The Hindu Business Line : Yahoo has Answers for your queries

"Answers" allows Yahoo's 176 million registered users to ask and get replies at will. This service is different from chatting, forums, message boards and blogs. It lets users post questions, which last for a week. Other users post rejoinders and the community chooses the best response. The firm calls it "mining subjective knowledge". It is time for democracy of information, said Mr Paul C Deemer, Chief Product Officer, Yahoo Software Development India, during the Indian launch.

Rating system

Prompting potential users is a point-based system. More points are given for answering and rating others' answers, than for queries. The firm is also working on offering "digital rewards" to those who accumulate thousands of points.

"Answers is useful if you are looking for word-of-mouth recommendations, or have a question that you will not find anywhere else online," said Mr Rishi Behal, Head of Search, Yahoo India.

Unlike Google Answers, which charges $2.50 for "researched" answers, this site is free and not moderated. Also unlike the failed `Ask Jeeves', it does not search the Internet for answers.

Customised version

"Answers" was launched in the US in December last year and in the UK, Canada and Australia last month. The Indian version has been customised to include categories such as Bollywood, local Indian business, and Indian taxation system, under which questions can be posted.

Yahoo's new service is at: in.answers.yahoo.com. Answers to the joke-question ranged from the simple — "It got bored", to the existential "Because that's what chickens do" and the logical, yet humorous "It wanted to catch the bus into town."