day this year?

Caitlin
Community Manager

What a week. It’s been fairly dour these past few days, with discussions about Australia’s lowering employment rate, wild weather and even the sporting arena has been filled with controversy and speculation.

Many of us are hanging out for the tax stimulus payments to pay of various bills or buy that new washing machine, although some still seem unsure whether they qualify. Unemployment is up to 5.2% and there is huge debate over whether the government is doing a good enough job.

In the north of Australia, residents of Queensland were in the grip of Cyclone Hamish, wondering whether it would reach shore. Although in the end it weakened, it caused a fair amount of concern about how bad it could really get.

Considering the league hasn’t even started yet, it’s been a pretty big week in the world of NRL. There was plenty of controversy and fervent discussion over Brett Stewart’s suspension and whether he deserved it.

Dean W is on the compassionate side:

I feel for this guy in this case. I have been that pissed before. You wake up and ask the question “what happened last night?” Not being able to remember what happened is the worst feeling ever. This is still no excuse for his actions. In that kind of drunken state you are capable of anything and for that reason alone I believe he is guilty of TRYING to rape the girl. For the record 17 is legal. Not morally ethical but legal non the less.

Whereas Michelle J doesn’t think there should be any excuses.

Yes he should definitely be suspended until these issues are sorted out by the courts. These guy’s need to learn to account for their behaviour both on and off the field.

Well after this week, it’s probably time for some R&R! What’s your favourite way of relaxing to forget about your troubles?

Caitlin
Community Manager

I admit it, I’ve become totally addicted to Twitter in the last few weeks. I originally dismissed Twitter as an extension of the Facebook status update, but then I realised it’s so much more…

Need a debrief on what Twitter actually is?

Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length. Updates are displayed on the user’s profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. More

You see it’s more than just learning that your best friend had corn flakes for breakfast (although some are fascinated by that I’m sure). You can follow people you don’t know, which admittedly doesn’t sound that exciting, except when they’re people who have something to say. I’m talking about your favourite websites, companies and celebrities.

So why would celebrities want to be a part of twitter? According to Kristie:

It’s one way to communicate directly with their fans in a way that they know won’t be dispersed and misinterpreted by the press. The public are the reason they earn the mega bucks so they want to keep them happy. People like a celebrity who has the illusion of being open and friendly. More

Of course with celebrities you never know whether they’re the real deal or an impersonator. MrsKutcher for example?

As for websites, companies and politicians, it’s a brilliant way to find out updates from your favourite mediums. For example, you can keep up to date with the news from the people who are at the source, find out the latest stocks, get an update on what K-Rudd is doing then see what the girls at Famous Magazine have been up to.

And of course, you can sign up for our twitter feed – the YahooAnswersAU feed! You can find out the latest news from the Aussie Answers team as well as a few interesting things we stumble on along the way. Just go here and click follow. See you there!

Caitlin
Community Manager

Back in October, Yahoo!7 redesigned the core profile pages, giving them a fresh new look and feel, and additional functionality. These new profiles allow you to manage your image and establish connections with your friends and family, as well share information on what you’re up to on third-party sites like YouTube and Twitter.  All of this can be done right from your new profile on Yahoo!7 at http://profiles.yahoo.com

So how does this relate to Yahoo!7 Answers?  Currently, the image that displays for each user in Answers is brought in from each user’s 360 profile. In the coming weeks, Answers will start using profiles to display your image rather than 360.

Many of you use other Yahoo!7 services on a regular basis and we want to make it easier for you to manage your display image across all of our services.  By doing this, you’ll be able to update your profile image in one place and it will represent you wherever you go on the Yahoo!7 network.

We understand some of you opt to use a different image on Answers than what you use on other Yahoo!7 services. To confirm the image that we will soon be displaying on Answers we recommend that you go to http://profiles.yahoo.com now and activate your new profile. Once you’re there, you’ll be asked to confirm some information that you’ve previously shared with Yahoo!7 and select the image you’d like to share with the Answers community.

If you have never used other Yahoo!7 services and do not activate your profile, your image will show up as the “Grey Face”.

For those of you who display an avatar on Answers – don’t worry.  This won’t change.
Both avatars and nicknames will continue to remain the same on Answers.

We want to make the transition to your new profiles on Yahoo!7 as straight forward as possible for you. So go to http://profiles.yahoo.com now and let us know what you think of it!

Have more questions? Visit the Profiles blog or leave us a comment and let us know!