B&A Regulars: How did you get started on Y!A Books & Authors?

Same as you just stumbled on it looking for a book group in my area.

I signed up for a Yahoo! mail adress several years ago. I was young and mum wouldn't let me have an email, so I went and made a secret one. This was it.

I found Yahoo!Answers not long after.

I didn't really understand how Yahoo!Answers worked. I just stumbled around the site and answered question I thought I knew the answer to. My answers were wrong about 80% of the time. I was an ickle preteen back then, not very bright and didn't speak English too well. I feel somewhat embarassed looking back at all my badly spelled answers.

I came back a couple years later, bringing with me my newfound love for books and writing. The Baby Names section was the first place I crashed into, and I still crash there from time to time, but I eventually made my way over here as well.

And here I am: proud Y!A Books & Authors lurker.

Good day.

I started because I really needed to ask a question about SSAT scores and a lot of questions about private high school. My family had never been through the process so we were really lost, and I wasn't sure if my scores were good enough, what I needed to do, etc.

Honestly I forget how I came to be a B&A regular. This was obviously my favorite section, but most of the time I just watched from afar. Then the Tribook Tournament (2.0) came around, and I signed up for that and I met a bunch of people... actually I had already met people before that, but that was when I really joined the family. Yeah...

I discovered Y!A on accident too. I was searching for some new baby names to expand my list and this website just popped up. I got a Yahoo! account just to try it out and I fell in love with how thorough of answers I could receive. I was originally just on here for the Baby Names section, but then I found Books and Authors when I was starting my first novel. Now, I use this section all the time!

I joined for movies, originally. If you go through my answer history (and I mean way, way through to the start) you'll just see pages and pages of answers on movies. I still do occasionally venture over to the movie section.

Then one day a writing buddy of mine happened to mention in passing that they were answering questions on writing, and I decided to check it out. I found it a lot more motivating and rewarding than naming off several thousand movies every ten seconds, and eventually it just became a go-to place when I had writers block or if I was just in the mood for some editing and what have you. Not to mention it seems to have a nicer sense of community than the other sections. You've got regular askers who express interest in what you're writing, and sometimes that's all the motivation you need to go back and type up another 500 words. It's helpful to everyone.

I'd always used this site to get answers for other stuff and one day I just thought, Why have I never signed up to this? so I did and I wasn't much help in any category until I found here! When I ask a question elsewhere I answer there for an hour or so until I have my answers but apart from that, it's always been books & authors!

I was always using Y!A to ask questions and never thought about answering them. Then one day I was waiting on responses for my question and then I saw a question that I knew I could answer, so I did. Then I started answering all of the time. I mostly stayed in Marriage and Divorce because I was going through a hard time and related to that section, but after a few months I started looking for a book section and finally found it. Now this is my favourite - and usually only - section I hang out in. I love it.

I discovered Y!A in 2007, when I was looking for some career advice. After discovering that there were different categories on virtually every topic, I just sort of naturally gravitated toward B&A. I did not become a regular on here until about 2009 though.

Well, I knew about Yahoo Answers for a long time so I signed up, but not for B/A. I signed up for Relationships and Baby Names. Then I found B/A and I discovered the family! Other aspiring authors like myself.

Well I knew of Yahoo Answers for a while, but I never thought of actually signing up.

I just thought it was some lame site where people asked lame questions.

But I was very, very WRONG.

So I joined a couple of years ago, realised how fun and great it is, and like you said, the rest is history!

I love Yahoo Answers. It's just so entertaining. And I love the people on here. You guys are terrrrifficc :)