The Dangers of Using Yahoo Answers for Research

In case you didn t know, there is a website run by Yahoo where anyone can post a question and receive an answer. It s at answer.yahoo.com and a rather interesting place to spend some time. They have categories from business to travel, all sub-divided and quite specific. You become a member for free, pick a user name and password and you can either ask or answer a question. That being said, why am I wasting your time posting an article about it? Well, it s a wonderful social experiment. Ordinary people that need advice can put their question on the Internet and get an answer from a total stranger. You have no idea how smart that respondent

is and what are their qualifications.

For instance, there are many health questions. Now wouldn t your rather have a nurse or doctor answer something that important? Well, as the person answering, you can give your credentials, whether they are real or not. So a so-called attorney could say they are part of the law firm, of John Doe and Doe, Ltd, and they may, or may not, be telling the truth. Either way, they are offering you legal advice. The same is true for the doctor or travel agent. There are thousands of new questions daily and I suspect that many are asked and answered by children. How do I know? Here are a few clues.

Some actually tell

you that it s part of their homework assignment. So they ask complete strangers about US history, world events, science, or the arts. Then they can just cut and paste the answers (right or wrong) onto their word document. Their awful spelling is usually another giveaway. Add to that poor grammar and punctuation and you ve got a school-age child. That s also true for many of the answers. Some are flat out wrong! But Yahoo does no policing or reviewing so the incorrect answers get posted with the correct ones. It s then up to the asking member to award points. That s right, it s actually just a big game of points.

You get 2 points for replying to

a question, and 10 for being chosen the best answer. Some users have thousands of points. Then there are various levels to achieve based on the total number of points. You lose points for asking a question. There are little Avatars or pictures for the members and a place you can go to review your profile and look over previous questions and answers you ve posted. The problem with the entire site is credibility. Or rather, the lack of it.

Because of the point system, it draws lots of kids with far too much free time after school. Obviously, if I were a teacher, I would be vexed to know that my students were getting their homework off this site. But

the larger problem is that non-experts are giving expert opinions to people that may be trusting these answers. There are many good places to get accurate information. There are health sites for medical questions, legal and government sites for rules and laws and sites for just about any subject, run by professionals with real qualifications that are documented. For example, my wife and I run a health information site. She is an RN with a Master s degree, and I am a marketing expert with 2 degrees. If you want accurate health information, our site would be the one to choose for that alone. Besides the fact we also have the HON Code seal of approval from a reputable review site. But enough about us. This is just one example of a reputable site that has spent a lot of money to provide the public with competent and reliable information.

In summary, the point is that, anyone using the Yahoo Answers site, should be aware of the risks involved. It s like online dating or chat sites. The 30 year-old woman you are corresponding with could just as well be a 10 year-old boy. Sure it s a free site, but you get what you pay for. I would advise you to consult an expert for business and even personal issues that may affect you. It s you life and don t do anything that a stranger recommends without a second,

more expert, opinion. Remember, it s a jungle out there and there are many tabby cats out there posing as lions. Can you tell the mane difference?

Jeffrey Hauser was a sales consultant for the Bell System Yellow Pages for nearly 25 years. He graduated from Pratt Institute with a BFA in Advertising and has a Master’s Degree in teaching. He had his own advertising agency in Scottsdale, Arizona and ran a consulting and design firm, ABC Advertising. He has authored 6 books and a novel, “Pursuit of the Phoenix.” His latest book is, “Inside the Yellow Pages” which can be seen at his website, http://www.poweradbook.com. Currently, he is the Marketing Director for http://www.thenurseschoice.com a Health Information and Doctor

Referral site.