no.stupid.answers

With enthusiasm matching that of the WikiAnswers community-at-large, dozens of Answers Corp employees gathered together for the best use of the lunchroom ever… A mini AnswerThon, where they could actually win something for participating.

From product managers to office managers, system techies to content editors, the room was filled with the diversity and creativity of the team behind WikiAnswers.

Here’s a run down in photos:

Busy bees at work!

I wonder which category he’s getting so thoughtful about…

Sometimes the floor is the best place to find the answers to life’s questions. Or recategorize them.

Hey, what’s so funny - the Humor and Amusement category?

Nothing like going to work on WikiAnswers…

Yesterday the latest WikiAnswers newsletter went out, and I thought I’d recap the highlights for y’all in case you aren’t on the mailing list. If you’d like to be added to the mailing list, leave a comment and I’ll pass your name along to the powers-that-be.

On to the news… letter:

New chance to win prizes with Mission: Recategorization

Missed out on the AnswerThon? No sweat. Mission: Recategorization is the challenge to recategorize the most questions located in the Uncategorized category to their appropriate categories. The contest started last night at midnight, and lasts until 11:59pm (EDT) on Monday, August 11th.

There are prizes to be won! Find out more and get started.
________________________________________

AnswerThon Results

Thanks to everyone who participated in the first ever charity-edition WikiAnswers AnswerThon! Hundreds of contributors sponsored a charitable organization by answering questions from July 26-27. See the list of winners and participants on the AnswerThon results page.
________________________________________

Introducing the Community Development Team

We’ve created a Community Development team of Wikiholics to support the rapidly-growing WikiAnswers community. There’s nothing like keeping that addiction to WikiAnswers alive!

To briefly introduce the team: Deb, Brave3, Robin, Zanbabe, and Eliesheva. Feel free to stop by their Message boards and offer your suggestions and feedback.

________________________________________

Dispute Resolution on WikiAnswers

The Community Advisor Team is a new initiative to have a Dispute Resolution program for the community. Our aim is to make you feel comfortable settling disputes with your fellow contributors. To ensure impartiality, the team remains anonymous. Review Community Guidelines & Dispute Resolution in the Help Center.

________________________________________

New feature: Share your Q&A

Now you can share any Q&A page however you prefer! Use the Share button below answered questions to add the Q&A page to your favorites or post it on social networking/bookmarking sites (like MySpace, Facebook, Delicious, Twitter and Digg). Learn more about the Share button.

________________________________________

Name the Youth/Teen Group Contest

WikiAnswers recognizes youth contributors as valuable members of the Q&A community and so we are announcing the WikiAnswers Teen/Youth Initiative.

Here’s where the contest (with prizes) comes in: This program needs a name! Submit your name suggestion by Wednesday, August 6, and win! Get contest details.

Do do do… do do do… do do do… do do.

Ahem.

Welcome to Mission: Recategorization. Your mission, should you choose to accept it:

Help WikiAnswers recategorize the flood of questions that is taking over the Uncategorized category. If the level gets too high, questions may explode, contributors may drown and the little orange guys across the site will probably head for the hills!

Recategorize the Uncategorized questions into their appropriate categories and win prizes… and save lives!

Where: The comfort of your own computer screen.

When: From 12:00am (EDT) on Tuesday, August 5th, until 11:59pm (EDT) on Monday, August 11th

How: Here’s how to recategorize on WikiAnswers.

Prizes: Plenty of prizes are being given out, including Amazon cash; check them out.

Rules: Questions must be already categorized in Uncategorized to be counted and must be recategorized into appropriate an relevant categories.

Oh, and this is a great opportunity to redeem yourself if you missed out on the recent AnswerThon!

The winning charities and participants of the latest AnswerThon have been announced and congratulated; see who won by clicking below!

Or I could just tell you here.

First place: The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society $5000

Second place: ArtWorks $1500

Third place:CaringBridge $500

The other two charities, Global AIDS Alliance and World of Good, will receive runners-up donations of $100 each.

The top 20 answerers (will get WikiAnswers t-shirts):

Darksyde
Kodiakcathy
Stupid little genius
JRWADDY
Mntnapoet
WikiRicki
BigSisterKnows
ThatwouldBme
Aggie80
Singingangel93
Tazmcg
Chicagoborn
Robbb
Natural Val
Krazywhitegirl
Porkdisco
Cdonorab
Mattmastersword
Apepper
Xanthotrichious

Stay tuned for more contests coming up soon…

Reported side effects of participating in the AnswerThon, as recorded by several Supervisors:

Numb-bum.

The need to change their focal distance.

Mush for brain with mild blindness kicking in.

Not being able to remember the last time you ate something that required a fork (and a bit of basic attention).

Having a rather large pup lick the keyboard a time or two trying to get your attention.

A lot of Coke-drinking.

The feeling your eyes are crossing.

Falling asleep with head on keyboard resulting in FGHJVBN being repeated for several minutes as an answer.

Not noticing the chickens being released from the yard and herded around and around the house by a well meaning but otherwise bored puppy. (no loss of livestock).

Failure to multitask and leave supper burning on the BBQ while submitting “just one more answer.”

Hey, we said it would be an intense challenge. You still have a few hours left to contribute: Get going!

Folks, this is last call for signing up to participate in the second WikiAnswers AnswerThon, which starts tonight at 12:00 am EDT.

It’s the charity-edition AnswerThon, where your answers are actually sponsoring the charity you choose from the available list. The charity with the most answers at the end of 48 hours will receive a $5,000 donation from WikiAnswers.

Of course, the top answerers will receive a small token of their own, so make sure you have your favorite category set up and dig in!