Why do people use Yahoo Aswers for questions that can be easily answered with a search engine?

Question

Are people just lazy? Just curious about people will say? And why do answer-people just copy and paste their answers from the web into this thing too?

Answer 1

I know. It drives me crazy. Someone today asked for websites for George Washington. Look it up, *****!

Answer 2

Here is an Answer NOT using a Search Engine! Most People don't know either so they use the Web as a RESOURCE to Answer Questions. Not Everyone is an Expert in Every Subject. I try to Answer in the History Section Because I am Interested in History. By clicking on Questions You can Learn Allot. Even if People Used Google or other Sources. If it Helps the Person Answer the Question they asked then It shouldn't Matter Where the Answer Came From.

Answer 3

Fair question.

I think mostly Yahoo Answers is like a game or a social interaction. It hinges on user participation - and so the fun of the game is call and response.

Obviously, in the Religion section it's a wide open arena and not for the thin skinned. Computer and Car sections tend to be honest queries in need of information and help.

The entire range exists here - it's only fun if people are playing. The "expert" who cuts and pastes answers may think he's helpful, the "goadster" who asks questions just poke a stick at the angry cat, the "philosopher" who tries to take the broadest stance (that's me!): all get to play the game and have fun with it. It's terribly narcissistic when someone asks about boy troubles or cheating wife troubles - but we can all peek into someone else's woes.

So ... search engines and pasting aside, mostly it's just playing and having fun interacting in this wide forum.

Answer 4

I believe that many students don't read the assigned material from their courses and don't listen to their teachers. They prefer to hear the subject discussed through an "informal" contact. They don't seem interested in validity, authorized versions or factual presentations. They will rely more upon Yahoo! Answers before they rely upon a Googled hit or a Wikipedia page.

I think, too, that the students who ask the questions are copying the answers into their papers that they are preparing as answers to their assignments. These "informal" answers are not strictly structured and don't sound like something out of a book or an authentic source, so the answers appear more "spontaneous."

Answer 5

It must be partially laziness. But I also notice that a lot of people don't know how to use a search engine, and give up after typing in a single keyword, without knowing about exact search, or without changing the search engine defaults.

Only yesterday the owner of the local newspaper shop asked me about a grafitti on his facade : "Carlo Vive!". He told me he had searched the Internet and "found nothing". A quick Google brought me hundreds of websites and a Wikipedia article about Carlo Guliani, the Italian anarchist anti-globalist who was killed during the demonstartions against the G8 summit in Genua in 2001. Happens all the time.

Even my own family thinks I'm some sort of an "Internet Magician" who spent years refining his carft, and don't believe me when I tell them that I can teach them in about three hours.

Answer 6

Yahoo Answers is educational and fun. People don't just ask questions because they are looking for an answer. They ask questions to see if others know. That is what I noticed, sometime I provide information that I google searched and so do many others but someone with a sarcastic answer end up getting the best answer. So I realized "Wow, this person didn't want a real answer, they wanted someone to agree with."

Answer 7

I would assume at least one of the following...

To get random answers that a search engine wont provide

To use the internet in a more social manner

Laziness

And for those that really dont know how to fine tune searches to provide the best answers


And for those that cut/copy from other sources - quicker that retyping it word for word!

Answer 8

The answer could be:

A. They're school kids cheating with classmates giving and receiving answers on standardised tests.

B. They're sock puppet accounts from top contributors who are trying to get more points.

C. They're part of a circle of friends who are bumping each other up levels on Y! answers.

D. They're secret agent moderators for Wikipedia.

E. All of the above

Answer 9

You might be right about laziness. I guess you know all about wanting to see what others have to say or else you would not have asked a question. I will give you a warm fuzzy for having what seems to be all the answers to your own question and having the ability to turn one question in to a multiple question giving us answers a little something to do. Kudos to you.

Answer 10

Obviously you, me and the other 24 people who have answered your question are a very special elite of highly intelligent people who walk around with a vast compendium of knowledge, perhaps even wisdom, in our brains (in other words, frustrated would-be "Jeopardy" contestants) who would never stoop so low as to Google an answer from Wikipedia.

In short, they're not like us.

Answer 11

I realize you are not talking about the types of questions which involve discussion or opinion, but that simply lazy questions such as "What is a tiger?"

Google that shiznit. Wiki-mofo-pedia.

The people that asks such questions here are either lazy, stupid, or both. The apparently don't want to read a web article on the subject and think it through, they would rather just be told what to think.

The same explanation can be used to explain why G.W. Bush got 2 terms as US President.