Yahoo! Answers - Get Answers, Ask Questions, Find Information

Do you have a question that you can't find the answer to? Are you struggling to find something on the internet? Do you have a personal, professional or philosophical problem that you want solving?

Well, if you answered yes to any of those questions I have good news for you: Yahoo! Answers.

Yahoo! Answers is a great example of combining the knowledge of the masses and using it to provide answers to questions on a wide variety of subjects.

Or, to use the words on the Yahoo! Answers website, "Yahoo! Answers is a new way to find and share information. You can ask questions on any topic, get answers from real people, and share your insights and experience."

Basically, visitors to Yahoo! Answers can do one or more of the following:

* Ask questions - "Can't find it with search then ask"

* Answer questions - "Share knowledge, Help others, Earn points"

* Discover the best questions and answers

Note: you will need to register to be able to answer questions.

Whilst it is interesting to look for answers, it's even more fun to answer questions so registering is recommended.

Problem categories range from Arts & Humanities, Beauty & Style, Business & Finance through to Family & Relationships, Food & Drink, Society & Culture and Sports, and include everything in between such as Health, Science & Mathematics, Social Science and Travel.

And here are a short collection of typical questions chosen at random:

- Guess the song name?

- My mouse is not working?

- What is NOT a real number?

- How many feet are in a mile?

- Arnie Shwarzenneger cheesy lines - help please!

- Where is the cheapest place to buy memory for a 2ghz MacBook?

- I'm in love with my husband's best friend and am so confused.

What do I do?

- Is it normal to feel a little disappointed when you finally get the relationship you've been wanting?

I even found this question on there:

- What are the best ways of solving problems or finding answers?

And of course you will always find the classic question with the classic answer; i.e. what is the meaning of life? (And in case you don't know the answer to this question, it's 42! According to Douglas Adams and his many avid readers it is, anyway.)

Details are often added to the question to further explain the nature of the query. Though, clearly, some questions like 'how many feet are in a mile?' do not require this.

As you can see, there's a problem for almost everyone and several answers too, some more intriguing than the questions.

So what motivates the answerers?

Well, Yahoo! Answers has a points system where you are rewarded for providing the best answer as decided by the question asker (or by the votes of the people looking at the questions and answers if the asker can't be bothered to decide themselves). But it's not only about collecting points. Some answerers are genuinely interested in answering people's questions, or trying to help them solve their problems.

So, does Yahoo! Answers do what it says on the tin? Can you find good answers to your questions?

It depends, is the very short answer to that question. It depends a great deal on what type of question you're asking and on who happens to answer your question.

Some questions have real answers that can be researched - Yahoo! Answers encourages you to search for the answers and then provide a relevant reference - whilst other answers rely more on the experience or wisdom of the answerer.

Yahoo! states quite plainly at the bottom of the site that "Yahoo! does not evaluate or guarantee the accuracy of any Yahoo! Answers content".

Yahoo! Answers is becoming more and more popular. This means that the quality of answers is bound to improve.

Sometimes it doesn't matter how accurate the answers are; sometimes you just want to listen to other people's opinions. or other people's wit. For example, there are many questions like:

- Would you care to dance ...to the music in my head?

Yes, Yahoo! Answers can be a pointless waste of time! But only if you want it to be.

There are gems of information on yahoo! answers and Yahoo! are creating a fascinating resource of information and responses.

And, as Yahoo! Answers is a very popular site right now, you will get answers almost immediately you post your question.

So, can you solve your deep-seated problems using Yahoo! Answers?

Well, that is something only you can decide. Why not give it a go.