Wondering what we mean by "value" on Answers? No problem - we're here to help!

Answers is designed to provide serious answers to serious questions - we're trying to answer the world's questions, after all! But if a question doesn't contain any helpful content, is asked in jest, or seems to be posted with false intention, we remove it. This is in an effort to maintain a site that's useful, valuable, and easy to search - we remove the clutter!

And hey - we actually do have a sense of humor!:D

We even have a section for jokes and riddles (check out the link below), and we invite you to join in on the fun. If you have a funny riddle or joke that you know will get a few laughs, we'd love to hear it!

If you believe the question you asked is legitimate, please e-mail GoodQuestion @ WikiAnswers.com (no spaces) with the exact question you asked and why you believe it should be included on the site.

How to Ask a Question on Answers.com | WikiAnswers

1. Make sure you are logged in.
2. Type your question in the white bar found at the top of the screen and click on "Go." (Make sure your question starts with a question word like What, when, why, how, etc. or the site will think you are just trying to do a search.)
3. You may be shown some similar questions and asked if any of them are the same question, but in different words. If one of them matches, click the question.
4. Fix any misspellings you may have.
5. Click Submit Question.
6. If your question is already answered, you will be taken to an existing question.
7. If your question is new, you will be asked to select a category. Try to find the most specific Category for your question. For example, if it is a car question, instead of putting it in Cars and Vehicles, put in the sub-category for a specific kind of car. After categorizing, make sure to save the categories.
8. Now, sit back and wait for your question to be answered.

More comments from Answers.com contributors:

• If you have added the question to your watchlist, you should get a notice when it is answered via e-mail. Otherwise, copy the url or make a bookmark so you can come back and check.
• Only apostrophes and periods work as punctuation. Commas do not.
• Keep in mind that some questions are harder to answer than others but with the users from all over the world, you will get an answer - hopefully sooner than later.

• You would simply type into the box at the top what you want to ask. Perhaps it has already been asked and it will take you there. Or there might be something similar enough.

• You can ask any question you like and other people will answer it.

Everyone! Anyone can share their knowledge or ask questions on WikiAnswers. That's what makes it a WIKI. If you know the answer to an unanswered question, you can share it. If you see an answer that you can expand on, you can edit it. If you see an answer that's just flat-out incorrect, you can update it. We encourage users to research answers thoroughly.

More takes from WikiAnswers contributors:

• It could be anyone at all, even your next door neighbor. WikiAnswers is a collaborative effort. There are many people working out the answers here at the site. Your question was answered by a WikiSupervisor who happened to see it.

  Join the effort! Cruise a category that interests you and find a question you know something about. Everyone is an expert on something... find your category.

• Users do. That is the beauty of this site. We ask our own questions and answer those of each other. It is a fairly easy way to share information. Now, since this is composed of user-generated content, you can't be sure that every single answer is true. This site is not a substitute for research, but it is a good and helpful place to start.
• Any contributor can come to WikiAnswers and browse questions. If they know the answer, they can answer it.
• Some people research their answers, just like me. I sometimes know the answer too. And there are people that work in the field, have hobbies and life experiences and read a lot. Everyone has something useful to contribute.
• If the person who answered a question is a registered user, you'll be able to see who answered (and award them a trust point -- if they have earned it, of course).
• Anyone who visits can ask questions, and also can answer questions. We are ordinary people from many different countries; most of the regulars have become addicted to the site because it is so much fun to find questions to answer, and to interact with others who come to visit. We are not paid, and we are not recruited. There may be some people connected with support or site development who get compensation of some kind; I don't really know for sure. We were talking about a possible conference at some time; I think that idea is on the back burner at this point.
• All registered and unregistered users from around the world write the answers on WikiAnswers.com.
• WA gets its answers from contributors around the world. They may be an expert or specialist in an area of knowledge; they might be a general genius willing to share anything and everything they know; or they might be the average person on the street with access to the Internet and some vague idea of what the right answer to a question is. Some answers are researched thoroughly in order to get the most correct information possible; others are just a quick note made by someone who watched a documentary once.
• The questions on WikiAnswers are answered by others who come to the website. Some of them may be people who actually know the answers, or who take the time to look them up, while others are just kids who think typing silly stuff in as answers is a fun thing to do, not realizing the problem that causes for others who are looking for real answers.
• My son does - for homework!
• Anyone who feels called to do it. If the answers are spam or are wrong we try to fix it.
• Volunteers may have education in a specific area, or a question may be on a subject they enjoy. Some volunteers are professionals, or answer questions that pertain to their daily work. And contributors are good at doing research online or off-line. Other contributors simply have life experience and accumulated knowledge, which gives them a wide area of personal knowledge.
• The greater the number of "trust points" the answerer has, the more likely the answer is correct - as best as the answerer knows.
• You can see who the last person to edit a particular answer was by looking just underneath the answer itself. Their username is also a link to their member home page, which may (or may not) provide more details on who they are.
• A good many people that work in particular fields or are educated in special areas may roam around certain topics using their knowledge to answer questions. Many people on here that ask questions may spend some time answering questions as well. And then there are the supervisors that watch over particular topics and those that roam around many topics that will spend some time answering questions. Answers to questions asked here are the product of a large community effort.

All answers on WikiAnswers are given by voluntary contributors. Nobody has to answer anything unless they want to give up their own free time to do so. They always make a personal choice to give an answer and then what to say. When they answer a question, they usually try to give as much information as they think is relevant to the actual question asked. You will have a much better chance of getting an early answer to your question if you place it into the right Category! Unless you do that, your question may not be answered for a long time because it won't be seen by contributors who know about the subject of the question.

If it was placed into the wrong Category your question would have to wait until a Supervisor finds it and moves it to an appropriate Category where it will be seen by the someone who may wish to contribute an answer.

People who are members here and others as well. People from all over the world.

Anyone who visits can post or edit any answer. Generally, however, questions are edited by those users that feel comfortable with the subject matter.

The following 45 WikiAnswers contributors have all earned more than 2,000 trust points (figures correct as of July 18, 2012):

8,981 trust points - User:Marcy

5,653 trust points - User:USCitizen

5,643 trust points - User:RoyR

5,189 trust points - User:Macky

5,011 trust points - User:Clay

5,009 trust points - User:Aggie80

4,893 trust points - User:Ranger22

4,893 trust points - User:Dlmick

4,646 trust points - User:Joncey

4,622 trust points - User:Crystal

4,474 trust points - User:Keats

4,181 trust points - User:Chris

3,978 trust points - User:Ksmail

3,880 trust points - User:Neila222

3,781 trust points - User:Viper1usmc

3,730 trust points - User:Quirkyquantummechanic

3,560 trust points - User:Redbeard

3,428 trust points - User:Grevillea

3,315 trust points - User:HisPowr4U

3,147 trust points - User:Deb

3,136 trust points - User:Jadeacres

3,103 trust points - User:elosery

3,065 trust points - User:Delltechie

2,997 trust points - User:Brave3

2,967 trust points - User:JEK

2,874 trust points - User:Ganderton

2,850 trust points - User:On_the_Wallaby

2,831 trust points - User:Englishangel

2,779 trust points - User:Katz2

2,625 trust points - User:Sdresh

2,622 trust points - User:Schnazola

2,614 trust points - User:Dfoofnik

2,587 trust points - User:Myrab51

2,561 trust points - User:Emdrgreg

2,557 trust points - User:Simplemary

2,516 trust points - User:Blue

2,514 trust points - User:JayKay

2,487 trust points - User:Natural_Val

2,427 trust points - User:TrishaR

2,306 trust points - User:Robbb

2,285 trust points - User:An8thg

2,138 trust points - User:Tina

2,083 trust points - User:Squirrel_Man

2,046 trust points - User:Hooweestik

2,038 trust points - User:Baldfatguy

NOTE: THERE IS CURRENTLY A PROBLEM WITH THE TRUST POINTS BEING GIVEN. THIS ANSWER WILL BE UPDATED ONCE IT'S FIXED.

~ Top 100 All-time Contributors ~

Click on the Related Link, further down this page,

to see the list of the Top 100.

Questions on Answers.com are not meant to be deleted, except for extreme cases. Neither registered nor unregistered users can delete questions - not even their own. Questions that may be candidates for deletion actually go through a review process by more than one Supervisor on Answers.com to determine whether the question really warrants deletion.

Remember that Answers.com has policies with regards to deleting questions. So before deleting a question make sure it can't be fixed to be a proper question. Also, there are several catch-all questions on Answers.com with which we catch inappropriate questions and protect them. Please make sure the question you are trashing isn't one of these catch-alls.

If you have a question that you would like to delete, you can contact Answers.com Support using the Related Link below and ask them to do it for you. They generally delete questions, but on occasion if they feel the question has some value, or can be reworded to be a good question, they'll leave it on the site.

Questions that are harmful and may possibly be asked again by another user are merged into "Catch-All" Questions. Feel free to simply recategorize the bad question into the Catch-All Questions category and then a supervisor will merge it into an existing catch-all so that the next time it is asked the asker receives guidance about why their question is not allowed.

There are more than 1,000 Supervisors who will delete questions that have no value; make no sense at all and can't be re-phrased into a valid question; ask for instructions about doing something harmful; or violate the Terms of Use for Answers.com.

If you are a Supervisor, go to the question you want to delete and check the left side of the screen and you will see a button that says "Trash." Clicking this will send the question off to be deleted.
Answers doesn't remove questions or answers unless it violates our Terms of Use. If you'd like to edit a question or answer, simply click on the edit button next to the question, or "Improve this answer" to edit an answer.

If you feel a question or answer violates our Terms of Use, please contact us immediately. If you'd like to change your user name, please contact us for that as well:

answers.com/page/contact_us
Normal users should be able to flag questions for improvement, but to have a question deleted, you would have to write to support @ answers.com.
You cannot delete a question or answer once it is submitted. It becomes property of the site the second after you hit submit. The only way a question gets taken down is if it is inappropriate or against the TOS and Community Guidelines.
The simple answer is - you can't ! Once its been posted, a question remains on the site until it's been answered. Even after it's been answered, it stays in the WikiAnswers archive.
Well, unless the question has reason to be deleted, such as it is inappropriate, the question can stay on WikiAnswers. Other people may also have your question.

This is actually a common technique when new categories are created, to "seed" the category with questions and answers.

You might intentionally ask questions in a very generic manner, and then answer them as you would any other question. For example, in the Maine category, you might notice that there's no information about when Maine became part of the union. So you might ask and answer the question, "What year did Maine become a state?"

Here is the link to the pertinent information (on pre-answering questions) from the Help center:

http://wiki.answers.com/help/pre-answer_questions

Please remember:

Questions regarding non-celebrities are not allowed on WikiAnswers - please do not ask and answer questions about yourself.

You also may not include your business information, addresses, phone numbers, or emails. Any business information must be kept to your profile, or it will be considered spam.

WikiAnswers has a name for answering your own question and it is called pre-answering.

If you have a question and an answer for it please feel free to add that bit of information to the website. There may be people in the future that will add to your answer. You never know if your question and answer will spawn other questions and answers on the site.

For more information please see link below

All users can answer questions. However, there are different answering modes, depending on whether or not you are a member of WikiAnswers. Here are some guidelines.

---

FOR MEMBERS

A member answering a question that has not yet been answered:

Open the question and then click on the box below the answer that has the words "Answer this question" in it. Type your answer in the box provided and click "Submit."

A member editing/adding to an answer:

Open the question and then click on "Edit" in the top-right of the answer when you are logged in. Now you can edit the existing answer, or you can scroll down and contribute a new answer. Click "Submit."

---

FOR NON-MEMBERS

A non-member answering a question that has not yet been answered:

Open the question and then click on the box below the answer that has the words "Answer this question" in it. Type your answer in the box provided and click "Submit."

A non-member editing/adding to an answer:

Open the question and then click on "Edit" in the top-right. Now you can edit the existing answer, or you can scroll down and contribute a new answer. Click "Submit."

Other guidelines to answering:

• Do not sign your name to an answer, as answers are meant to be anonymous.
• Don't use words like "I think" or "I believe" unless the question asks for an opinion.
• If a question asks for an opinion, change the question to "In your opinion, .
• Don't use words like "DUH!" or "You Idiot!" or "Don't be retarded" in your answer; defamation isn't allowed here on this site.
• The goal of each answer is to form one good answer. In questions that have existing answers, try to incorporate additional information into the current answer. In opinion-based answering, simply add your answer below the existing answer. Do not delete existing answers unless they are vulgar, contain vandalism, or are blatantly wrong.
• Do not use vulgarity, cyberbullying, post spam or chat in the answer section.
• If you use a website as the source of your answer, refer to the related link and add that website in the "Add related links" option. Do not place the URL in the body of the answer or you can expect it to be removed.

More on asking and answering questions

(answered or unanswered):

1. Ask a question (see "How do you ask a question?") or look for one that has already been asked.
2. If there is an answer there, then somebody else has already answered it, but, you can still edit it*. If there isn't an answer there, then there will be a button asking you if you wish to answer it, and you can click that.
3. A white box will come up, with some styling tools, for you to add your answer, and, when you are done, click Save at the top. If you want to add a Headline, click on the Style menu on the blue bar. You can also make text bold, italic, using either keyboard shortcuts. The styling bar provides Superscript, Subscript, Bullets (�), Numbered Bullets (1.) alignment, indentation, copying, pasting, undoing, adding a horizontal line, and quoting text.

How to edit an answer

If you wish to edit an existing answer:

1. Search for a question that has already been asked (see "How do you ask a question") that you wish to edit, by using the green bar at the top of the page, and searching.
2. Scroll down to the bottom, below the answer, when you arrive at a suitable question. where you will find an option to "Improve Answer." Click this, and you will arrive at the white box with the pre-existing answer that you can edit accordingly.
3. According to answering guidelines, you should not erase existing answers unless they are wrong. If fixing spelling or grammar only, check off the "minor edit" box.
4. Check out this guide for [http://wiki.answers.com/help/answering_questions Answering Questions], located in the [http://wiki.answers.com/help/help_center Help Center].

How to edit a question

Before answering, you may want to fix the spelling or grammar in a question, but you should not change it to a different question. To fix spelling, click "improve question" on the blue menu or the "improve" link to the right of the question bar. You can "save" or "cancel" any changes using the two bars below.

There are different ways you can answer, but in most cases you only have to click the specific button that allows users to answer questions.
Click on answer it,it will be in orange then save it will be also in orange :)
Simply click on the relevant question - and type your answer. Once you're happy with your answer - click the orange 'submit' button.

Answers.com's mission is to be the best place for answers about anything. It is not a search engine. Instead, it's a user-generated Q&A community (WikiAnswers), where askers can get answers from multiple types of resources.

The WikiAnswers community collaborates on answers to questions about thousands of topics. Millions of dedicated members from around the globe aim to answer questions coming in from all kinds of people. In essence, WikiAnswers is a human-powered answering service, so that real people can get answers from other real people.

Contributors share more reasons:

• People use websites like Answers.com (instead of a search engine such as Google) because Google does not give the answers to everything; it just gives links to other sites (which may not even be correct). Some questions have never been asked before, so a search engine would not be helpful in such a situation. Answers.com also differentiates itself because you can change questions and answers to improve content, spelling, and grammar. You can't do that on a regular website.
• Some people lack the technical skill or the research experience to use a search engine effectively. Giving an instant answer to a question provides both a quick and efficient way to find the information they are seeking from a community of volunteers who give generously of their time and knowledge.
• Search results are largely based on the text in a website. If the text typed in for the search doesn't match the text in a website, the result may not show up in the search results. This can happen if a website is primarily created from graphics and/or videos. Many inexperienced Web surfers may be unaware that a different search engine - or a longer, more particular search - could help a user refine their search results.
• Many Wiki Answers questions could be answered with "Look up 'XYZ' on Google," or "Check your owner's manual," or "Check the current Blue Book price guide," etc. However, many people haven't developed good research skills. They may genuinely be at a loss for where to look for information. Regular users of search engines tend to forget that they once learned how to use a search engine. Very few people are really good at it. The same goes for libraries. Librarians exist because people aren't born knowing how to use a library. Even a phone book is something you once needed to learn how to use.
• You don't need to help anyone here on WikiAnswers. Naturally, it's completely up to you if you choose to help answer a question or not. But if you do help answer a question, try to assume that the person who asked genuinely needs your help.
• They could have tried and nothing came up because it wasn't the technical term. But other people might know something about the topic.
• Google doesn't answer questions; they just point you at web pages that might have the answer to your question. Someone has to have written the answer to your question on a page somewhere for Google to find. And that's what we do here: answer questions.

For the most part, we try to let new sections grow naturally. We've been finding that it's better to divide up general categories that have become too large than to set up relatively empty categories from the start.

That said, if you would like to actively participate in a category and could help us get it started, e-mail us at Wiki s @ s.com.

(See the Related question.)

• Bronze contributor: 500 contributions
• Silver contributor: 5,000 contributions
• Gold contributor: 25,000 contributions
• Platinum contributor: 100,000 contributions
• Double Platinum contributor: 200,000 contributions
• Ruby contributor: 500,000 contributions

Note that these badges appear in the Stats box on your profile and are updated automatically.

For more information, go to the Community Roles & Programs page (see Related link below).

~ Please note that these levels are subject to change ~

We put this in place to prevent "spambots" (computer programs that spider the web automatically posting offensive messages and advertising) from modifying the site. Entering the characters in the 2 words in the images proves that you're a human being. This sort of filtering device is called a CAPTCHA program.

This particular CAPTCHA program was created by Carnegie Mellon University; while catching non-human contributions, it also helps digitalize books so that they can be available for reading/searching on the internet! An innovative system has been devised whereby users are presented two distorted word images. One of the words will be known and one won't. Type them both in. By comparing what multiple people type for the unknown images the system figures out the identity of the mystery word. The system is being used to digitize books from the Internet Archive, old editions of the New York Times and old time radio shows.

Spambots became such a problem that we needed to implement a technical solution. We apologize for the inconvenience. However, if you log in with your username and password, you will not be requested to fill these in when answering a question.

What if I have difficulty reading the 2 words?

As an alternative for those who have trouble reading the word images, you can click the horn icon to hear an excerpt of an old-time radio show. Then type as much of what you hear as possible.

• Go to your profile and choose " edit profile ". On the right side, there is a box labeled " My Bio ", here you can tell all about yourself, post a poem you wrote, add quotes that inspire you, and also add pictures or images hosted on image hosting websites.
• Paste the URL for the image into the box where you want it to be, only the first few entries will be visible at first glance, but can all be viewed by clicking on " more" and scrolling down.
• At the beginning of the url place this with no space between the = and the start of the url, then at the end place this /> but be sure to leave one space after the end on that one, so it looks like this:

• If you do this right the image will appear on your profile, large images will be resized to fit in the box automatically.
• Small ones like badges can be arranged in a row by not leaving a space between the images like this:

• Doing this will cause them to appear side by side when there is room instead of one on top of the other.

1) Drag and Drop

Drag your images, one by one, to the place in the text where you'd like the photo to be positioned. Make sure the following 2 windows are open on your screen: that of the photos on the photo-hosting site, as well as that of your profile.

2) Copy and Paste

After uploading the image, you will receive a URL from the host at which you can access the image. Copy this link and paste this URL link into your profile at the spot where you would like the image to be displayed, and it should appear. (If your photo doesn't appear on your profile at first, try clicking on the "add or edit text below" link and clicking Submit again and the photo should go through.)

NOTE: Make sure to add the URL on a line by itself.

To Adjust the Positioning of the Image within the Text

• To set the image flush left, use button #9 in the toolbar at the top of the editing window.
• To center the image, use button #10 in the toolbar at the top of the editing window.
• To move the photo to the left, use the Outdent button (button #11 in the toolbar at the top of the editing window).
• To move the photo to the right, use the Indent button (button #12 in the toolbar at the top of the editing window).

1) Drag and Drop

• Make sure the following 2 windows are open on your screen - that of the photos on the photo-hosting site, as well as that of your profile.
• Hit "Enter" twice at the point in your profile text where you want to add an image.
• Click on the photo you want to add and drag it into position on the profile, and then click on the text again to release the photo.
• Hit "Enter" twice again to add a space between the photo and the new text you want to add.

2) Copy and Paste

• Make sure the following 2 windows are open on your screen - that of the photos on the photo-hosting site, as well as that of your profile.
• Hit "Enter" twice at the point in your profile text where you want to add an image.
• Double-click (in the photo-hosting website) on the photo you want to add to your profile, and the photo will open.
• Click on the "All Sizes" button above the photo, and choose a size.
• Underneath the photo, you will see a box called "Grab the photo's URL."
• Copy this URL, click at the point in your profile text where you want to add an image, and paste the image into the text.

Becoming a Member of Answers.com

Joining Answers.com is really simple, and it only takes a few minutes.

To join Answers.com, just click the "Sign Up" button in the right hand corner of the blue bar on the Answers homepage, and you can choose to sign up through Facebook, Google, Twitter, or just with an email address. If you choose to sign up with just an email address, then enter your name, your username, your password, and fill in your email address. (Note that you must have a valid email address in order to confirm your registration).

What are some of the perks of joining?

You will then have your own profile and personal message board, as well as all the perks of being a registered member of the community, such as recognition for your efforts and receiving badges and awards for your contributions. You can also turn off ads on your settings page.