There's something very wrong about this. Yahoo is elevating some of its "Answers" to the status of headlines on its web portal. As you may or may not have already known, those "answers" are provided by users, and then the "best" answer is selected by the user who asked the question, sometimes seemingly without regard for any reasonable definition of "best" or even of "answer."
So how does Yahoo figure these "answers" should be headlines? Because it will help sell their product? It's difficult to think of a different answer. Maybe I'll ask on Yahoo "Answers."
UPDATE: I did ask on Yahoo Answers. Surprisingly, it wasn't removed immediately, which is what I expected to happen based on previous critical-of-the-whole-concept-of-Yahoo-Answers questions I've posted. But it was up for a couple of days before someone answered. Here's the answer (which I immediately chose as the best answer):
"Nope, I think you hit the nail right on the head. It's all blatant self-promotion."
I still expect it to be removed at any time.
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3 comments:
I think you hit the nail on the head. I had a link to an article from Slate.com about this on my blog back on Dec. 10th. It was titled "A Librarian's Worst Nightmare."
I remember reading that after seeing it on your blog, but I don't remember there being anything about this new idea of elevating any old crap on Yahoo Answers to the status of headlines. That's where they crossed a line, if you ask me - it's not just about the comparative value of information sources anymore, it's about manipulating people to use Yahoo Answers by being self-serving.
The implication is that any old crap they want to put up there is important if they say it is. Which I happen to not agree with.
I went back and re-read the article, and you're right - there isn't anything about this new phenomenon of elevating stuff to headline status (which I agree is crossing the line).
I will pass on a few damning quotes from that article though for people who may read your blog and not mine, or who didn't have time to read the whole article.
"...there's not a huge push to make sure the answers are right."
"Yahoo Answers is so frequently sloppy and innaccurate..."
"While Yahoo Answers and its peers are classified as reference tools, what they actually provide is social networking."
And finally, "the lesson that Yahoo Answers teaches is that, for millions of people on the web, it's less important to get a good answer than to get someone to listen to your question in the first place."
So, like you said, lots of crap. As dads of toddlers we're allowed and encouraged to use that word.
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