Despair subject to approval.
I took the plunge into YahooAnswers for some reason. Certain beverages may be involved. I figure that compared to those suckers, I am an endless font of knowledge.
So anyone else have any experience over there? Was it of the soul-crushingly stupid variety?
ETA: And I blow the title. I’ve got a good feeling about this!
Every time I’m directed to Yahoo answers by one of their leading “stories” that made me think it was an article, I curse. I hate going there. The stupid is thick.
How is babby formed?
Yeah, I used to hang out there. Note the past tense.
I have a question I’d like to ask over there:
“Whence comes woo?”
Think of the fun you could have with that. For one, it is interesting to ask that particular question since that site is often a font of woo, and little more. It could also be fun to see whether it would be considered an actual question (or even an actual sentence).
After Googling something I sometimes click on one of their answers just to see how goofy the answers are. Often, the first respondent seems to actually give a decent answer but after that it seems to fall off rapidly (usually by the second answer). It seems that liability would be an issue for Yahoo! over there. There’s sometimes some pretty risky advice offered with no dissenting opinions. While many of the answers have traces of common sense, the sensible part is likely out of context, not coherently explained, coupled with complete lunacy, or buried so deep in the answer as to be very little help.
People ask things like: “Is it Safe To Swim the Length of Lake Superior?” With answers like: "It should probably not be attempted unless you have a Boy Scout swimming merit badge or are Red Cross certified.
Or,
Q: “How Can I Successfully treat my Pancreatic Cancer at Home?”
A: "A few teaspoons of cream of tarter mixed with warm honey taken nightly before bedtime may help your condition. You’ll need to make sure you take it every night for 16 weeks before you’ll see any improvement. If you are not feeling better after 16 weeks, be sure and see a qualified doctor-- pancreatic cancer is not something you want to fool around with.
ON EDIT: That “How is babby formed” cartoon is hilarious!
I forgot to add- a real question I saw on Y!A was, “Did Adolph Hitler hate the Jews?” :smack:
It’s mostly 13 year olds looking for someone to do their homework for them.
The worst part about it is that due to some bizarre cousin to Poe’s Law you can’t tell what was a legitimate question and what is trolling. I almost want to ask something completely incomprehensible and bizarre there, but don’t want to contaminate the sampling of loony.
Ah, I think Yahoo Answers is pretty entertaining. When we have nothing better to do, my boyfriend and I sometimes go there to laugh at some of the most ridiculous and stupid questions.
I never answer questions that sound like homework. Sometimes I am very tempted to reply to them with a wrong but plausible sounding answer to teach the kids a lesson about doing their own work though. 
Some of the answers on there are unbelievable. I find it very odd that so many people apparently think nothing of guessing at answers about issues that it is obvious they have no clue about. I do wonder sometimes why some people don’t just stay quiet when they don’t know what they’re talking about.
The admin are also a bit thick. I posted a question once that was an obvious troll and offensive to pretty much every living person on the planet. It was reported and deleted (as I knew it would be) but, and here’s the part I was looking forward to, there is an appeal process, so I lodged a formal appeal which was wordy but completely inane. A few weeks later I get an email saying that I my appeal was sucessful, and the person who reported my post as offensive (which it unmistakably was) has lost certain privileges for making a false report.
Bizzarre, but fun.
I kinda like doing algebra…
But all this talk of trolling gives me very bad ideas. I’m not the sort of person who should be given any power to warp fragile little minds and hand out BS.
That’s wonderful. The authoritative voice of the second caveman is JUST the right touch!
I fixed it. Although I kind of like “Look Upon My Works, Ye Might!” as a twist on the original.
Thanks. I didn’t realize my awesome word skills at first, but now I think I could totally take on Shelley. Or at least kick his ass. I mean, look at the guy! Total wuss.
I just watched it too. I agree the voice for the second caveman is awesome. Now I will have to read every barely coherent post on YA in that voice.
They need to get Christopher Lee for Authoritative Caveman in the live version.
I never knew until recently that “They need to do way instain mother” was supposed to mean “They need to do away with the insane mother(s) that[…]”
There was no way I would have ever guessed that until I found the entry on instain on urban dictionary. I thought instain was some weird/archaic word I’d never heard for “incarcerate” or something.
Everything’s better when Christopher Lee provides the voice. He should have a kid with James Earl Jones and we’ll have our voice-overs and narrations set for years.
I didn’t see this before, so maybe I misunderstand, but…the quote as it appears now is wrong. It is “look on my works ye mighty (and despair)”–ten syllables.