Mr. Bad Answer

We see this screen after screen by trollish n()()bs who think they are clever. How to report?

I've seen a statement that the BA calculation sometimes results in ratios over 100%, and I've seen a negative percentage. It would seem that Y!A could handle the following situations in different ways:

1. You got a BA, but the question was deleted.

2. You got a BA, but it was removed as a violation.

3. You did not get a BA, and your answer was deleted.

4. You did not get a BA, and the question was deleted.

From old Slate article: http://www.slate.com/id/2179393/pagenum/all/#p2

"While Answers is a valuable window into how people look for information online, it looks like a complete disaster as a traditional reference tool. It encourages bad research habits, rewards people who post things that aren't true, and frequently labels factual errors as correct information. It's every middle-school teacher's worst nightmare about the Web."

Thoughts?

1. Dance under them holding "Welcome" and "Take me with you" signs OR;

2. Say "oh crap" and scurry for the hills?

Like this one:

http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/answers/moderatio...

The deed was signed in 2002, and left in an envelope to be opened upon his death. One FL attorney suggests that a quit claim deed filed after death is probably not valid and the property would need to go through probate; another said that would make no difference and the deed should be filed as soon as possible; and should not need to part of probate estate (Both attorneys charge by the hour so the 3% fee is not a factor.)

I would appreciate any informed opinion.

A clerk at the county court's office said that they would accept the deed; would not know about the maker's death, and whether the deed is valid is a "legal question" that they have nothing to do with.

I came across this year old question showing that Y!A Q&A threads were being reposted in other web sites...

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AgwRB...

there was some interesting comment but no real conclusion as to why this was happening...one commentator thought it was blogs trying to build traffic...but these aren't real blogs,

and decided to do a web search on my Y!A nickname; and the top result was this Y!A Q&A thread but NOT on any Yahoo! site: http://b2bb2c.info/agriculture/men-what-would-you-...

Note that there no indication that this originally came from Y!A.

Another site I found one of my answers in is the "Prostate Cancer Treatment Options" which seems like it is a blog made up solely of Y!A questions and answers; unlike the prior example the anonymous blogger is upfront that the content comes from Y!A with basic and not too good English.

Unlike the first site though this prostate blog *claims copyright* on the content of his blog; ie copyright to content created by us, the members of Y!A. (see http://prostatecancertreatmentoptions.org/terms-of...

Note that Yahoo! does *not* claim ownership of content placed on the publicly available areas of Yahoo! which would include Answers; we do grant Yahoo! a license to use our content just about anyway they want; but *we* still own it. (Yahoo TOS Section 9http://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/utos/utos-173... And content we post is not "public domain" *unless* we explicitly state it is; otherwise everything we post is protected by copyright (http://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/utos/utos-173...

And in Yahoo!'s TOS Item 12 is a prohibition of reusing or exploiting the content for commercial purposes--so if these sites have any commercial purposes they are in violation of Yahoo!'s TOS.

Which brings up the big question of WHY?

In the several sites I looked at including the prostate site that is claiming copyright on our content I see no attempt at commercialization; I would expect an attempt to sell say, penis enlargement pills or something; but the sites I've reviewed don't even have Google ads.

And the owners of these sites are anonymous (the ones I've looked at so far anyway) so what kind of egoboo are they getting?

As long as these sites aren't using my, and our content, for scam/spam purposes; I don't really care: If more people read the hopefully helpful stuff I wrote it is all the better.

But are they as innocuous as they seem; is there some kind of sinister or even just a commercial motive? Could it be as simple as just as we have a hobby of asking and answering silly questions; they have a hobby of copying and pasting them into their own little blogs?

Can anybody explain this?

Do the questioners think we don't know that the Best Answer gets 10 points for any question?

Does this tactic really improve response--

do nothing--

or make people ignore the question?

Have spoken to a couple that seemed pricey, if anyone has had experience with a competent attorney who charges modest fees in Florida I'd appreciate a recommendation.

Decedent lived in St. Lucie County but hearings should not be required so while I'd like St. Lucie County recommendations I'd also appreciate recommendations for lawyers across the state.

Thanks.