An off topic question, but a nagging question I must ask...?

Question

Every now and then I see a serious question here deserving a serious knowledgeable answer. And very often when I see a knowledgeable answer to such a question that answer is often rated with the most thumbs down, which seems pretty much proportionate to the number of haphazard and outright crappy answers.

So my question is, what good is the Yahoo! Answers Board if the person having a serious question cannot decide on which is the correct or best answer if knowledgeable answers are rated with so many thumbs down? Is that the product of childish competition for points rather than a grown-up effort to be helpful?

Answer 1

i think it is definatly competition, although the thumbs up and thumbs down ratings are for everyone to express there veiws of that answer so naturally when points are involved some people who answer will use this to their advantage by giving other answers a thumbs down purley to make their answer look better. you will find people are easily influneced by others opinions. There was a psychology study done in the 1960's (can't remember the name) that showed that we tend to agree with other peoples opinions even when we know they are wrong.

Answer 2

I think people are just plain mean spirited.I can tell a good answer from a bad answer and I give a thumbs up to good answers even if I am answering the question myself.There are just some people who like to spoil a good thing,if they can.

Answer 3

your more than likely rite!

Answer 4

I think it's the "I am never wrong" syndrome.  When there's serious questions on this category, they're often the most controversial questions.  As such, they require answers that people have very serious opinions about.  After the Eight Belles incident, there was a ton of questions about the safety of the industry.  We had PETA people here answering questions based on their strong opinion that horse racing is evil, unfortunately that opinion wasn't based on the slightest bit of fact.  But since they had a strong opinion, you'd see them giving thumbs down to all the other answers.  I saw one PETA-type person ask a question about why horse racing is not banned... that person let their question go to voting (accidentally, I'm guessing) and the answer that was selected was not in conformance with the asker's opinion... that person therefore left a comment on that question, telling the answerer to "F*** off!"  And then that asker proceeded to ask another question about "why horse racing fans are such idiots"... that's when I reported the comment and question and got the person's account taken away.  People don't care that the serious answer is getting thumbs down... they just care about their own opinion... people are very reluctant to admit that their opinion is wrong.  So every answer not in conformance with their opinion gets a thumbs down.  At least thumbs down don't take away points from the answerer, but it's certainly not a good thing that's happening, you're right.

Answer 5

well from what I have seen

I see that MTFBWU

IS under attack

ha,,,, I have said a few rude things and no turned me in

But they have not why ?

I like her answers because I have showed near the same time she did

and in that one question about equitation she was right

I have ridden appy, quarter horse's and 4 h many moons ago But all STILL HAVE PATERENS and I have never been to a show where their was ONLY 4TO 9 people in a class

I have shown against  like 20 to 35 in all mine

so Maybe that person just got mad because she wanted to be right and not ,,MTFBWU ?????????

I really don't care I am not here for points Just fun Until everyone ganged up on her

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