Sources sources sources! On fact based questions it's all about having a reliable source to back up your info. I saw a question the other day about what percentage of people part their car in their garage. Someone just said 70-80% do without leaving a source and thus nobody trusted the reliability of the answer. So, for the new users I'd say always know your source and don't claim answers as your own when you use something from said source.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8To-6VIJZRE
Source(s):
myself!

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Mahalo Answers is a community of researchers whose mission is to help people find answers and information they trust. Staying focused on helping the user is the core of what we do, and most questions you face can be answered by simply referencing our mission and asking: "does this help the user find information they can trust?"
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Sources are important, but don't make your answer up out of nothing BUT sources. Summarize the answer the sources give you; explain why the sources are important. If you can link stuff from one source together with stuff from another source to create something entirely new, that's even better.

If the answer is a matter of opinion, you should provide some supporting rationales to justify your opinion. Sources can be helpful in that, too, but opinion-based answers do not have to be entirely factual in nature.
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Don't copy and paste.

Answer in your own words and explain what you mean. The asker wants to know every detail. This does't mean you write till kingdom comes! It means you write all the points needed for the answer to be good.

Some questions may require one or two words - maybe a phrase. Other questions, (often with high tips), require a lot of detail, some hard work and of course all the facts correct.

As well, enjoy Mahalo - if you don't enjoy it, you will probably leave and go onto Yahoo Answers. (But who would do that!!!)
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Always provide sources to your answers! I also recommend not always choosing to get an email sent to you, if you do not want updates on a particular question. You can also vote on answers, so don't forget that!
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Answer the question. If someone asks a multiple part question, be sure you answer all the parts.
Add sources, as everyone else has suggested. Bear in mind that the asker could probably have Googled or Wikied (or Mahalo'd) the answer themselves, and provide a better quality/sourced/interpreted response. If someone asks "What's your favorite..." you don't necessarily need sources.
Resist using humor, especially sarcasm. It doesn't translate well in a print-only medium, and can cause image problems for you. If there's a humor-related question, though - have at it!
Do not click "No" on "Helpful Answer" unless someone has really been UNhelpful. An example would be a smart aleck remark in response to a question, or an accusation, or missing the point of the question entirely. Not helpful does not mean "I don't agree with this answer". There's no better way to anger the community than to arbitrarily mark unhelpful.
Be kind. Not everyone using this service speaks English as their first language, or is having a great day.
Make us all smile, including yourself. Share photos and stories and experiences that illustrate your point. Funny pictures of Calacanis' bulldogs were some of the things that first attracted me to this group.
Have fun!
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Draw upon your experiences and give the best advice you can. Follow up with sources that will provide even more clarity to the asker.

Also, explore!!!! Find questions that you have NO idea what the answer is and see what people have provided. I PROMISE you'll learn something new and cool everyday!

(yes, I realize this is TWO pieces of advice, but it's important!)
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Read the original question and already given answers and comments in their entirety !

Also, Please take the word "Can't" and "Isn't" out of your vocabulary.

This can't be done...
This isn't possible...
You can't do this...
I can't find..

Etc , you get the idea.

Just because someone asks A question that you are even 110% sure of the answer of productivity isn't available, this doesn't mean someone else might not know A productive solution.

In short....... don't answer crap.

Sorry to put it like that but pft.
Source(s):
My Brain.

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Ten pieces of advice:

1. Don't directly quote without attributing to the source! It's plagiarism.
2. It's been said in other answers but I'll say it again. Don't answer without seeing what other people have answered first. You risk repeating someone else's answer. Try to always contribute something new.
3. Don't answer what you don't know!
4. Be courteous and as helpful as possible.
5. Don't be afraid to refute facts. It's useful.
6. If you have a small tidbit or something you want to add, comment instead of answering.
7. When citing or listing sources, link to the specific pages instead of just the domain. It's much better to link to an article than say your source is webmd.com and leave it at that.
8. Edit if you find ways you can improve your answer. That's what it's there for!
9. Vote helpful on the answers you find helpful and like. Often you see comments and positive feedback on questions but no helpful votes. Helpful votes make people happy about their hard work.

10. And this, IMO is the most important one... Read the small print on the questions! Sometimes people only read the title and not the explanation. In the explanation the asker often specifies what they're looking for and it's important you read that as well. It prevents misunderstandings and superfluous answers. It also helps you do a better job!
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I would say, "Warning! If you give your opinion on an opinion question and expect to get flamed because other people don't agree with you, I am afraid that you are going to be sadly disappointed."
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A lot of questions can be answered with a link. But this doesn't help people looking at these questions in the future. If that link disappears or changes the link won't be updated. So I feel you should copy and properly quote the part that answers the question. The number one answer says use your own words. The problem is some us are not adept at the language. I see no problem with copy and paste and quoting well. Especially in the case where your reporting on a report.

(IE What happened to such and such today?, Who did what today?, Who is blah dating?)

These examples are mostly gossip/news. In these cases because your not an eyewitness I see no problem with quoting the sources directly on the page.
Source(s):
My addled brain.

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I think the best piece of advice I can give is to make your best effort to help the asker. If you're doing this, you'll be friendly; you'll be honest in listing your sources and avoiding plagarism; you'll be as complete as you can without writing the definitive book on the subject; you'll be kind; you won't risk getting into flame wars; you'll try to make sure they understand by writing well and clearly; you'll try to make MA the kind of site people want to come back to and read. In short, giving your best effort to helping people will get you doing the right things, and keep you from doing the wrong ones. And in turn, your answers will be more likely to be chosen as the best ones.

The Golden Rule goes a long way here.
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