Competition: good or bad? Ive just realised why yahoo answers is one of the most....?

Question

subtley brilliant inventions of all time.

There is a competitive element, getting a best answer I think makes any user swell with pride. Anyone putting a qustion has a limitles supply of opinion, from people not only wanting to be helpfull, but some competitive for points and recognition, most people a mixture of both.

Harnessing competitiveness, which I see as a usually destructive emotion, to do just the opposite, to help your "competitors" is a richly ironic piece of genius.

It just got me thinking about how competition has positive spin offs in other parts of life, like in business for example.......

Opinions please........

(ps. No, I don't work for Yahoo!)

LYNN A: I dont doubt you have helped people, but you are receiving your reward in a different way. You have publicised the fact you heped this woman, and therefore have received recognition in a public way. I dont think anyone gets a kick through points, its what points mean - that, you are the cleverist, the smartest, the most helpfull/knowledgable/compassionate. You obviously get a major kick through this recognition from what you said below, so attacking people who are doing the same thing is a bit elitest "I help people for purer motives than anyone else" Points are just recognition, the recognition you seem to like. Like any normal human being!

Answer 1

A certain amount of competition has always been good for society. From a health standpoint, competition makes people work harder and train to be better atheletes, and thus healthier in general. From a business standpoint, competition drives companies to improve their products, streamline their production methods and develop the most effective methods of distributing wares. Even in healthcare, when physicians compete to be the best in their fields, it drives them to develop new medical discoveries.

If people were willing to just have exactly what everyone else had, there would be no drive to improve anything in life. We would essentially be in caves wearing animal skins. Even the competitiveness inpolitics helps us to develop the laws which make us civilized.

EDIT: A note after Lynn A's comment, most of us generally stick to our own areas, occasionally we see a question from another area that grabs us (like this one). I usually answer in just a few subjects, YA chose to put a top contributor box on my avatar, but I also liked the notes I got from people, until I started getting some that were rude/vulgar/obscene. Thus the points competition is the only way I can see if my answer are appropriate.

Answer 2

I have always said yahoo would be more efficient without the point system. That would weed out people making a game out of yahoo answers..those looking for that pat on the back, that 10 point prize, as if it really makes our life better. But I guess the makers of yahoo answers felt, incorrectly, that most things are done well when there's more competition.

I've found when someone is running to stab me in the back or compete for my job, I don't do better..I do it more incomplete. I second guess myself, wondering their objectives. I lose my footing. So I don't worry about points...I stick to subjects i have experience with. I dont try to be cute, witty or anything else..but to help others. Once a woman wrote and said I helped save her marriage, she had gone through something we all do....and my insight gave her peace of mind. That's all I'm here for. I'm not changing the world but if I can help someone rest easy or feel less alone, that helps me sleep at night.

EDITED TO RESPOND TO YOUR ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS:

you said "You have publicised the fact you heped this woman, and therefore have received recognition in a public way."

I hadn't told the story for recognition (which I think you lost the point), it was to prove some get satisfaction in helping others. My story proved that some are helped when you give heartfelt answers, not based on points.

" I dont think anyone gets a kick through points, its what points mean - that, you are the cleverist, the smartest, the most helpfull/knowledgable/compassionate."

That's where the lie is. I've found some of the most inane answers get a 10 rating..because askers are looking for someone who agrees with them. "Is Britney a hot wonderful singer?" You say no but some teenie bopper says "omg like yes!" and gets a 10 rating. Best answer? Smartest? Most clever? No.

"You obviously get a major kick through this recognition from what you said below, so attacking people who are doing the same thing is a bit elitest "I help people for purer motives than anyone else""

Misconstrued again. How do you know I get a "major kick" from getting Best Answer? I already said I don't. I said I enjoy helping others...if that makes me elitist, so be it. I also volunteer in shelters because I like helping people....no recognition, so "smarty pants" award. I guess that makes me elitist too.

"Points are just recognition, the recognition you seem to like."

Where did I say I enjoyed receiving points??? Sorry but your arguements further proves my point- most question askers dont want a truthful answer, they want to rant and have someone agree with them.

Answer 3

you comprehend - to procure a element there. With Yahoo, or the different website of this type, the competition is over a scale of hundreds of thousands of people desirous to make a contribution and proportion concepts - that being the first reason. effective opposition usually generates creativity and pass of concepts. yet, company u . s . a . has pushed a lifestyle that suits all its expertise in the infamous bell curve and drives one group member against the different, coz each and each's bonus relies upon how extra desirable (or worse) they carry out against one yet another. i've got usually contemplated how a business enterprise might desire to force opposition without turning its workers against one yet another - and that's a comfortable element to stability. might desire to it is a danger for agencies to undertake diverse overall performance recommendations in diverse lines of agencies? That way, they get overall performance measures and desirable rewards on one line of business enterprise, mutually as they harness creativity and innovation in the different...

Answer 4

No way?
Are you sure maybe you had just have sex last night?