Things that bug me on Y!A

I know this technically has NOTHING to do with hermit crabs, but seeing as I’m constantly on those forums scouring for hermit crab questions, it technically is.  And I also want to get this off my chest because it’s bothering me, and my roommate thinks I’m crazy.

(WARNING – Language)

 

Yahoo! Answers

Since finding the HCA through Yahoo! Answers, I found myself wanting to teach other new crabbers about the proper hermit crab care.  And surprisingly, there are a lot of hermie questions on yahoo! answers daily.  I’d say on any given day there are about 5, which considering most are about bunnies, turtles, and animal abuse, that’s a lot.  And unless Mr. Viperfish (now Raw Shark I believe) or Shelley get there first (or I feel I need to add something), I try to answer them all.

I must admit, most of the questions are the same, and it’s sort of annoying to answer them all, when a simple google search or a yahoo! answers search (how I researched hermit crabs, btw) would have given them the answer.  It’s gotten to the point where I just copy and paste my answer with a couple of paragraphs added or subtracted to answer any additional questions they might have, or to get rid of things that don’t apply to their question.  I’ve answered so many I became Top Contributor in both reptiles (where there’s a good number of hermit crab questions, as the hermies or hermie stuff is in the reptile dept) and other-pets (where the rest of the hermit crab questions go).  I’ve been one for I think 3 weeks now.

The hardest part for me is people telling me I’m wrong, then giving crappy hermit care advice.  Like someone basically said “No, she’s full of it, you NEED to feed your hermit crab pellets and give it water on a sponge!  How else is it supposed to drink?”  Um…  without one?  They do fine in the wild without it.  I also hate when people give me best answer, but go “well, I know you said my Kritter Keeper was bad, but I’m going to use it anyway.”  Fine, kill your pet, see if I care, really…  *sigh* Anyway…

Best of Answers

The pinnacle of my Yahoo! Answers career came either yesterday (I must admit I was predisposed all of yesterday so I didn’t check the internet at all except very early in the morning, when this hadn’t happened) or today (technically yesterday as it’s past 12 so it’s “tomorrow”).  One of my answers was placed in the “best of answers” box on the answers homepage.  It was the typical “what’s wrong with my hermit crab?” question, where the asker describes JUST getting a hermit crab, then expressing surprise that it wasn’t doing anything.  I swear that’s the second most popular question right after “I want to get a hermit crab!  What do I need?”  So I answered her question specifically, then copied and pasted my generic “how to care for hermit crabs” guidelines.   It was one of my longest answers, as I had to cheat to get it all in there (the answer box has a word limit, but the sources box, to my knowledge, does not.  So I just paste whatever’s cut off in there).  Anyway, it was best of, and I now have 160 thumbs up, and only 6 thumbs down (that’s pretty damn good if I say so myself–the thumbs down are probably from top contributer haters anyway).  I’ve also gotten two messages from Y!A members thanking me for my answer.  I haven’t responded to them yet, but I plan to.  It’s pretty cool to know I’ve made a difference in someone’s life, even if it is in pet care.

I don’t claim to know it all when it comes to hermit crabs, but I know enough to answer 99.9% of all the hermit crab questions put up on the answers board.  And if I don’t, I don’t attempt to answer it, either.  I’m not a moron who goes “take it to the vet” (no joke, that was someone’s response to a hermit crab question) if I don’t know the answer.