Any of you feel like this about answering?

Hello Captainstoryteller;

I wanted to tell you that I like your answers. It really shows that you think about what your saying.

To answer your question -- it hasn't ever bothered me. I wish my best answer percentage were higher (yeah it is pretty low) -- but I figure that everything evens out in the end. I do the best I can -- but most of the time the asker just doesn't pick my answer ... I don't care why. I know I did my best -- then again sometimes I give an opinion and that is subjective so what can you expect? In the end I am not hunting points. I learn a lot from other peoples postings too so it more about helping and fun for me.

I just had that happen to me today -- I got a best answer but another poster did a better job of helping the asker (in my opinion). I do make it a practice to give a thumbs up if I like someone else's reply.

Perhaps there should be a system where best answer chosen by asker and most thumbs up would give different points.

I hope you won't quit the community -- I think you are doing a lot of good here!

Best of luck,

Bill

P.S. If you want real strange stuff go to the "Family & Relationship" area. There the questions are so odd that you never can tell what kind of answer will get best -- it is very wild.

Yes, I feel the same way. Because I work, add to that the time differences, by the time I am able to log on and read the questions, a best answer has already been chosen. It seems to me that the person asking the question should at the very least wait 2 days.

It is NOT just you. I have always felt that way. What gets chosen as best answer is usually a coin toss between the most informative/long answer, or the most cutesy answer, and since a lot of the time you don't get best answer for one you put a lot of thought into, you just don't even bother. So you try to be clever/cutesy but it's like either someone else gets it. After a point it's just like f*** it!

Oh Captain, My Captain...

Never fear, you are not alone. I have had many attempts at answering rejected by Y!A because the question was already closed, or deleted. I do agree with Bill as well... To me, it does seem to even out in the long run. I have written "brilliant and concise" answers which were ignored, and others have won BA when I thought there were better ones to choose from... Most of my BA's that fall in the latter category actually happen when the vote goes to the general Y!A population...

Dearest Captain Storyteller,

I, someone with the same best answer percentage as you (seriously congrats on raising 10%... Guess I'll have to try harder to keep up with you, haha) suppose I get quite enough best answers.

Actually, I feel that just I too often get best answer just because I typed the longest answer. I've written entire pages worth of answers for questions I know nothing about! Just rambling about every off-topic detail (suppose I'm sort of doing that right now, as this definitely doesn't answer your question)

Well, this is unfair to the others as I just have a sort of typing disorder where I feel I can never stop. They could never compete with my answer length!

Actually, the thing that gets my goat, if you will, is, like today for instance, I typed an answer approximated 27 paragraphs long, while only approximately 22 paragraphs went through, though this has happened several times before.

Hm... the wierdest part of all of this is how, long ago, in an email you sent me, you remarked at how extraodinarily people could get caught up in getting best answer! I've cleaned out my email several times since then, but if I hadn't I would gladly copy and paste it for you.

It seems you yourself have become caught up in it all like the rest of us! haha. I know amongst your question was a disclaimer in parentheses, but I've never too much paid attention to those.

Honestly, when it boils down to it, the person with the crappy answer that was elected "best answer" was probably contacts with the asker, so pressure to choose the friend was involved. Though if Bill and a stranger gave equally amazing answers, which of the two would you choose?

We all like to think we'd choose the latter, but unfortunately that is just another example of us lying to ourselves.

My method to choose between two equally fantastic answers varies from time to time, but if its' extremely close, I incorporate their best answer percentage into it all.

So, I assure you, being contacts with each other has massive influence on answer choosing, but I forbid you to desert the "community" because of such trivial matters, as most answerers are given best answer when their's truly is best answer. You're much too appreciated here to leave us.

Whilst my answer solely revolved around topics involving best answer, I refuse to be chosen for best answer. Mine was longer, but Bill's was more fantastic. I type unhumanly fast, though. Likely because I type so much all the time, for all my answers are this long, working my fingers extremely fast near-constantly. Proper keyboard technique and everything. None of that index finger hitting every key nonsense. I'm talking pinky finger to shift, thumbs to space, etc.

I've even gotten all the symbols down pat.

My personal record is 144 words per minute, but there was a percentage of message length worth of typos allowed in the words per minute thing, and I had at least three.

So, yes, my answer is off the market for you to choose best answer for.

The one and only,

King John Dragon Slayer

Yup. That's why Yahoo Answers is getting awfully boring and on the brink of extinction *Besides twilight lovers*. And the fact that people DON'T CHOOSE best answers is annoying. Seriously, why should I invest my time to answer a question for you if you're not even going to read it?

i don't care if i get a best answer. i just answer the question...sometimes i add sarcasm if i feel like it

nope