Yahoo! Answers Blog Malaysia

Q: What do Cameron Diaz, Christian Bale and Amber Chia all have in common?

A: They have all taken part in Answers over the last couple of years.

And, they have not been the only ones: there’s a long list of celebrities that have chosen to pose their question to the Answers community and eagerly review your responses.

However, many of you have expressed feelings of concern towards the authenticity of these public figures on Answers. Well, we think you deserve an answer to your questions on this regard: of course they are who they say they are (you’ll recognise them because you’ll see a green badge with the label “Official” under their avatar)!

It’s that simple. You know us, and we are always talking about our community guidelines, our terms of service, and respecting the law. Well, that applies to us too, and we would never allow someone impersonating a public figure (or a non-public figure, of course).

Now, let us explain the workflow to you: the celebrity asks the question (you can see many recorded on video), the community answers the question and the celebrity chooses the best Answer. For example, that’s the case of our latest celebrity: Seann William Scott (see the video here).

And that’s it: there’s no trick or behind-the-scenes movements, and of course they are who they say they are! And… they are amazed at the passion the Answers Community puts in their Answers. Way to go!

Now it’s your turn to Answer: which celebs would you like to see on Answers? We don’t promise anything, but we’d love to hear your suggestions and do our best to make your dreams come true!

Yahoo! Answers uses badges to designate the different types of community members participating in the Yahoo! Answers community. Here is an explanation of the different types and their meaning:

• – An Official badge indicates that the identity of a community member asking or answering questions on Yahoo! Answers has been verified by a member of the Yahoo! Answers Team. This helps us distinguish our celebrity, professional, and sponsor participants within the Yahoo! Answers community.
• – The Staff badge displays when members of the Yahoo! Answers Team or other Yahoo! staff members officially ask and answer questions on Yahoo! Answers.
• – The Top Contributor badge is used to recognize a member of the Answers community who has shown that they are knowledgeable in a particular category. The top contributor badge is dynamic, which means that you earn it or lose it depending on your recent participation in a particular category. To learn more about Top Contributors, please review Top Contributor help.

Now, let us show you a couple of examples:

Kylie Kwong : “Which herbs and spices in Malaysia would you recommend me? Why?“

Y! Malaysia Editors  : “Do you think yoga is just a form of exercise or part of a religious ritual?“

…and we want to wish you good luck to become the next Top Contributor in your favorite category!

Many of us have watched sci-fi (science fiction) films and read novels and comics from the same genre. Have you ever thought to yourself how the world will be like in the far future? Technology has improved a lot now, there are new tech gadgets being invented all the time, so who knows? Maybe one day we’ll be living like the Jetsons… or like the Will Smith movie “I, Robot”.

Now why do I talk about these? It’s because Animax Asia has produced the first ever original animation production (in high definition!) called “LaMB“. “LaMB”, based on an award-winning script by Filipino amateur writer Carmelo Juinio, is situated in the future on a harsh desert planet called Cerra. And on Cerra, they practice the idea of “recycling” so strongly that even hard-core criminals are “recycled” as slaves. These prisoners go through a process of “Lamination” where they become human ‘robots’. They can’t talk, they can’t make decisions on their own and they can only obey the commands by their masters or get electrocuted as punishment. And the worse thing? When the prisoners are ‘laminated’, they are preserved in a way for hundreds of years until released from their bodily prison.

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you’re like a LaMB? Unable to speak nor express your feelings? LaMB is now asking you: “Have you ever felt you couldn’t speak up or express yourself like a LaMB?“.  Check out the contest page for more details!

Despite all those political squabbling between Singapore and Malaysia, these two countries have always shared a special and close relationship. I mean, how many of you can genuinely say that you’ve never been to Singapore or do not have relatives or friends there? Not many of us can do that.

(Photo thanks to Mohd Saifulnazim Azman)

Malayan Railway is trying to make it easier for both sides to visit each other starting Monday, well, for Peninsula Malaysia and Singapore lah! East Malaysia still a bit difficult but at least the air space is opening up and we have more budget airlines flying there! Yay! So ya, back to KTM, have you heard the news? There’s a new train station right there at Danga City Mall in Johor Baru. Now we can all take a train from the mega-mall to Singapore in under 10 ringgit (this month lah!) and in 90 minutes, including clearing immigration checks! That’s a pretty good deal, especially since there’s a ban on walking on the Causeway bridge. Not that I’d want to walk there since it’s so polluted!

(Photo thanks to crazyegg95)

But with this piece of good news, looks like my wallet will be lighter this year with all that shopping calling out my name.. *cries* What are your views about the public transportation in Malaysia?

Happy 2009 everyone! Welcome to another new year, and hopefully things will get better, petrol prices will remain low and there will be peace in the country. So how was your new year? Mine was spent with my family in the morning, and met up with friends in the afternoon. It’s always a joy to meet friends, especially those you have not talked to for a long time, at the start of a new year. It’s like, a new beginning!

But of course, if we only met our friends once a year, that would be terrible. Do you and your friends go online often? If so, and if you have the Yahoo! Messenger, you can add them onto your friends list! Try the new online invitation to invite your friends onto your Yahoo! Messenger list. You can instantly add friends who are on Gmail, Hotmail, Facebook, MySpace and more.

Here’s how it works:

Step 1: Select the online service where your contacts are stored, i.e. Hotmail, Gmail, MySpace.

Step 2: Fill in your username and password for the service. Repeat that for each service you want to get contacts from.

Step 3: We’ll show you which of the friends in your address book(s) are already using Yahoo! Messenger. You can then quickly add them to your contact list and they will receive a prompt from you to confirm the request and add you to their list. If they’re not online at the time, they’ll receive the request the next time they sign in. Until they approve your request, they’ll remain in your list with an “Add request pending” note next to their name.

Step 4: We’ll show you all the other friends from your address book(s) that are not yet using Yahoo! Messenger.  For the friends that you select, we’ll send them an email on your behalf, inviting tme to chat with you on Yahoo! Messenger. From the email they receive, they can easily add you to their Messenger contact list, or if they’re new to Messenger, download the program and get started.

Add your friends and start chatting and share files and videos with Yahoo! Messenger’s easy-to-use tool!