how does this yahoo answers thing work?

1. The point system credit those who are active in answering questions, and especially those whose answers are rated best.

2. How do I rate an answer? Once you reach Level 2, you can rate answers via the action bar. If you think an answer is good, click thumbs-up in the action bar below the answer. If you think an answer is not good, click thumbs-down.

3. Because you didn't look.

How does the scoring system work?

To thank the Yahoo! Answers community for great answers, we give points for various actions. Answers points help you build your reputation on Yahoo! Answers and show the world what you have to offer. You need points to ask a question but you can quickly earn the points back when you resolve your question and by giving answers that are picked as the best answer.

The points table linked below summarizes how many points you get for each of the different actions you take. The points allow the community to recognize how active and helpful you've been, and they give you another excuse to brag to your friends.

http://answers.yahoo.com/info/scoring_system

The levels mark your activity and show what Answers usage privileges you earned. The more points you accumulate, the higher your level, and the more privileges you get. We’re planning some exciting things for Yahoo! Answerers, so stay tuned!

1. personal gratification I suppose. Answers keeps me busy, personally, so I do it -- and it's always nice to help people eh? you never know, you might find some neat answer as well. I think it's obvious why people ASK questions..

2. Thumbs up on an answer mean the person gets one point. Thumbs down do not take away points though. The stars mark out interesting questions that you're interested in or that you recommend other people to read.

3. There is a help page about this on Yahoo! Answers, I'm sure. Try looking in the FAQ or something.. or maybe someone else will answer your question and you won't need to look.

If you mean that the Answers Team don't actually answer questions, you're right. They're just here to make sure things don't get out of hand.

Hope this helps!

MaybeLater_x

Concerning the POINTS part of your question:

To encourage participation and reward great answers, Yahoo! Answers has a system of points and levels. The number of points you get depends on the specific action you take. The points table below summarizes the point values for different actions. While you can't use points to buy or redeem anything, they do allow everyone to recognize how active and helpful you've been. (And they give you another excuse to brag to your friends.)

Points Table Action Points

Begin participating on Yahoo! Answers One time: 100

Ask a question -5

Choose a best answer for your question 3

No Best Answer was selected by voters on your question Points Returned: 5

Answer a question 2

Deleting an answer -2

Log in to Yahoo! Answers Once daily: 1

Vote for a best answer 1

Vote for No best answer 0

Have your answer selected as the best answer 10

Receive a "thumbs-up" rating on a best answer that you wrote (up to 50 thumbs-up are counted) 1 per "thumbs-up"

Points Table

Action Points

Begin participating on Yahoo! Answers One time: 100

Ask a question -5

Choose a best answer for your question 3

No Best Answer was selected by voters on your question Points Returned: 5

Answer a question 2

Deleting an answer -2

Log in to Yahoo! Answers Once daily: 1

Vote for a best answer 1

Vote for No best answer 0

Have your answer selected as the best answer 10

Receive a "thumbs-up" rating on a best answer that you wrote (up to 50 thumbs-up are counted) 1 per "thumbs-up"

1. I guess it is a right of passage thing. The more points you get the more you can do.

2. You have to be at level 2 in order to do the thumbs up or down. But you can receive points if someone gives you a thumbs up on an answer. So try to make your answers good.

You can also earn points by voting and having the best answers.

#1 because

#2 Thumbs up and down apply to higher levels from the answering of the random question.

#3 Good Job !!!! the universe is a great place to start & this is fun too.

You get a point for visiting.

You get a couple of points for answering.

You get a point for voting.

You get 5 points taken away for asking a question and 3 back for picking an answer.

You get 10 points taken away for getting a question or answer deleted like this one.

thumbs up are like voting a good answer and bad answer, if ur answer got 1 thumbs up u get 1 point...

lol love the questions wish i knew how they worked

It's all just entertainment, mate.