Do you think you'd enjoy spending a few minutes a day answering smears against Obama/Biden and reaching out to some low-information voters, all from the comfort of your computer?
Yahoo! Answers needs you. Desperately.
The Yahoo! Answers ( YA ) political topic is a cesspool. Perhaps you think, "So what? Let it be a cesspool." Unfortunately, these pages come up on Google searches. It is also likely that there are people who actually consult this forum for information. That's where we come in.
It really doesn't take much time to answer the typical YA question. A lot of questions are smears phrased as questions, "How can someone vote for Obama considering his terrorist ties?" It shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes to come up with a good answer to this.
I try to keep my answers dry; I follow the "Joe Friday" approach: "Just the facts, ma'am." Avoid being combative, even to a question that is an obvious provocation. You're not there to slug it out with low-information partisans, but to put a good answer on the record.
Is your good answer going to be rated highly? Don't count on it. There are "thumbs up/thumbs down" buttons for each answer similar to Daily Kos recs/TRs. Unlike DailyKos, people will rate your answer depending on whether they like it, not whether it meets and quality standards. A best answer will be chosen and it may be the least intelligent answer, if that answer appeals to whoever is lurking in the section.
The bottom line is that the feedback on your answers may be fairly negative. Just make sure that you post facts (and cite a reference if you have one). Ultimately, reasonable people looking for actual answers will recognize your answer as the best one. The idiots posting "liberals suck!" and trying to "thumbs down" your answer into oblivion will be transparent.
Like DK, you need some status to rate answers. Unlike DK, there is an explicit point system that gets you this status. It looks like it should take about a week to get there if you stick at it. "Thumbs up" get you points, and "thumbs down" have no effect. It's not unusual to have, say, 6 thumbs up and 4 thumbs down on a really solid answer.
There is a daily limit on the number of answers you can post (I don't know if this goes up with status). I was able to hit my limit answering questions yesterday during short breaks at work.
Anyway, I invite fellow Kossacks to sign up and join the digital ground game at YA. There are a lot of Obama supporters, but few of them are as well informed as the typical Kossack — they need our help.
Site: http://answers.yahoo.com