Why are the people on Mahalo Answers so much more courteous than the ones on Yahoo Answers?
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M$7 Answers
#1 It isn't really that popular yet. As a service becomes more popular the general populace's civility tends to decline. Kind of like tends to happen when you compare smaller towns to big cities.
#2 The linking of a points system and then even tying it to the possibility of a monetary return can be a great incentive for being nice. I mean really, are you going to be as likely to tip someone that answers well in one thread if they are off trolling or being a total jerk in others?
Having said that, this is my first post here. I hope your observation about the courteous nature is true.
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M$Two, Mahalo staff go out of their way to make sure that askers are treated respectfully. They prune out anyone who is being disrespectful or rude on a regular basis. It simply won't be tolerated.
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M$
Yep, there was a Mahalo community. Also, "beta testers" who were already Mahalo fans or Mahalo affiliates had two weeks before the public debut of the site to play around, ask and answer good questions, and help to shape the culture of the site.
(Full Disclosure: I am one of those fans/affiliates.)
Was there already a community around Mahalo before Answers was introduced? That might've helped.
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
I'd add that Yahoo Answers' customer support has fostered some of the rudeness by unresponsive to user inquiries, and by being less than impartial or generally unhelpful.
Point gaming is a frequent problem on YA. Users with multiple accounts will bolster themselves by bestowing "Best Answer" on their main account from various satellite accounts.
I've frequently seen legitimate Q&A which follows the stated community guidelines be stricken, and upon appeal remaining so without recourse. Some users (notably one with at least a dozen separate accounts) are "report monkeys" who will target content posted by users they have a grudge against, and systematically use each account to report the content, which leads to it (and possibly the targeted user) being deleted from the system.
Yahoo Answers customer support seems to not have a means, let alone a commitment, to policing these kinds of activities effectively, it happens regularly.
Long time YA user, pals with many like-minded YA users. You can check out http://suggestions.yahoo.com, the Yahoo Answers section, to see a slice of the user population and its issues in its natural habitat.
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
Mahalo is going to be different in that there is a dedicated staff that is here to keep the place clean and enjoyable for everyone.
Going beyond what has been said there is also a strong feeling of community right now. This helps keep everyone in check as we call people out and report issues as soon as they arrive. This feeling of community also gives a welcoming feeling to new members and makes them less likely to become one of the disrespectful types.
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
I might make some snarky comments from time to time, and I realize they don't help the asker directly, but I do think they function to help indicate community norms in an amusing way, as long as they are kept to an absolute minimum and aren't mean-spirited. I should probably dial it back a little, I think.
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
Good analysis. I think that snark can be a fine line to walk, for sure. But your overall goal should be focused on does your response address the question?
Recently, I declined to choose as "best" an otherwise great answer about something because it led with two full paragraphs of snark before it actually answered the question. Yeah, it was funny, but it was also somewhat disrespectful to the asker, and made it hard to figure out what the answer actually was. (Names and specifics have been withheld to protect the innocent).
Never hurts to err on the side of politeness, IMHO.
