What is the best way to answer a question on WikiAnswers?

Answer 1

When answering a question at the Q&A pages, there are some good practices and some not so good practices. Below are some recommendations from WikiAnswers Supervisors to help you understand the ins and outs of properly posting and editing Q&As. They are not meant to replace the official WikiAnswers Terms of Use or other WikiAnswers guidelines as presented in our detailed Help Center.

** The good practices

There are some practices that help to keep Q&A pages clear, truly informative and with good readability.

Clarity and spelling

Please use correct grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling when answering questions, as well as when asking them and posting on the Discussion pages.

Answers must convey clear information, avoid slang, abbreviations and internet-slang.

Links

Links are not allowed to be placed within the answer, unless you are an Answers.com Expert Answerer. Expert Answerers will have a tool for adding links, whereas community answerers will not. Links need to point to information that helps to answer the question. (Also see spam below.)

If commercial links are necessary ('where to buy xx') at least two options should be included leaving the choice to the reader. If a link points to a biased site, a link to a site with the opposite view must be included or the link must be avoided.

Multiple answers

If you are answering after another contributor and can add your answer as a continuation of the existing answer, it is ideal. Please separate your answer from the existing one, with the heading 'Answer 2' or 'Answer 3' and so on.

Often, you can do that even if you have an opposing viewpoint by using a heading with a phrase like "Another view"

The idea is that the answer must look as one good piece of information not as several independent answers.

Many times, it's just not possible to have one complete answer that encompasses what everyone has to say, so the alternative is to "bullet" your answer. As others add their answers, if each one is "bulleted" it makes each stand alone and lets readers know when one starts and ends.

Place the question under the right category

Check that the question is under the right topic or recategorize it. Q&A under the wrong category or topic will end up with fewer viewers, will be difficult to find for anyone interested in it and will sooner or later need to be recategorized.

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** The not so good practices

Please see below some practices that are discouraged:

Vandalism

Offensive words, nonsense, gibberish, making fun of the inquirer and other forms of vandalism are not condoned and can be reason for permanently blocking the author.

Spam

Commercial links, sales pitches, recruitment speeches, and other forms of solicitation and advertising are spam. Supervisors usually spot this quickly and always remove it. Time spent adding such things here would be better spent finding a site on which you can legitimately add it. Spamming here can also result in the user being blocked from using the site.

An exception to the above is extremely rare cases when adding a link to a commercial site will answer the question. An example is if a question asks "Where can you buy watches online?" In that case, to add links to commercial sites is acceptable if you add not one but two or more options, including in the answer a phrase like "Some places where ... can be found are listed in the links below". To point to a single link may be considered as spam.

Duplicate Answers

Please do not repeat information that is already in the answer.

Answering a question with "I don't know", or repeating question on the answer page

While these seem harmless enough, they have the unwanted effect of marking a question as answered when it is not. Some knowledgeable contributors may be searching for unanswered questions to address, and items answered like this will be overlooked.

Chain posting

Do not post answers to previous answers or comments to an answer. Present relevant information and not a chain of messages.

Multiple identical posting

Each answer should be original. Posting the exact same answer on multiple questions is considered spam, which will be removed, and can result in being blocked from using the site. An exception can be questions that requesting identical information on non commercial subjects, have not been merged because of slight differences e.g. "How can I be safe if I am living alone?" and "How to be safe when you stay alone for the weekend'".

Debate

Debate is not allowed in answers, though friendly, respectful debate can be had on the Discussion Page. Debate that becomes unfriendly and disrespectful is not allowed on site and supervisors will intervene in such cases

Any friendly debate must be carried only at the Discussion page and not at the Q&A pages or at the personal messages boards.

In controversial subjects, you can use headings as 'One view' and 'Another view' not just 'Answer' as this may confuse the readers. Please do not use expressions as 'the correct' or 'it is obvious' and instead use 'Some think' or 'in the view of many' and similar expressions that convey the idea that it is one side of the story.

Signatures and personalization

Please do not use greetings, salutations, phrases like, "I hope this helps" or "Good luck," your name (signature) or personal information (email address, phone number, physical address, etc) in answers. Those types of posts are removed.

Phrases as 'I think that…', 'It happened to me' and similar should be avoided, the answer must reflect the information requested and not a personal opinion or anecdote.

Capitalization and bold text

Please write the content of your answer in 'normal' style.

Capitalization should be reserved for common usage (first letter in sentences and proper nouns).

Italics typeface should be reserved for quotes, citations and foreign words within a sentence, or for emphasizing a word or phrase. Please do not italicize long sentences or paragraphs.

Bold typeface should be reserved for headlines and sub-headlines, or the occasional strong emphasis.

Double submission

After an answer is submitted, sometimes it may take a short time for the answer shows up in the Q&A. Please avoid to submit the same answer repeatedly unless you are sure, after some reasonable time, that your contribution is not appearing as it should.

"Search" answers

One of the purposes of WikiAnswers is to provide a venue for people to share what they know in an open community. It is important to realize that people do not use search engines for a variety, perhaps an infinite number of reasons. It is neither helpful nor welcome to answer any question on WikiAnswers with a comments such as: "Google it," or "Search Yahoo." If you know the answer share it. If you prefer not to share it for whatever reason, pass the question by. Just, please, do not contribute "search" type answers.

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** Enjoying your participation

Beyond contributing with answers, you are asked to conduct your participation in a kind and cordial manner. Above everything, have fun! If you have questions or need some help, ask any WikiAnswers supervisor!