no.stupid.answers

The WikiAnswers.com community seems to have really gained quality contributors in the last few months; so many people who just joined since December 2008 have been really climbing up the badges ladder…

Take Ninjambo for instance: Sean joined just recently and has already managed to work his way into the Community Outreach Program, racked up enough contributions to be a Bronze contributor and has also been made a Special Projects Assistant. Not bad for a guy who is a student in his ’spare’ time!

Like many other contributors, Ninjambo has been keeping track of his accomplishments across WikiAnswers, including milestones like contributions, badges and personal goals.

In addition, Sean loves lacrosse, baseball, skateboarding, snowboarding, scootering, biking, and is a self-proclaimed King of Ping Pong. His favorite colors are green and blue… Hmm, wonder why?

How did you originally hear about WikiAnswers?

My friend told me about Answers.com, and from there I learned about WikiAnswers.

Explain your username.

My username is 100% random. Me and my friend John were thinking of a name for our YouTube channel, and suddenly we came up with Ninjambo. I use this username for many sites I am a part of now.

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

I love answering questions, as well as having my own questions answered. I only answered/asked a few questions on WikiAnswers a tiny bit for about a month or two after I made my account. Then, on February 20th I really looked at the site and its features, and I suddenly became an active contributor. I also like the badges. =D

What are your areas of expertise?

I know a lot about Lacrosse, YouTube, and some video games.

What is your favorite WikiAnswers feature?

I like the faceless orange people on the badges.

What has been the funniest question you’ve seen or your funniest experience on WikiAnswers?

When Robin was telling what WikiGuide team I was on. She forgot to fill in all the blanks on the auto email message that is sent to new members. It struck me as funny at the moment.

Share a random fact (or two) about yourself.

I love Dr. Pepper and when I say Dr. Pepper I run over to my fridge and pray there will be a Dr. Pepper in there (There never is one there, and I know it before I open the fridge).

I love making YouTube videos, but I always forget to upload videos I make, so they’re uploaded months after they are filmed.

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

Here’s an example of someone who is just all about helping people: Kharrima has studied childhood education, was a gymnastics coach for kids of all ages, is putting together several cookbooks for publication, and worked as an activities director for a non-profit geared to helping local military troops.

And that’s all offline… When she’s not busy being amazing out there in the world, the Arkansas native is spending her time on the wiki-world of WikiAnswers as a Category Supervisor, Mentor, WikiGuide, Vandal Patrol member, and Silver Contributor.

And now for a bit more about Kharrima and what makes her tick:

How did you originally hear about WikiAnswers?

I heard about WikiAnswers when I was trying to write a paper for my ‘History of American People to 1877′ class. I was stuck on finding some information and when I Googled what I needed it brought up WikiAnswers.

Explain your username.

My username is simply the first letter of my first name and the first 5 letters of my last name! I’m not that creative! ha…

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

My main motivation for volunteering on WikiAnswers is simply knowing that with the time and effort I put into it, I know that I am helping someone. On a very small scale it can help you understand how it feels to be a doctor, police officer, EMT, etc. You obviously aren’t stitching up any wounds on WikiAnswers but you still get that feeling of “Hey, I just helped you out.’ Some of the questions really give you that satisfaction more than others, of course, but all together it’s just a great feeling.

What are your areas of expertise?

Well I supervise a lot of categories, a couple of which are not my expertise but I still can answer a lot of questions and try to keep that category free of questions that don’t belong or free of vandalism. I was a competitive gymnast and a gymnastics coach for 5 years so I would definitely say that gymnastics is definitely one of those areas. I also study pregnancy quite a bit and know a lot about it (I am going to school to be an ultrasound technician currently) so I try to help out there a lot too. I know a pretty good bit about Arkansas as well. So I would say those three main areas are my expertise.

What is your favorite WikiAnswers feature?

Hmm… My favorite WikiAnswers feature. Well most all of the features are extremely useful, but I have to say I like that we Supervisors can feature questions. The merging and splitting of questions is also a great one too!

What is the funniest question you’ve seen or the funniest experience you’ve had on WikiAnswers?

Well, one of the funniest questions I have seen was when someone had submitted a question on WikiAnswers and wanted to know if she was pregnant because her eye was hurting.

Another funny experience I have had (twice actually) is that as a WikiGuide, I leave welcome messages on new contributors’ message boards, and I usually include in my message, “if you have any questions feel free to leave me a message on my message board.” Well one day I noticed I had a new message from one of the users I had greeted and it said, “NICE TO MEET SOME ONE, EMAIL ME JUST TO MAKE SURE YOUR NOT A COMPUTER PROGRAM.” That gave me a good laugh!

Share a random fact (or two) about yourself.

Well I guess this is pretty random!!! In the course of two years I have been to three different colleges and had three different majors and now that I am a medical major I will be transferring to a medical school next fall (hopefully, if I get in)! I don’t have commitment issues, I have decision issues! ha…

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

WikiAnswers takes its communities very seriously. That’s right, I said communities - plural. That’s because there are tons of different sub communities on WikiAnswers.

To start, check out the growing list of different types of community members. WikiAnswers contributors have a wide variety of ways they can choose to participate, fulfilling a diverse rainbow of roles.

Of course, you can be a plain old contributor if you like… Or if obsessive editing is your thing, you can jazz up your experience by joining as a Premier Editor; same goes for Premier Answerers.

If you like to change it up, consider becoming a Special Projects Assistant and working on what needs to be done most.

If you enjoy the nit picking type of activity, the Exterminators‘ hunt for site bugs and irregularities could be your calling.

Or, join a program:

The Supervisor Community is the group of hundreds of Supervisors whose job it is to keep watch of categories, and make sure the site stays clean and organized. Supervisors come in all different sizes, shapes and colors… Or, at least their badges do. Learn more about Floating Supervisors, Category Supervisors and Senior Supervisors.

The Community Outreach Program hosts several kinds of opportunities for being involved in community efforts. Join and become a WikiGuide, Talent Scout or Forum Fanatic. Welcome and interact with new members.

The Mentoring Program is designed to offer guidance and support for brand new Supervisors (or those who want a brush up on WikiAnswers protocol). Mentors are friendly WikiAnswers folks who have been around the wiki-block quite a few times.

Wiki Influential Teens, or WIT, is a fairly new initiative to give teens on WikiAnswers their own group with which to come up wit ideas, create new projects and participate in contests for prizes.

The Vandal Patrol is a sector of Supers who keep watch for vandals, spammers and general no-good doers. The goal of the patrol is to clean up the vandalism as fast as possible, while swiftly taking care to make sure the perps don’t try it again.