Yahoo! Answers Blog Malaysia

(Flickr photo by lincolnose2)

There are always plenty of avid answerers just itching to tackle the new questions that are asked every minute of every hour of every day on Answers. It never ceases to amaze me how people are so willing to lend their time, knowledge and experience to help out their fellow man. And I’m impressed by the thoroughness that some members of the community put into their answers.

I also notice that some folks fire and forget. They are doing something online, then a thought strikes them and they log into Answers to post a question. The helpful answerers pounce all over it and in short order, the question has a stack of answers. But where did the asker go? Yes, it’s true, sometimes all the answers are equally good and the asker needs help from the community to choose the best and thus, the asker puts the question to a vote. Other times, the asker has simply forgotten to check back and select the best answer. That’s tough on the answerers who invested their time helping out.

Remember, dear asker, to stand by and check back in a day because when you ask, you will receive an answer. Probably several. Maybe even a dozen. And not only will you get the advice or answer you seek, choosing the best answer gives you back three points. Plus (and here’s the big plus), you make someone’s day when you personally select the answer that helped you the most as the best answer. I know I get a thrill every time I get picked as best answer. Do you have any great anecdotes of how you’ve been helped by the Answers community? I’d be most happy to hear from you.

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Some of you have notice the little module on the right-hand side of the blog that is labelled, “Recent Readers”. What’s that you ask? Let me explain.

“Recent Readers” is a module provided by a great Yahoo! service called MyBlogLog. I think many of you savvy bloggers know about it already. MyBlogLog is a service that allows you to create a whole community around the readers of a blog. Not only does MyBlogLog tell you who has just read the blog, if you click on the link that says “View Reader Community“, you get to see all the fans of the blog. In our case, you get to see all the readers of the Answers blog.

What’s even better is that you get communicate with these other Answers fans and also learn more about what else they like by checking out their MyBlogLog profiles. Who knows, you may get to meet some like-minded people.

So we’re encouraging you to click on “Join this community” so you can be part of the fun. Also, if you have a blog, you can also create an instant community around your blog through MyBlogLog. You can then track your stats and have a deeper relationship with your blog readers. How cool is that?

Please join today!

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I think many of us have been shocked into silence at the sight of the death toll and damage that has resulted from Cyclone Nargis hitting Myanmar. Details were scant at first but as the pictures emerged, the sight of the devastation so near our doorstep simply left us without words.

Our first reaction was to ask how we could help and even a simple question like that generated a lot of debate, given the Myanmar government’s refusal to allow foreign aid workers in. crazartgirl wanted to know why more people couldn’t escape the devastation, and there were also questions asking the community what they thought of Al Gore’s comments that the cyclone was the result of global warming. What are your thoughts? Why not share your opinion with those who have questions.

Undoubtedly, one of the biggest questions is how ASEAN will react to the disaster. In the face of such a humanitarian crisis, many people want to know how the Myanmar government could go ahead with a constitutional referendum. The eyes of the world will remain on Myanmar for some time. Let’s hope the aid will start to reach the people who must desperately need it.

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Some days have the power to set off a wellspring of love and panic simultaneously. Mother’s Day is one such day. We almost never think about it until it’s almost too late. Then there’s the panicked search for a gift, a restaurant, a card. And we wonder if our mothers are really expecting something or not. Some of us will mutter under our breaths about how the florists and greeting card companies are manipulating us to feel guilty about our mothers.

Which leads to the question of what were the origins of Mother’s Day. Mirabelle West asked that very question and got a really good response from Percival Archibald. It seems that the Greeks and later on, the Irish, celebrated some form of Mother’s Day long before Ana Jarvis in the United States lobbied for a proper day of celebration. (So you now know who to thank when you get hit by those last-minute panic attacks over what to buy.)

Taking a look this morning at the questions being asked about Mother’s Day, I can safely say that there are indeed lots of panicked people trying to come up with something meaningful for their mums. And the key advice that is coming from the community is to speak from the heart and make it simple and meaningful. I think every mother will melt when told they are precious in their children’s sight.

Me being me, I wanted to say something in verse and was very inspired by the poem suggestions shared by Catherine. She supplied moving verses not only for mums, but aunts and grandmas too. And community member M had a great suggestion on how to make a beautiful gift with old photos and notes all placed in an album. And I was particularly touched by Wylde95’s thoughts on what to give a first-time mum on Mother’s Day.

Inspired by all the lovely thoughts I’ve come across, I’ll certainly not waste the opportunity to tell my mum I love her. And I hope all of you will as well. And Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers in the Answers community.

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Welcome to the new blog for Yahoo! Malaysia Answers. Since we launched Answers in the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore in 2006, the team has been using just one blog to keep three communities up-to-date. It seemed efficient at the time but we knew we were short-changing our Malaysian community because you were getting updates that well, just weren’t relevant to you.

Not any longer. From today, you’ll have your own blog to keep you informed of the latest happenings here on Yahoo! Malaysia Answers. Expect to hear about folks from your community who have been contributing well to Answers, about community events and other exciting things that we have in store for you.

But that’s not the only change we have for you. I’m sure you’ve noticed that the question page has gone wide screen. Yes, we hear that a wider page means we can fit more on the page and that’s exactly what we’ve delivered. The category links remain on the right-hand side, leaving even more room for the detailed answers you continue to amaze us with.

We’re always listening to the needs and wants of you, the Answers’ community, so we hope you enjoy this page and we look forward to unveiling future developments across all areas of Answers, including enhancements to the ask/answer and reporting process.

In the meantime, keep on enjoying Answers and helping out your fellow Malaysians. Remember, you make the world a smarter place through Answers.

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