Who can tell me about Top Contributor status?

The top contributor badge disappears when you stop contributing in the category that you got the badge, if you have just lost it, go back into the category that you received the badge and carry on answering questions. It make take a couple of weeks but the badge will come back again.

To become a Top Contributor you just have to answer a lot of questions in a category, and receive best answers for them, and continue to do that to keep the badge. You just need to find a category that you like and know a lot about, and answer, answer and more answers in that category. Plus you need quality, as well as quantity in all your answers. Being a Top Contributor is not about the amount of points you have or which level you have reached, it is purely down to contribution in a category and the correct amount of best answers in that category.

To be a Top Contributor you have to answer questions in 1 - 3 categories (best to just concentrate on 1 category to start with) and obtain 12% (or more, no one knows the correct figure) best answers in that category. The exact number of questions that you need to answer is also not known, but there have been suggestions that it might be 40 to 50 answers a week in just one category, you do not need to spend every waking hour on your computer to achieve those answers, just a couple of hours a day. The Top Contributor badge is awarded on a Monday and it will disappear on a Monday if you do not continue to contribute to the category that you got the badge.

You cannot be a Top Contributor in Polls & Surveys or Jokes & Riddles, although you could be the Top Yahoo Answers Answerer for those categories.

"A "Top Contributor" is a member of the Yahoo! Answers community who has shown that they are knowledgeable in a certain category. Each user can be a top contributor in a maximum three categories."

Contrary to the popular misconception that you need lots of points and a high level to become a Top Contributor, the fact is, anyone at any level can become a Top Contributor, number of points and level gained have no bearing on gaining the TC badge.

Answer questions - get best answers. No-one has ever earned a TC badge without getting best answers. The TC badge is awarded on the number of questions answered and best answers received by the user in a particular week, in a particular category.

It is rumoured that you need at least a 10 percent best answers in your chosen category to get a TC badge although the actual percentage and the number of answers is Yahoo's secret.

All you see and read on the subject is unsubstantiated speculation, rumour, illogical assumption, imagination, and creative guesswork.

A user who is on the leader board may or may not have a TC badge, the criteria is measured on weekly participation in a particular category (number of answers and % of best answers in the category).

The easiest way to get a TC badge is to concentrate on one category where many questions are asked and hope to get enough best answers to get a Top Contributor badge..

The Polls & Surveys and Jokes & Riddles categories do not have Top Contributors.

If you have contributed enough to meet Yahoo's criteria, the orange badge will appear below your avatar on Monday morning.

It can disappear just as easily on Monday morning, if you don't keep answering questions and getting best answers.

The Top Contributor badge is given to users who answer a lot of questions in up to 3 different categories and get a fairly decent amount of Best Answers in these categories. The Top Contributor badge is usually given to users who actively answer questions in particular categories. To get or keep the badge, one must continue answering questions and getting Best Answers in the categories that they wish to have the Top Contributor badge in.

The formula for becoming a Top Contributor is kept a secret by Yahoo and is kept secret so that it is not just a thing for people to gain who don't deserve it. People believe that you need to have a minimum of 10% Best Answers and answer a certain number of questions in a certain amount of time, but that is just speculation. There is no set amount of answers that you need to get or percentage of Best Answers that you need to get and no set amount of Best Answers that you need to get. You also don't have to have a certain amount of points in order to get the Top Contributor badge, although I have rarely seen a Level 1 Top Contributor :).

If you do not remain active and actively answer questions and getting Best Answers in the categories that you are a Top Contributor in, you can lose the badge. As was said before, so long as you stay active in the category(ies) that you want the Top Contributor badge in, and you keep on getting Best Answers in that category, you'll keep the Top Contributor badge :P.

Jokes & Riddles and Polls & Surveys are the only categories where it is not possible to get a Top Contributor badge in.

Hope this helps :)

The badge is earned for giving quality answers, and for contributing a lot of answers, and also for getting above a certain % percentage amount of best answers during each particular week. Badges are awarded or taken away usually early each Monday.

There are only rumors out for us, about how many questions, or how high a percentage % of best answers we need to get to keep our badges each week. I myself usually answer at least about 10 or more questions in my TC category per-day. I try to be as informative as I can, to help folks in my badge category. I am unemployed so I have had time to keep up with things, when I finally get back to work, my T.C. Badge will probably go bye bye too, as I don't think I will have enough time to answer as many questions.

I typically get just under or just over about 1000 points per week, which are a combination of the number of answers and the number of best answers, I don't worry about the points so much, as I just enjoy giving others helpful information, mostly about ipods and such as I can. It's fun for me when I have the time, I really don't care all that much if I have the badge or not, although it's nice to have it, so it makes my answer stand out a bit more, because of an orange blotch under my avatar.

You can get the badge earned back again, if you start answering enough questions and get some best answers again :)

Honestly I wouldn't worry about the "status", many people have openly admitted to gaming the system to achieve the title in the first place. I realize some might not of, but I recommend you come to the forum for questions you have and if you can help someone then answer it.

The title is pretty meaningless and the time to get it "honestly" is not worth it in my opinion.

There are other things out there for you to enjoy I think also. Come when you can and keep it in moderation. :)

TC badge is earned by contributing many answers in one to three categories. Fail to contribute enough and you lose it.