Why do wrong answers get voted Best Answer?

A lot depends on the mind-set of the asker.

I gave beautiful answers on Marie Antionette and the Black Dahlia case. The former lost out to a tersely worded answer and the latter garnered a violation notice with no reason given, except as OTHER.

It gets frustrating

(Yes, and penguins do have knees)

This is currently being discussed on the forum (top right of screen between answers home and blog) the suggestion is that there should be an anskers best answer and a voters best answer.

Often an asker just wants his false beliefs to be confirmed, or believes that because most people have said the same thing it must be right.

As this is meant to be a Knowledge Database for the future - this is a downfall of the process, as you cannot learn the truth from a flawed answer selected as truth. However it is perfectly acceptable to add a comment on the question where the wrong answer has been chosen. I cannot understand how factual and reference supported answers are glossed over for rubbish.

Also some people do not have the answers e-mailed to them or are too lazy to read all the answers.

Try the forum for more inside information - this is where users are working together with Y!A to develop the site.

Yes. It is happening in about 20-25% of the cases. The main reasons for this are -

1. Irresponsible persons vote for answers that are not so good or bad get selected.

2. Involvement of point-gamers both as asker and Answerer.

3. In voting, blasphemous answers also stand a chance for winning the vote and ultimately the best answers are overlooked and does not get the credit.

I spend about 6 to 8 hours on Y!A but able to answer only about 20 questions. I do not give one word or one line answers. I try to learn and also answer with full relevant details after researching many sites, but some times my answers are not selected for the above reasons.

I have also requested Yahoo! Answers to abolish the system of voting and also be very watchful about point-gamers to make the members participation worth-while.-

People don't choose the best answer - just the one that confirms their opinions or flatters their ego most.

If you look through my questions and answers on my profile you will see I regularly chose an answer I disagree with just because I think it is the best argued point or the most well researched.

I realise that to some people here points do matter (not to me though) and I try to give the best answer to the best answer I received. Sometimes the choice is easy, sometimes it is son close I flip a coin between the top two answers I got.

Anyway I think a lot of people are lazy and unfair but most people here are great.

Swetheart answering Questions is open to cheating all you need is friends to post a question and know you and give you the best answer it is not fair I agree but I try to answer truthfully mostly to help people not for the points .you just have to look at some of the highest scorers in a short time they must either be very intelligent in some subject or have cheated But as i said it does'nt bother me maybe you should look at it the same as I do then at least when you get a best answer you have deserved it .Have a nice day SMILE cheers from Australia.

missed the q about penguins knees, i thought they had foil and chocolate, lighten up, accept the fact that some morons ask q's but cant realy be bothered to judge properly, by the way,as this is at the bottom of the list i hope you read it !!!

The asker (in some cases) is bias. Now having said that, I myself have won best answer when I least expected to win. Maybe, just maybe, it all washes out.

Because they vote for their own answer. You don't need an extra ID. Just wait for the question to go to voting & vote for yourself. Not ethical though unless you do give the best answer!

I think it is just easier for them to take the first couple answers. But I can say that they dont always pick the top answer or the one with the most votes. I have had a couple best answers.

Because of the points they get for voting... I am sure lots of people just surf over the questions collecting points..without even reading the answers... and I suppose just clicking the answer on top is easiest?

( the points ruin something here)