Yahoo Answers

WikiAnswers vs Yahoo! Answers - Both Great But... The key here is that on WikiAnswers the answer is dynamic. It can be edited and improved upon by multiple users, so that you have the most complete, well-rounded answer - with contributions from one or many different users.

Other key element is the merging of identical questions - so that when someone asks, "Why does a sliced apple turn brown?" and someone else asks, "Why did the inside of my apple turn from white to brown?" the questions will be merged into one; and in addition the answers will be combined, so that there are no repetitive questions and the result is a single, complete answer.

Yahoo! Answers, on the other hand, takes user questions and answers individually. There is no dynamic adding or improving to a single answer, but rather lists of answers submitted by individual users.

The three main differences in usage are the following:

1. In WikiAnswers the answer is all in one question (essentially one answer that can be improved on), whereas on Yahoo! Answers a question can have lots of people each contributing an answer. The best answer is chosen by the asker, or - failing that - by other users.
2. In WikiAnswers, one's question is continuously open for contributions; on Yahoo! Answers, however, your question is open for 3 days - or 7 days with deliberate extensions - though some celebrities might have questions open for a month.
3. In WikiAnswers, a question is limited to 200 characters, whereas on Yahoo! Answers, while there is a similar limit, the questioner can add details that others can't remove.

More opinions from our users:

• Each website offers users a unique experience in the realm of Q&A. Thanks for participating!
• WikiAnswers is better. Yahoo! Answers is too complicated and you have to have avatars and stuff, which is lame.
• I prefer Yahoo! Answers. You get a Top Contributors badge, Contacts, Interaction with other users, points, spell check and the information is more accurate. But Yahoo! Answers does have bad-quality, considering the layout of the site and a lot of Internet trolls. This site however looks quite deserted. I haven't interacted with any users on this site. I only log in once every year.
• Yahoo! Answers does have the fact that it probably has more users (automatic Yahoo! account). However, WikiAnswers has some features YA doesn't have, such as ever going answers to questions, community driven (only a small group of people are working for WA, and they are part of the community). Also there is more human-to-human (through computer) interaction on WA since you can use the message board of any given user. There isn't a race to answer the most questions, or to have the most points, but the main focus is more on the quality (which by the way, can bring more rep points).
• WikiAnswers is almost perfect.
• Yahoo! Answers is almost perfect too, although you need points - which can be annoying.
• The strength of WikiAnswers can also be a weakness. Because anyone can edit answers, including unregistered IP users, nonsense and irrelevant answers can be posted, and even remain for some time.

  The time and use restrictions of Yahoo! Answers means that questions tend to be less frivolous (but not always), and there are few insults or foolish responses. The drawback is that there is less chance a good answer will be found within the allowable time window, and an asker may be given conflicting answers from which a correct one may be difficult or impossible to discern.

• I'd just like to briefly mention that Yahoo! Answers and WikiAnswers are both good places to find answers. However, it really does depend on the subject you are searching for. One of the things about WikiAnswers is that only one answer can be saved, which leads to situations like the one you see right now. However, WikiAnswers is definitely better monitored than Yahoo! Answers, at which you can find irrelevant and sometimes dumb answers. However, Yahoo! Answers does provide a good amount of personal insight and commentary for the answers. So it all boils down to the subject. Math, history, etc. - go for WikiAnswers. Easy, everyday stuff - Yahoo! Answers.
• WikiAnswers has Supervisors that monitor questions and answers for language, sexual content and personal attacks, something that is seen too frequently on Yahoo! Answers.
• While Yahoo! Answers has automatic censoring for even case-appropriate words like "ass" (male donkey) or "bitch" (female dog), which are rendered into "---" and "---" however the short time for answering questions seems to facilitate other vulgarities.
• I believe WikiAnswers is much better than Yahoo! Answers because most of the garbage and junk are filtered out and eliminated. Also, answers are compiled rather than being a dozen separate answers, all of which may have value, but only one is termed "best."
• WikiAnswers is better because there are more people and you don't have to sign up for an email account.
• Personally I think WikiAnswers is better, because more people visit WikiAnswers than Yahoo! Answers.
• As a result of a review of a number of questions and answers on both sites (primarily in the sciences), it's easy to say WikiAnswers has Yahoo hammered. There is no comparison. The WikiAnswers website does, in general, provide greatlysuperior (not just superior) answers to questions than the Yahoo! Answers site. The searchlight far outshines the flashlight.
• Yahoo! Answers is much better; I never run into unanswered questions.
• I think they are both great in a way.
• Yahoo is more popular then WikiAnswers, perhaps because they are faster at getting answered, as well as the preeminence of Yahoo - though that is changing.
• WikiAnswers is more accurate because Yahoo is like a competition to get the best answer.
• WikiAnswers filters better then Yahoo does.
• WikiAnswers creates a collaborative effort to get a good answer, rather than a dozen answers that have to be looked at and one 'picked.' However, with Yahoo Answers - as well as Answerbag and even Wikipedia - one can see previous answers.
• Yahoo Answers! has enjoyed much popularity (as has Answerbag - which might even be more popular than YA), but WikiAnswers seems to be increasing its popularity at an accelerated rate.
• WikiAnswers is better than Yahoo because we get the answer very soon and it is so clear....
• On WikiAnswers all you do is correct, improve and answer questions. BUT on Yahoo you can do all of these: create a personalized avatar; send messages to your friends; add friends/family/contacts; answer fun and easy and challenging questions; people can answer your own questions; the public can choose the best answer for your question; your question/answer gets rated; you can choose questions from different topics e.g., hair + beauty; there are polls and adverts, you can web search!
• Definitely WikiAnswers: It is easier to navigate; you can edit almost everything, even stupid questions and answers; no distracting advertisements; more people use the site, so you get faster results.
• Definitely Yahoo! Answers: There are friendly "Ask," "Answer" and "Discover" buttons at the top, along with an extremely easy-to-navigate "Categories" tree down the left side of the page.
• The comparison is tough, because there are a lot of "Help me" questions on Yahoo! Answer. It is very easy to navigate to your area and find a few interesting questions to answer. One feature that struck me with WikiAnswers is that once you type a question, you are offered a list of similar questions. With Yahoo! somebody asks "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" every day and users rarely bother to search for other answers for the same question before posting.
• WikiAnswers, of course!! Was there any doubt????!!
• Yahoo! Answers, because of two words: "Best answer" (see the related link below).
• I totally disagree with the user above regarding Yahoo! Answers. I once asked a question that got 3 responses; I know, for sure, that none of the answers were right. Therefore, the answer that got voted as "Best answer" was misleading and, to boot, incorrect.
• When I ask questions on WikiAnswers, sometimes the question is already fully answered, with no wait! On Yahoo! Answers, I have to wait a couple days for the answers to come in, and the answers are usually short and sparse, if at all useful.
• It's not even a question! WikiAnswers combines everyones answers into one easy and awesome page that can be edited with new info every second!
• Yahoo! Answers has duplicate questions and opinions arguing with one another.
• If they battled it out, Yahoo would be so busy sorting who was up to bat that Wiki would knock them out before they had time to say "Help."
• Yahoo! Answers: it's faster to navigate and is more user- friendly. And it's easier to interact at Yahoo!
• WikiAnswers forever.
• Comparing the number of answers - the number of good answers - and the ease of use, it is not even a contest. At Yahoo! the same question may be asked over and over, and never get an answer. The correct answer may not be judged the "best answer" because it is done by unqualified voters. No attempt is made to prevent identical but rephrased questions which then receive different answers. As an unmoderated chat spot, Yahoo! is fine. But if you are looking for answers, ask here, on Answers.com.
• No question... WikiAnswers, of course!!!
• In my opinion I say WikiAnswers is better than Yahoo!
• Well, seeing as I'm using WikiAnswers, it's obviously attracted me. Yahoo! Answers, in my opinion, has too much garbage and too little filtering, too many wrong answers, and too much trolling. But WikiAnswers is well filtered with people answering quality questions. WikiAnswers is also growing in popularity, so Yahoo! Answers will probably die out in a while.
• Yahoo! Answers can be answered by anyone but the other answer can still be seen.
• WikiAnswers is a lot better. When i went to Yahoo! Answers I looked at the same question and most of them commented that they had never heard of WA before. So the only problem with WA is lack of public recognition. I'm not being biased; the first website that I found was Y!A, and hated it immediately I only visited Yahoo! for online chess. But when i found WA, I immediately made an account and began answering and sometimes questioning. One thing for WA to do is to make a better badging system... basically levels or extra badges in between Bronze and Silver contributors... To sum up: WikiAnswers is better in content, but worse in recognition.
• Both can be subjected to abuse, and answers must (of course) be treated with extreme caution. Yahoo! Answers is far more popular; it has a higher population of trolls, but also a higher population of "helpful" people who might not have any idea of a real answer, but who do a quick web search to post a quick popular answer to increase their ratings. Ridiculous answers can be voted in as the best possible answer (just clicking to vote for any one answer gives you a point, and there's no bonus for selecting the one that is finally chosen as best answer... Generally a single vote for your own answer is enough to guarantee success in the game).
• I like WikiAnswers better because you can see more than one answer to a question instead of voting which answer is the best, even if it's wrong on other sites. Each site has it's downfalls but WikiAnswers has people who greet new visitors, called WikiGuides. We also have Supervisors who you can contact if you need an answer right away or to contact to report bugs, vulgarity, intentionally wrong answers or if you have any other questions. We have a Teen group called WIT (WikiAnswers' Influential Teens). We have a community forum and are working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year to make it a better experience for the visitor.
• Yahoo Answers is much better because people cannot change other people's answers or write nonsense. You can only choose to put your own answer. Additionally, there is a place to put your sources on Yahoo Answers, making it even more reliable. Many times I have asked a question on Wiki Answers and gotten a wrong answer. People also write nonsense or even inappropriate things.They could have changed someone's right answer. That is not the case on Yahoo Answers. I hope it's now very clear that Wiki Answers is not reliable and should not be used.
• Agreed, Yahoo is more reliable. I just use Wiki Answers my school computers don't block it. But use Yahoo for more accuracy . Plus you can see who answered on Yahoo better! But don't worry, I always answer the truth on WikiAnswers.
• I think that WikiAnswers is much better than Yahoo answers. It is much more efficient, having a single answer for a single question, as opposed to many contradicting ones. As said before, there are Community groups like the WikiGuides, WIT, and the SPA program that make contributing a lot of fun and provide an opportunity to get to know the site better. Although there are vandals and spammers, there is a Vandal Patrol and Supervisors that are constantly looking out and can block/warn them. People can provide a source on WikiAnswers through the 'related links' option. In addition, the silly questions that are often asked on Yahoo answers, if asked on WikiAnswers, can be deleted/trashed.
• WikiAnswers is better due to there being less vandalism to Yahoo Answers. The answers are given more accurately too. I also think that the system that WikiAnswers uses to moderate the content of the site is much better than Yahoo Answers because there are programs such as SPA, WIT, WikiGuides, Supervisors and Vandal patrol etc. It includes the community more than Yahoo Answers which seems to have a force of moderators that seem to not be able to tell the difference between someone asking a perfectly sensible question and someone asking a stupid question. Yahoo Answers also doesn't have enough moderators for the website size so they introduced the rule that if any user reports another users' answer or question, that answer of question will be removed from the website. This has resulted in users reporting the contributions of their rivals and overall reducing the quality of the site.

(For more information about WikiAnswers, click the Related Link below.)