Yahoo! Philippines Answers blog

It’s Pacquiao’s time.  This is what Kevin Lole, Yahoo! Sports reporter, had to say after last December 6’s “Dream Match” where our Pambansang Kamao, Manny Pacquiao, without a doubt established himself as the finest boxer in the world today by defeating Oscar dela Hoya in 8 rounds.

As Kevin noted, not only did the Pac-Man beat dela Hoya, he battered him into retirement.  Surprisingly, Manny came into the fight a 2-1 underdog, with many people expecting he will have a hard time, maybe even lose against the taller, bigger dela Hoya.  Pacquiao had to move weight classes up to face dela Hoya, having fought only once as high as a lightweight and 75 percent of his bouts at super bantamweight or lower.  Dela Hoya had fought at super welterweight or middleweight for most of his career.  But as we all saw, size wasn’t a factor.

This wasn’t the first time this happened in boxing.  Chad G asked this in Answers and evalistinho shared to the community other boxers that did what Pacquiao did, jump 2 weight classes to face an opponent.  Of course before the fight so many of our community members asked who will win, Pacquiao or dela Hoya, rjjsuperman was one of them and Ruddiger gave a fairly good answer – it depends on how much Oscar really wants to win but Manny can win the fight.  However, Ruddiger thought Oscar will win and he was proven wrong.

I asked the community what they thought will be the biggest factors for the Pac-Man to beat the Goldenboy and jun2lorie shared the best answer – speed, power and heart to fight.  And he added that Manny was still growing into his natural weight, which means it’s not going to be an issue if he had to move 2 weight classes up.  Indeed this was what Manny displayed last December 6 before a crowd of 15,000 in Las Vegas, Nevada, before everyone from every corner in the planet watching.  He dominated every round and nowhere during the fight will you think that he was the underdog.

Clearly Manny Pacquiao had established himself as the best pound-for-pound boxer in the whole world.  This is something that all Pinoys know already in their hearts, Manny just needed to prove it again to the world.  So what’s next for the Pac-Man?  Environment Secretary Jose Atienza Jr was quick to advice Pacquiao to concentrate on boxing and not delve into politics.  As you all know, Manny ran for a congressional seat last year and lost badly.  Now that he’s in the peak of his boxing career, I wonder if he will consider another run for public office.  Our Yahoo! Philippines Frontpage Editor asked this question to the Answers community – after proving he is the best boxer in the world today, should Pacquiao consider getting into politics now?  What do you think?  Share your thoughts now and let the world know what Manny Pacquiao’s next move should be.

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The beauty of Yahoo! Answers is the way it empowers users to connect and collaborate.  Through this knowledge-sharing service, anyone can post a question about any topic under the sun and anyone who can relate and can give their two cents about that topic can answer it.  It’s a simple and effective system that works.

However with such a setup the Latin phrase “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?” comes to mind.  Who watches the watchers?  Or, to relate it to what I’m talking about, who checks if all questions and answers posted in Yahoo! Answers are reliable and valid?  Nobody wants a website full of spamming, trolling, venting, and the like.  Message boards or forums are known to have been victims of such, that’s they have full time moderators to act as gatekeepers.  With a service like Yahoo! Answers (which is neither a message board or forum), the same problems will surely be faced, but it will take more than one moderator to handle it.

Community Moderation to the rescue!

Thankfully there’s Community Moderation, a system that allows trusted Answers users to work together to report and remove content that breaks the Community Guidelines and the Yahoo! Terms of Service.  Traditionally on Answers if a question or answer broke the Community Guidelines or Yahoo! Terms of Service, an Answers user could report it.  This report is reviewed by a real person and a decision is made whether to keep it up or to delete it.  This system is still in place.

However, Community Moderation works in parallel to the old system.  Once a report is submitted to Yahoo!, Community Moderation automatically measures the contributions and reporting history of both the reporter and the person being reported.  Community Moderation then determines whether it can remove the reported question or answer directly from the site based on community input or whether further review is needed.

So how do I build a good reputation?

First and foremost, it’s important to familiarize yourself with the Community Guidelines.  If you’re interested in reporting bad content on Answers, it’s very important that you’re accurate.  When you feel you have a good idea about what’s acceptable on Answers as you begin to report content, you will build a good reputation and gain influence.

On the other hand, misuse of the new system will result in a lowered reputation.  A low reputation means that the power to report and remove potential abuse is diminished, and may even risk suspension.

The community is very important to the Answers team: without it the site is nothing, so we have set up protection mechanisms to filter out specific targeting of one user by another.  Similarly the system promotes accurate reporters, giving them more influence.

How accurate is Community Moderation? 

According to our current analysis 94% of reports removed by Community Moderation were correctly removed.  Occasionally it makes mistakes, which we would strongly encourage you to appeal, but on the whole your efforts in reporting are making a massive and accurate difference to the site.

By the very nature of the system, incorrect reports are occasionally going to happen. If your question or answer is reported, we’ll send you an email stating that it has been removed.  If you feel that the system’s decision was incorrect, first read the Community Guidelines to check.  If you think there’s a strong case, click on the “Appeal” link in the email to submit an appeal.  This will be reviewed by a Yahoo! employee.  If we agree, your question or answer will reappear on Answers, and the member(s) who reported you will have less influence when they report potential abuse in the future.

I would like to strongly emphasize the importance of appealing, once you’ve read the Community Guidelines and are certain your content has been removed in error.  This is because if your appeal is successful, not only will your content be reinstated but your reputation will be boosted and those that reported you will lose reputation.

As you can see, the guidelines coupled with Community Moderation serve to maintain a Yahoo! Answers community of trusted shared knowledge instead of unreliable useless content.  This community will only be a fun, safe and relevant place to be if its users keep it that way.  And by involving users and empowering them to look after each other, then the question of “who watches the watchers?” is in fact answered as well.

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I’m sure this is not news anymore for most of us but just so everybody knows, this coming December 6, 2008 our very own Manny “the Pac-Man” Pacquiao is set to meet “the Goldenboy” Oscar dela Hoya in a match dubbed “Dream Match” at the shining MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

Not only will the fight be a Dream Match for Manny but it will be a dreamy evening for singer-actress Karylle, who was handpicked by the Pac-Man to sing the Philippine National Anthem before an anticipated sellout crowd.  Karylle will be wearing an Albert Figueras creation.  Here are the details of her gown:

New York-based Figueras will create a stunning wine-red Filipiniana terno for the statuesque singer. The basic gown, cut in a serpentine line with a heart-shaped neckline for the bodice, will be draped with checkered dupione silk. It will have a silk tapis woven with a checkered pattern of lines in a cacophony of colors of lively red, orange, yellow, green, aqua, and pink; superimposed on paisley and royal blue acanthus leaves outlined with Mutzumo cut beads, and glass beads with hologram of flat sequins. The tapis will take on a new look by way of embroidery and beadwork embellishments giving it a scalloped finish.

“The terno manga likewise would echo the ornamentation of the tapis,” says Figueras. The terno will be sans the usual panuelo, which is accustomed to traditional dresses and gowns. The bodice will be accented with Swarovski crystals to give more emphasis on the heart-shaped neckline, and low-cut back.

Figueras adds, “Karylle will sashay in the arena with a pair of shoes of the same material and pattern of the tapis. The total look would be that of sophistication, and understated theatricality.

Some more trivia for everyone, interestingly, Karylle is a boxing and kickboxing enthusiast herself.  And her grandfather, Carlos “Sonny” Padilla, Jr., even refereed the historic boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier dubbed “Thrilla in Manila” held in 1975.  Many thanks to Oliver for sharing this news!  Now there’s 2 things to look forward to this coming December 6 – Karylle’s rendition of the Pambansang Awit (wearing the Figueras terno) and Pacquiao winning the match against dela Hoya.

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Photo by  Amsk

You have no idea how happy I am to announce that Answers is up again after undergoing the second part of essential maintenance.  As mentioned in a prior post, the work was essential and will make Answers stronger and healthier from now on!  So from this day onwards it’s up, up and away!  Many thanks for your patience and understanding.

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Hi everyone, the planned maintenance and outage yesterday was moved today, November 21, again around 4:30pm and lasting for a few hours.  This is the second of the two planned outages and will conclude the scheduled maintenance for the immediate future.  If there is any change to this schedule, I will update everyone ASAP through this blog.  Again, thanks for understanding.

In the meantime, do check out the details on the planned YAPpers Christmas activity, aptly dubbed “YAPPasko 2008″.  To those who expressed their willingness to support this worthwhile activity, kindly email me (jonasdelosreyes [at] yahoo [dot] com) how you intend to do so (through your attendance, through cash or kind) because the YAPPers will start buying the gifts this weekend.  To those who just found out about this, your support and donations are very much welcome!

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(Photo by Stitch)

I’m so happy to announce that that the site is back after undergoing essential maintenance.  I apologize if we have to deprive you of Answers for a few hours (hehehe, Answers addicts!) but trust me when I say the work was essential and will make Answers stronger and healthier from now on.

As announced earlier, there will be another planned outage this Thursday, November 20 starting at 4:30 pm to 9:00 pm (more or less).  This will conclude the planned maintenance for the immediate future but rest assured after this maintenance, the site will look just the same as it did before and should help it avoid future downtime.

Again, many thanks everyone!

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Photo by Amsk

Actually, our engineers will be performing regular maintenance on Yahoo! Answers this Tuesday (Nov. 18) and Thursday (Nov. 20), 4:30pm.  Please expect the work to last for about 3 and a half hours which means during that time, Answers will be totally inaccessible.

We are so sorry for the inconvenience caused but no worries, I’ll keep you posted should there be any changes to the schedule.  In the meantime, do stick around longer to read the other posts here, specifically:

• meet our Knowledge Partner, Spot.ph
• discover the many ways you can get in touch with us in Answers
• be part of YAPPasko 2008!

Thanks everyone!

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I am obviously an 80’s kid judging by that title but of course, I’m not referring to ghosts but basically, what I want to talk about right now is the various ways you can communicate with us in Yahoo! Answers and where you can find more information about Answers.

Let me start with the basics.  The Community Guidelines and the Terms of Service are two fundamental documents in which all the guidelines that rule Answers are written.  You can find a link to these at the bottom of all Yahoo! Answers pages.

If you are about to post something, but are not sure whether it violates the Community Guidelines, you have a handy link at the bottom of the page where you can double check.

What about appeals?  If your content has been deleted and, after reading the Community Guidelines and the Terms of Service you still feel it was a mistake, you just need to click on the link “appeal” that appears on the notification email and explain to us the reasons why you think the content should not have been taken down.  Rest assured that your appeal will be reviewed.

Questions about Answers.  If you don’t know how to do something within Answers, you can always check out the help pages: http://help.yahoo.com/l/ph/yahoo/answers/.  Here you can find info regarding how to use Answers and its various features.  Just browse the categories to find what you are looking for.

If you cannot find an answer to your question in the Help pages, then trying checking out the Forums.  This category was especially created for you so you can ask the community about things you don’t know how to do.  As you know by now, the community is always happy to help and the most experienced members are eager to share their knowledge.

Be the first to know!  And you can do that by regularly checking the Answers blog.  Here you will find the latest news, tips, events, and other interesting stuff from and about the Answers Community.  Make sure you subscribe to the RSS feeds so you’ll always be on the know and be updated on my latest posts!

Feedback.  Of course we haven’t forgotten that.  If you need to give us feedback about anything Answers related, you can always leave a comment here in the blog (really appreciate the regular community members who leave a comment in my posts), you also go to the Forum to do that, or fill in the feedback form that you will find at the bottom of each page.  We will be happy to hear from you and look forward to your ideas on how to improve Answers.

Now you know who you gonna call. :)  If you have any comment that you wish to tell us, feel free to share it to us after this post, many thanks!

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Thanks so much to everyone who left a comment and emailed me regarding their support of YAPPasko 2008 and their willingness to contribute to this charitable endeavor!  This event is spearheaded by the YAPpers and we’re here to support the community and join in this noble cause.

As promised in my earlier post, here are the details on the upcoming YAPPasko 2008:

Who: YAPpers (short for all Pinoy community members of Yahoo! Answers!)
What: YAPPasko 2008
When: December 13, 2008, Saturday
Where: Cottolengo Filipino Orphanage in Montalban, Rizal

For everyone’s info, the Cottolengo Filipino Orphanage is a non-stock, non-profit religious and non-government organization licensed and accredited by the DSWD and is owned and managed by the Sons of Divine Providence Congregation.  Their mission is to give special children a home to live and the possibility to be rehabilitated.  In short, they take care of physically and mentally disabled children.  Right now, there are 40 orphan boys living in the center and they also help out 45 poor disabled children in the nearby community.  All of these children receive free special education and basic medical assistance in this orphanage.

What we all need to do right now are two things:

1. Raise Awareness

Spread the word to your fellow Pinoy Answers user about upcoming YAPPasko through your blog, email, text or simply word-of-mouth.  Let’s get as many people involved as possible because volunteers who will be buying the gifts, wrapping them and joining the community to visit the kids on Dec. 13 are surely needed.  This will be an excellent opportunity for the community to meet each other, get to know one another and extend the bond of friendship offline, while we all do something for a worthy cause.

2. Raise Funds

Aside from your presence, the YAPpers will be needing donations that will be given to the kids of the Cottolengo Orphanage.  If you plan to give in kind, donations like clothes, books and educational kid-friendly toys will be much appreciated!  If you wish to give cash (ideal if you’re based abroad), I can email you the details of the bank account.  The money will be used to buy more gifts for the kids and food for the party (although I’m hoping to help get a sponsor for the food) and hopefully, if there’s enough, allow us to donate a brand new computer for the orphanage.

If you’re willing to be part of all of this goodwill, whether as a volunteer or someone who wish to donate (or both), please email me at jonasdelosreyes [at] yahoo [dot[ com and I’ll send you further details regarding the outreach immediately.  Feel free to leave a comment as well if there’s anything else you want to share to me and the community.  Thank you very much!

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Christmas is just around the corner and as the countdown to the big day draws near (we’re 44 days away as of today), what comes to mind right now is Christmas shopping!  The best advice you can get when it comes to Christmas shopping is to start early so you can avoid the Christmas rush and be able to save time and money.  If you’re on the lookout for a sale then here’s some good news!  There’s one coming up this weekend - the TriNoma Green Light Sale!

For everyone’s information, TriNoma is one of the Ayala Mall’s newest malls located in Quezon City, at the end of the MRT northbound line, specifically the North Avenue station (as answered by stfu to Dorcas P).  The sale happens on November 13 to 16, Thursday to Sunday, with discounts of up to 70% off on selected items!  The usual mall hours are 10am to 10pm on Friday and Saturday and 10am to 9pm on Sunday until Thursday (thanks for answering this Venice!) however you can shop until 12midnight on November 14 and 15 (it’s a sale on a weekend so you get more time to shop, hehehe).  I heard they’re giving out freebies to all shopaholics in the mall (click here to find out how) so do check it out!

If you’re dropping by there anytime soon, may I suggest you check out the different food establishments in the mall because they offer a variety of restos that serve really delicious and sumptuous meals!  As valkyrieace99 shares to beegeesoldao, regardless of your budget you’ll find an excellent restaurant that will cater to your taste.  Hope this helps you out, enjoy shopping!  Oh, but don’t spend too much money, save some for the YAPpers Christmas Community Outreach!  More on that on the next post.

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