Is Yahoo! Answer a social knowledge base game?

I have read this various places. I'd like to know what the community thinks about this. Also what do you think of the new social network. Thank you.

Is Yahoo! Answer a social knowledge base game?cool myspace

Whatever the original intention this is what it has subsequently become.

Best answers are awarded by the person who asks the question, which is hardly logical if the asker is genuinely ignorant of the answer.

This results in askers rewarding answers that reflect their own views, and consolidates via network building into cliques of people drawn together by common opinion, who reward one another with Best Answers.

Status is acquired through volume of contributions and popularity. It is entirely possible to amass best answers and points without being right once.

The report system is another form of popularity contest with a self regulating community. Cliques form, vigilantes operate, and the more technically savvy members find ways to exploit the system, becoming, in effect, the law of the community, able to delete contributions at will.

Rather like Wild West Sheriffs.

The idea that we are building a knowledge base may well be accurate, but it isn't in the Encyclopedia sense. It is a study on a grand scale on social dynamics.

Is Yahoo! Answer a social knowledge base game?blocked myspace myspace.com

Dang, that's too deep for me.