Yahoo!7 Answers Australia

I had some family time over the weekend and hung out with my little niece and nephew. They’re both at that age where they’re just old enough to play without worrying where Mum and Dad are. The older one is going through the ‘why’ phase and the younger one just wants to follow in her big brother’s footsteps.

I don’t see them very often so whenever I do, I like to take some good pictures of them. Getting good shots of kids (particularly toddlers) is quite the challenge. They pull some cute little face and by the time you’ve turned on the camera, zoomed in little and pressed the button, they’ve run off and all you’ve got is a blurred back in your photo.

I’ve got a fairly decent camera but it’s still an automatic one. I’ve had a bit of a look around Answers, and apparently if I really want to get good shots of the littles, I need a better camera. When Shannonwi14 asked which Sony camera was best for taking shots of kids, Elbert recommended choosing a camera with a small amount of shutter lag. He also said: “If you want almost instant shot to photo times, you should seriously look at DSLRs”. More

Hmm that advice seems to resonate around in other answers too. Internet dictionary says “SLR cameras are best for moving objects because with digital cameras u can adjust the shutter speed, iso and apperture hole for lighting purposes” More

I’ve always thought DSLRs might be too cumbersome for relaxed family photography although apparently if you can get one that is light and compact like the new Sony Alpha range, it’s just as easy to take family shots and you get a much better quality than with automatics.

Travel & Portrait photographer Ghada O Khunji has got some great tips for how us amateurs can take some great professional looking shots:

1. Don’t try to “steal” the image, befriend your subjects first and that’s when you get a true emotion from them
2. Don’t keep clicking away hoping to get the shot, be specific, look at the whole viewfinder and compose like you are painting on a canvas, a picture should not come out of a quantity of shots, but rather, from the quality of the few. More
   

To get some more photography tips check out the Yahoo!7 Photography page or visit the Photography sub-category on Answers.

Caitlin
Community Manager

If you’re remotely into Aussie sport, you can’t deny this weekend is going to be full on. The big one is the AFL Grand Final tomorrow afternoon.

It’s going to be a cracker of a match. St Kilda haven’t won a premiership since 1966 but have stormed through this competition with 19 wins out of 21. Geelong on the other hand came second on the table but have an illustrious reputation with 7 grand final wins under their belt.

So who will be the victors in this all Victorian final? Yahoo!7 Sport asked that question and has had some varied responses. Most people think that the Cats will win, some such as Marcus B think the margin will be as large as 47 points. Many are hoping for a Saints victory, because after all, 43 years is a long time to wait! It’s such a close race that some people are even considering a draw.

Of course, AFL isn’t the only game on the weekend. Western Sydneysiders are gearing up for a big grudge match in Homebush tonight – Parramatta Eels vs Canterbury Bulldogs. It seems like a pretty even match and the victor will be able to represent Sydney in the grand final next week.

Tomorrow night Melbourne Storm play the Brisbane Broncos in Melbourne. Although the Storm have a great record playing at home (they’ve only lost 5 times in the last 16 games in Melbourne) and are favourites to win, some Answers users are still backing the mighty Broncos.

So where will you be watching these big games? Do you watch your footy from the comfort of your couch or do you like the atmosphere at the pub? Perhaps you’re one of the lucky ones with tickets to the game?

Caitlin
Community Manager

I’m not sure if it is the economic crisis (people have more free time), because I’m getting older or because the seas are changing, but to me it looks like we’re in the middle of a new baby boom. A lot of people around me have had or are going to have kids soon: at work, among my friends, my family…

In fact, my sister is going to have a baby in three months and she’s starting to get everything prepared. I’ve been taking more interest in the Pregnancy & Parenting and Education categories to find out more about what she’s going through. I have to admit that it’s a much more complex world than what I first thought. For a start, as soon as you get pregnant everything becomes unclear: can you change your hair colour? what cheeses can you eat? can you keep your exercise routine?

Thanks to my sister and the Yahoo!7 Answers community I have discovered that most of these questions don’t actually have a yes/no answer (for example, you can eat almost anything as long as it is cooked,  you can practice certain sports like swimming or yoga, but you need to be careful with contact sports).

Getting ready for the baby also isn’t easy. Which stroller should I buy? is a common question, and now I understand why. Last week I went to buy one with my sister and it’s really hard to choose between a wide range of functionalities, features and colours! There are so many things to plan, from how to budget for a baby to what sort of things do you need to take to the hospital when the big day comes?

Then once you get the baby home, it’s a whole other ball game. How do you dress a baby? (it’s still hard for me to picture myself doing it some day) and how do you change a nappy? Once they get a little bit older, you’ve got to think about what food to give them, how to teach them to speak,  and how to entertain toddlers on a daily basis. I am sure that some of the tips will help first-time parents.

Now, here is my question (I’m sure my sister, among others, will be thankful for your responses!): What are your tips for first-time parents? Share your tricks to save money, how to make your baby sleep and what are the best techniques to relax after a hard day?

Share your knowledge!

This post is from our Guest Blogger – Silvia, the Spanish Yahoo! Answers Community Manager

It happens sometimes. You post a question and get no answer or you just can’t find that ‘best answer’.  Here’s a quick reminder of how you can save points while getting the best out of your questions:

• Once your question is open for business, you can always add details. Just hover your mouse over the ‘edit’ section under your question to add details.
• Instead of asking the same question again, why not to give the community more time to answer? You have the option to extend the expiration of your question by three days- plenty of time to increase your chance at getting the answer you are looking for. Since your question is initially given four days to be resolved, extending it means seven days to get an answer. At the end of the seven days, you will either have to pick a best answer or put your question up for voting. You will not be able to extend it any further.

• If your question does not get an answer and expires, it will disappear. If this happens, you can try looking through answers for a similar question that was resolved or you can post your question again. However, think before asking again: did you give enough details? Was the question written clearly? Try to give as many hints as possible to your potential answerers!
• And finally, a tip for a super question: pick the best answer. It’s a great way to reward that person who took some time to give you a brilliant answer to your question… Who doesn’t love a bit of an ego boost from time to time

The Yahoo!7 Answers Team

Did you have a dream career when you were a kid? Perhaps it was to be a fireman and drive around in one of those big, red trucks. Maybe you wanted to be a teacher just like your favourite at school. Or maybe you idolised Madonna and wanted to be a singer just like her.

When you get a bit older you might realise that being a fireman is all about physical hard work and not necessarily just about driving around in a cool truck. Or perhaps you decide you’re not patient enough to be a teacher and start to understand that only very few singers actually make a living from the music business.

Luke Mitchell’s childhood dreams were definitely a polar opposite to his adult reality. Growing up, this Home and Away star wanted to be a professional tennis player but as time went by he realised he didn’t want to do that anymore. Now, he’s just joined the hit Aussie soap to play ‘Romeo Smith’.

How about you? Did you have a childhood dream that’s completely different to your adult reality? Luke is asking you, the Yahoo!7 Answers community, what did you want to do when you were growing up and how does that compare to what you’re doing now? Tell us in the comments section below.

We’ve got Luke asking the question below on video! Luke Mitchell from Home and Away asks a question @ Yahoo!7 Video

So tell us, what did you want to do when you were growing up? How does that compare to now?

Caitlin
Community Manager

We have some planned maintenance scheduled at 2pm AEST on Saturday 19th September. The outage will last 7 hours and during this time Answers will be unavailable.

Don’t worry though, there are heaps of other things to do on Yahoo!7 to fill your time!

• Check out these awesome videos of DJ Anna Lunoe mixing it up in Darwin.
• Get a bit nosey and find out what your neighbours paid for their house.
• Check out vacant jobs in your industry.
• Get some photography tips from award winning photographers.
• Bake something chocolatey with a recipe from Yahoo!7 Food
• After that you might need to find your local gym at Yahoo!7 Local

We appreciate your patience while we complete this vital maintenance.

Yahoo!7 Answers team

With companies encouraging us to reduce our annual leave and all these cheap travel deals around, it seems everyone is taking advantage and going off on a holiday.

I’m particularly interested in getting away from it all – leaving the city and seeing the natural wildlife in all its glory. One of the most beautiful, natural areas of Australia is the Northern Territory and currently the Tourism Northern Territory is doing a big push on getting people to visit this area. I’d love to capture one of those wonderful moments you see pictures of – a sunset over Uluru, the raw naked landscape, a crocodile jumping out of the water to be fed. Doing a driving trip like from Cairns to Darwin or Perth to Darwin would be intriguing – what a way to see our country!

One of my favourite holiday moments

Bargain flights to exotic locations aren’t just limited to domestic carriers. It’s getting very cheap fly to the USA and having watched Stephen Fry’s current ABC documentary where he travels through each of the 52 states, I’ve been very inspired to take a trip across the Pacific. I’m not interested in seeing the smog of LA or the sky scrapers of NYC though, I’d love to see some of the scenery in the centre of the continent. I’ve visited The Rockies in Canada before and jumping into a glacier lake was one of my all-time favourite holiday moments (I even captured it on camera). Apparently the Rockies on the US side is just as spectacular – particularly near the continental divide in Wyoming. Although if you really want to get back to nature, Alaska is your state. Whitewater rafting, fishing, hiking and cruises around the glaciers, it sounds like a perfect holiday.

Have you had a holiday like these above? Perhaps you’d like to tell us about it? Sony Alpha wants to know: What’s the most memorable holiday moment you’ve captured on camera?

I think it’s about time that I head to Yahoo!7 Travel to start researching my next adventure!

Caitlin
Community Manager

It’s that time of the year. The sun finally makes its way into your garden/house and you look around and think, what a mess! Whether it’s kitchen cupboards that need a good cleanout, the kids’ room that is dying for a scrub or the garden than needs some love and care, it’s time for a spring clean.

The first job that needs my attention is the garden. For the last month I’ve looked desolately as the weeds creep through the beds and thought to myself, when it’s warmer, I’ll tend to that… Well this weekend’s forecast is sunny with temperatures in the late 20s, so I have no more excuses. It’s time to attack the garden!

Only problem is, I have no idea where to start. Apparently you don’t have to be born with a green thumb to grow a garden, so it’s time to turn my little patch of dirt into a horticulturalalist’s delight. Ok in all honesty, I’d just be happy with a garden that grows.

First step is removing the weeds then according to doubleg2006, I should work the dirt then go and buy some fertiliser and top soil.

After you have pulled out all the weeds and flowers first till the dirt till you get it all loosen up, now next add the top soil and the fertiliser and mix them together with the existing dirt and oh don’t forget to water after you have tilled all the top soil and fertiliser to keep the order down. More

Right! So I’ve got a fresh bed ready for some planting. But what should I get? Considering my record with killing plants, I probably shouldn’t be too ambitious. Sheltie has some great advice:

Your best ‘rule of thumb’ here is to look around locally and see what the council grows in their nature strips, parks etc. plus what plants schools have growing as well.  Some plants used are varieties of bottle brush, westringia, grevillias, gazanias, kangaroo paw, marigold, plumbago, geraniums. More

Australian natives are a good idea, they are obviously ideal for our hot Australian summers and don’t require too much water, very important with the drought. I should also consider plants that grow well in less sunlight as I have a south facing garden so it’s not very sunny in winter.

So once I’ve planted my seedlings, watered them, it’s apparently time to add the mulch. Forgive my ignorance, but why do we need it? Julie’s got a good answer:

Mulch does several things.. it helps control erosion (splashing and runoff of soil in heavy rains). It helps balance moisture in garden beds. The sun can’t bake the soil when mulch is shading it. Mulch, as it decomposes adds organic value to soil and it provides a uniform, finished look in garden beds. It really doesn’t do anything to cut back on bugs. More

Alright I think ready to garden. Do you have any more advice for me before I pull on my overalls and grab my shovel and fork?

Caitlin
Community Manager

Over the last few days, we’ve been rolling out a new design to the category pages that should help you find the questions you care about more quickly.  Starting today, these changes will be a permanent feature in your Answers experience.

Here are some of the changes that we have made:

• Easier Category Navigation: We’ve moved the list of categories and subcategories to the top of the page instead of listing down the left-hand side. This should make it easier for you to move to a different category without needing to scroll down the page.
• More Space on the Page: Just like we did with the question page last year, we wanted to offer you more space in the category page by moving to a wider page design which is optimised for a higher screen resolution.
• A Leaderboard: Who doesn’t want to be famous?  The right-hand side of the page now lists the top 10 answerers for the category or subcategory you are browsing.  We wanted to give more prominence not only to the category leader, but to rest of the top contributing answerers as well.
• More Prominent Question List:  You visit the category page to look for questions to answer, right?  We’ve made the question list wider and more visible to help you get your answers in there faster.
• Sort by “Most Popular” Questions – We’ve added a “most popular” sort filter on the sidebar so you can see what the community is most interested in with just one click.
• Sticky Question Tabs – Open, resolved, and in voting tabs are now “sticky,” meaning that as you move between categories, your tab choice will persist for the session even as you vote for questions in different categories.

We’re always looking for ways to make it easier for you to use and participate in Answers, and we hope these changes continue to help you find the questions that may be most interesting to you.

As always (but especially when we change stuff on Answers) we would love to know what you think. So why don’t you check out the new category page and leave us a comment with your feedback?

Yahoo!7 Answers Team

A month ago, we presented a blog outlining the five golden rules to follow when asking questions on Answers. After receiving good feedback the community and based on your suggestions, we have decided to outline the five golden rules about answering questions. After all, what would a great question be without a great answer? Here are the rules to ensure quality answers to help improve the site’s content.

1. Remember that you are answering to help the asker: Don’t answer just for the sake of getting points or to advertise your own questions to the community. If you don’t know the answer, skip to a question you may be more knowledgeable about. And remember, we now have suggested questions for active users. These are questions that will automatically appear on your homepage. If you want to learn more about this feature, click here.
2. Be polite and respectful: No one likes to be ridiculed and insulted. If you don’t agree with the question, offer your point of view in a constructive and respectful way. Answers is a diverse community where everyone is entitled to their own opinion. If you feel that a question or answer violates the community guidelines, report it. Learn more about the reporting system here.
3. Use correct spelling: Avoid SMS language and grammatical errors. An answer filled with spelling mistakes and typos is confusing and doesn’t improve the Answers quality. The more understandable your answer is, the higher the chance it will be chosen as Best Answer or make an impression on someone else.
4. Be relevant: Don’t digress or change the subject when answering a question. Give a concise answer that sticks to the point.
5. Link to existing sources that have the answer to the question: If you know an excellent website or book that might help, mention it – as long as it’s not spam of course. Also cite your sources, they are always helpful if anyone wants more information.

If you want to know more, don’t hesitate to visit our community guidelines and our help pages. Feel free also to share with the community some good questions or answers that you found on the site in your comments to this post.

Yahoo!7 Answers Team