no.stupid.answers

As reported by the fancy WikiAnswers PR people over at Answers.com headquarters, WikiAnswers now has over 4 million questions under its bulging belt.

With the summer Olympic games in full swing these last few weeks, it’s no shock that the four millionth question went something like this:

Are there any new sports in the 2008 Beijing Olympics?

It has a great answer, too. 3000m Steeplechase… Hmmm… Is that like running after churches?

Congrats to WikiAnswers and the wonderfully active community behind every single question and answer. Some of us had a running poll to guess when the site would reach 4 million. I’m proud to say I optimistically claimed August.

Now, on to 5 million… By next week?

Just recieved an email with this new press release from the Answers folks. It goes on and on about “revenues,” puts the letter Q in front of numbers, and uses words like “sequential,” so I’m taking from it the bit that I think the rest of us really care about.

WikiAnswers’ revenue is up 27% in the last three months: If revenue is up, it must mean that questions, answers, members and community participation are probably up, as well. And that makes for a wonderfully involved Q&A social knowledge site, which is what WikiAnswers is.

Nice to get some good news! Keep it up, community!

And now I present thee with a homemade reflection from Zanbabe, a Senior Supervisor and Mentor on WikiAnswers:

You know, one of the things that we talk about a lot in education is Inquiry-Based Learning. The basic idea is that when you get students (of any age) to ask questions, then they are driving their own learning, and those questions can take people way past the minimum requirements of a subject into complex (and fascinating) areas where they can excel… because they are motivated to learn through their own questions.

When you are the one asking the questions, you integrate the concepts into your conceptual view of the world instead of popping them into short-term storage for the test, and then dumping that information later. We learn much more about the interrelationship of ideas as we question as well, because we are fitting it all into our heads as the way we understand life.

This is one of the reasons that a place like WikiAnswers is amazing. It provides an area where anyone, from anywhere, can learn. And where anyone, from anywhere can teach… and the labels cease to matter, because we’re all learners and all teachers. I answer someone’s question about a science fiction story, and someone else answers my question about how to replace my broken door handle… and everyone wins, and everyone learns.

Sure, some people ask silly questions… and some people post silly answers. But we get a chuckle out of the first, and supervisors monitor the site trying to ensure that people get quality answers.

The great thing is that, despite the existence of vandals, and despite not always having enough Supervisors to keep the site pristine all the time, we really do have a learning community. People who are dedicated to knowledge… to teaching, to learning, and to helping each other. … that is a great group to be a part of, in my book.

-Zanbabe

Want to see a portrait of a dedicated, spirited (and hilarious!) WikiAnswers Contributor?

I present thee with… Marcy. Marcy is a strong gal who hangs in some pretty tough categories (rolling up her sleeves in Relationships and Politics) and she’s earned her way to the Top Contributors List after over 26,000 contributions (and over 3,000 trust points!).

Marcy’s been on board since before WikiAnswers was born and these days she’s now a Senior Supervisor and Mentor, to say the least.

Here’s a deeper peek into what makes this WikiAnswers wizard tick:

How did you originally hear about WikiAnswers?

I came across FAQ Farm first while doing research and the site intrigued me and since I enjoy helping those in need and have a thirst for knowledge the rest is history.

What motivates you to volunteer your time to the WikiAnswers community?

I have a great thirst for knowledge, plus I have learned much in my 66 years of life and if I can help but one person then it makes me feel like I have done something useful. It also opens up a new area to make some good friends in the process.

What is your area of expertise?

Relationships, Health, Pets, Vietnam War, Politics.

What is the funniest question/funniest experience as a Supervisor on WikiAnswers?

Funniest question: Is the vagina at the front or the back?

Funniest experience: Having a [WikiAnswers] poster email me and tell me I was a ‘ho.’ I worked hard for that title! LOL

Share a random fact about yourself.

I am good at photography and spend a lot of time digitally repairing old and new photos for some clients and also for friends.

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

For today’s WikiAnswers Wednesday question, I’m going to go for painstakingly obvious. I think it goes well with my hazel eyes.

Is there a good social search engine where one can search and have questions answered at the same time?

Hmm… While I work that one out, I’d like to bring up an article I just read on the Reuters site: Answers.com sees growth in wiki responses. It’s a quick exploration into where Answers.com, with WikiAnswers by its side, is going as discussed by some of its head honchos.

“Somewhere between Google Inc and the community-generated Wikipedia, reference website Answers.com aims to build a new growth model.

The site has found its millions of users are keen to get community-written bits of knowledge, known as wikis, alongside its trusted encyclopedia entries.” (source)

Gotta love that explanation. A lot of times, when I’m hanging out with people and they ask me what I do, and I mention WikiAnswers, and their faces get all crinkly like one of those mush-face dogs (see right), I explain it like this:

Me: “You know Wikipedia?”

Crinkly face: “Yes…”

Me: “You know how it’s an encyclopedia that anyone can edit?”

Crinkly face: “Ok…”

Me: “So WikiAnswers is a Q&A community, meaning it’s a giant database of questions and answers, contributed by people from all over the world and all kinds of experience. Everyone contributes a bit, creating one complete answer for each question. You can ask or answer anything you like.”

Crinkly face: “OoOOOOoOooOOOo…”

Back to the article:

“Both sites pull up answers based on a question posed by a user, compared with searches for individual keywords used on sites like industry leader Google.”

“Chief Executive Bob Rosenschein said the company would foster more “cross-pollination” between Answers.com and WikiAnswers.com, including a shared search bar.” (source)

Bringing the reference answers side together with the community-generated answers side sounds like a wonderful idea. It’s going to create a powerful force you might want to call a social search engine.

Hmm, so what was that WikiAnswers Wednesday question again?