no.stupid.answers

Social Media Marketing (SSM) Blog did a quick comparison of WikiAnswers and Yahoo! Answers, the two leading Q&A sites on the market right now.

Let’s see what their perspective was, shall we?

On Q&A format:

In Yahoo! Answers, different users can reply with answer to a question, then the asker can select the best answer for that question. In WikiAnswers there is a wiki format which allows users to provide a single answer for each question, and that single answer can be edited and improved by any user.

On contributor personalization:

Users can personalize your profile in WikiAnswers. It gives you more flexibility, such as creating a personal message board, a watch list, a personal community and a personal io page. In Yahoo! Answers, users do not have access to personal networks or other personalizations.

Continue reading the article for statistical comparisons as well. It’s a little strange that they didn’t highlight the fact that while Yahoo! Answers leads the market by a vast majority, WikiAnswers is the fastest growing Q&A site and gaining on their top competitor constantly.

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!