no.stupid.answers

This week, we are checking in with another of our awesome Senior Supers – Aggie80. Around since the days of FAQ Farm, Aggie is a true champion among champions. On his list of accolades is winner of our first ever AnswerThon (and winning or placing in almost most every contest that has followed), just shy of 4,000 Trust Points, a whopping 350,000 contributions and participant in just about every site program in existence today! Wow! The community would not be the same without our most cherished Aggie80. Read on to learn what he’s up to these wiki days:

What is your Answers.com user name?

Aggie80 (Let’s keep the real one out of it!) Aggie is because I am a Texas Aggie, a former student of Texas A&M University and a product of the Corps of Cadets. Yes, I was an officer in the US Navy. And not only is 80 the number in my Aggie ring, it was the year I graduated!

Most common question I am asked: Are you really 109?

Nope. In the early ages of time, as this board hauled itself out of the primordial ooze on its way to becoming the top Answer site on the World Wide Web, a year had to be entered with the birthdate. I didn’t care to share my birth year with the world, so rather than appear to be an infant, I put the oldest year possible, which at that time made me 107 years old. Since then two years have gone by! But I’m less than half that.

How long have you been with the community? What are some of the badges you hold? Awards won?

I joined FAQ Farm, the predecessor to WikiAnswers, in January of 2007 back when it was still being run by Chris Whitten. I have a note from Chris welcoming me as a Supervisor on January 10, 2007.

I won the very first AnswerThon with a paltry 552 answers in 48 hours. Since then I’ve been a top contender in just about every contest held on the site. According to the answer on the WikiAnswers site, I hold more badges than any other individual with ten.

Remind us of what brought you to Answers.com and what keeps you around.

I have a deep desire to be a college professor. Until that happens, I get some of that teaching drive out of my system by working on the site. I have a wide variety of interests, which can be fairly easily ascertained by reading the list of topics that I supervise. Answers.com helps keep me connected with all of them, something that can be hard to do!

The opportunity to learn is also a key draw. I know more now about marriage laws, postage rates, emancipation and military awards then I ever did before! Through some of my friendships on the site, I’ve learned about other countries. (Thanks, HyperX!)

I get frustrated with the nonsense and bad answers provided and want to fix it all! I’ve had to resign myself to the fact that there is only so much one person can do. I would say my first priority is to get as much of the nonsense off the site as possible. It helps that so much can now be done with single mouse clicks! It allows me to multitask while eating lunch or another task.

Since you were last featured, have there been any changes in your life? Exciting new developments?

Oh, just one or two. My daughters graduated high school last year and have now finished their first year of college. I lost a job with an auto company and after being out of work for about 3 months managed to land a very similar job with an IT company. I was lucky compared to many that live around me that have been out of work for much longer than that. I appreciate all the good wishes from my colleagues at WikiAnswers! They provided a lot of encouragement when it was really needed.

Are you involved in any new hobbies or activities (outside of Answers.com)?

I’m slowly (too slowly for my family!) learning the ukulele. I ran across a YouTube video of Julia Nunes (jaaaaaaa) last year and it sort of snowballed. Using the gift cards won on WikiAnswers in the various contests, I’ve purchased a ukulele, numerous instruction books and lots of CDs of ukulele music by Julia, Wade Johnston, Molly Lewis, Jake Shimabukuro and others. I’ve even gotten to see live concerts by Julia and Jake!

And there is the stop motion movie that my daughter and I put together; all of the props are things from WikiAnswers!

What one feature on Answers.com are you directly responsible for suggesting?

Wow! That would be hard to say. I’ve made many suggestions on the various features and certainly provided a huge amount of feedback to the staff on all sorts of items. I know I have often chimed in on things others have suggested.

One of the early contests was a Charity AnswerThon. My daughter, Xanthotrichious, suggested the idea and I pitched it to the Community Team and it became a reality! It was pretty neat and I was pretty proud of my daughter for the idea.

If you could sum up your experiences on Answers.com in five words, what would you say?

Community, learning, sharing, challenging fun!

Do you want to be interviewed for the Contributor corner? Just leave a comment below and we’ll get to work.

Nevermind Avatar. Forget James Cameron. Most of all, who needs a 300+ million dollar budget?

Not Aggie80 who attended Answers Summit 2009, nor Xanthotrichious, his partner in wiki (and daughter). The duo presents us with their short film portraying the battle of the WikiAnswers ninjas and pirates. Must see for yourself!

Is Aggie80 competitive?  Nah.  He’s only placed in seven WikiAnswers contests, won one WAmmy award and one Wizards of Wiki award during his tenure as a supervisor on Answers.com.  I was about to greet him at the Answers Summit in Atlanta a couple weeks ago when I noticed he was typing on his laptop.  I inquired about what he was doing.  He was answering questions in the Holiday AnswerThon naturally!  Whatever it takes to keep his winning streak alive…  This week Aggs waxes poetic about his favorite pastime, the AnswerThon, in the Poetry Cafe.

[If you would like your original poetry profiled on this blog, please e-mail it to poetry @ wikianswers.com (no spaces) and include your Answers.com username!]

An AnswerThon Weekend, by Aggie80 (with apologies to Clement Clark Moore)

’Twas the night before AnswerThon, when all through the house
The only creature stirring was the computer mouse
The keyboard was placed by the monitor with care
Ready for the AnswerThon that soon would be there.

The Super was nestled all snug in his blanket
The WikiAnswers logo more than apparent
And wife in her T-Shirt and I in my cap
Had just settled down to brace for attack.

When up on the screen there arose such a chatter
I checked message boards to see what was the matter
Opened a window, fingers flew in a flash
Popped open more tabs and adobe flash.

Disdainful answers to things you should know
Threw a pall on the knowledge deleted below
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But the Vandal Patrol and their warnings so clear,
With nimble fingers to delete the perverted,
I knew in a moment it would soon be reverted.

They spoke not a word, but went straight to their work,
Reverted the answers and then blocked that jerk.
And laying my finger aside of my mouse,
I comment to no one, “We fixed that louse.”

More rapid then eagles the key strokes they came
They chatted and messaged and typed out by name
Now, Deb, now Brave3, now Ami and Apryl
On Jade, on Bob, on Aggie and Crystal!
To the pages and references that sit by the chair
Looking for answers that soon would be there.

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
So up to the screen the answers they flew,
Devoid of the insults and bad spelling too.

Sunday morning came early the answers still flowed
The gleam of the hunt from my eyes still glowed
By afternoon’s light, my fervor had faded,
My answers were terse and some thought  jaded.
The crust of a pizza I held tight in my teeth,
The steam of my coffee round my head like a wreath.

I have a broad face and a little round belly,
That shakes, when I laugh, like a bowlful of jelly.
I was dressed in pajamas, from head to my foot
And my clothes were all wrinkled and crumby to boot.

My eyelids were sagging, my disposition not sunny!
My cheeks were all flush, my nose sort of runny!
My oversized forehead was certainly aglow,
And the chin full of stubble had had three days to grow.

Though chubby and plump, a right jolly old super,
I laughed at the mirror at my own sleepless stupor.
A kink in my neck and an ache in my back
Soon gave me to know I was an aging old hack.

I had given my all, I had done my best,
It was now time for a well deserved rest.
But a moment to post, on my WikiAnswers wall
“To all a good answer and Season’s Greetings to all!”

This past weekend was an exciting and intense AnswerThon, mainly due to the fact that the first prize is a $1,000 Amazon gift card… Not to mention, 34 other prizes available to other winners and runners up!

Keep in mind, the folks mentioned below managed to answer hundreds – and some over one thousand – questions in a 48-hour period over the weekend.

So, on to the winners. Drum roll, please….

FIRST Place goes to Blue, who clocked in with over 1600 answers!

SECOND Place is taken by Aggie80, a past champion who answered over 1200 times!

THIRD Place prizes are awarded to Fuzzy Logic (1100+), Porkchop1802 (900+) and Steven Keyman (900+).

The thirty RUNNERS UP include: HisPowr4U, Darksyde, Anandvijayakumar, EndTrans, Xuxa, Ftaylor13, Chemistry4thewin, Ananddave, Jadeacres, Ibbag, Manikkpudur, George McCasland, ThePigWhisperer, Blackwolfspirit, Jute, Squirrel Man, Ilovebulldogs, Webby08, Mathdoc, Funbelow, EducationsAdvocate, Idisjunction, Hilmarz, Kharrima, Bluedolphin30, Armoryhistorian, Ginezumi, MattApril, C.Hainsaw, and Wiki Gator.

Thanks to everyone who participated this weekend! And congrats to the winners. Until next time… you are the AnswerThon champions!

Stay tuned for some news regarding future contests coming soon… All I can say is, more contests, more often. I said, stay tuned!