Why are the people on Mahalo Answers so much more courteous than the ones on Yahoo Answers?

I would say it boils down to two factors: #1 It isn't really that popular yet. As a service becomes more popular the general populace's civility tends to decline. Kind of like tends to happen when you compare smaller towns to big cities.

#2 The linking of a points system and then even tying it to the possibility of a monetary return can be a great incentive for being nice. I mean really, are you going to be as likely to tip someone that answers well in one thread if they are off trolling or being a total jerk in others? Having said that, this is my first post here.

I hope your observation about the courteous nature is true.

A few different reasons. One, the number of people on Mahalo Answers is smaller than Yahoo Answers, so there are fewer people to be rude. Two, Mahalo staff go out of their way to make sure that askers are treated respectfully.

They prune out anyone who is being disrespectful or rude on a regular basis. It simply won't be tolerated.

Probably, for now, because only a few of us know about Mahalo. Dismiss me as a cynic.

Mahalo, of course, means "Thank You", so the courtesy is already built-in!

I agree with many of the sentiments previously posted, particularly about Mahalo not yet being as subject to the full range of netizenry, including the offensive ones. I'd add that Yahoo Answers' customer support has fostered some of the rudeness by unresponsive to user inquiries, and by being less than impartial or generally unhelpful. Point gaming is a frequent problem on YA.

Users with multiple accounts will bolster themselves by bestowing "Best Answer" on their main account from various satellite accounts. I've frequently seen legitimate Q&A which follows the stated community guidelines be stricken, and upon appeal remaining so without recourse. Some users (notably one with at least a dozen separate accounts) are "report monkeys" who will target content posted by users they have a grudge against, and systematically use each account to report the content, which leads to it (and possibly the targeted user) being deleted from the system.

Yahoo Answers customer support seems to not have a means, let alone a commitment, to policing these kinds of activities effectively, it happens regularly.

As has been stated already, the shear size of Yahoo Answers makes it a breeding ground for disrespectful people. There was never anything put into place there that helped prevent these type of people from being part of the site and as the site grew so did the number of these disrespectful people. Mahalo is going to be different in that there is a dedicated staff that is here to keep the place clean and enjoyable for everyone.

Going beyond what has been said there is also a strong feeling of community right now. This helps keep everyone in check as we call people out and report issues as soon as they arrive. This feeling of community also gives a welcoming feeling to new members and makes them less likely to become one of the disrespectful types.

Community is important, but takes time to develop, and once developed, must be defended. A community will never form unless abuse and nonsense is prevented from the start. This place has it even more difficult than other sites, because money is involved.

I might make some snarky comments from time to time, and I realize they don't help the asker directly, but I do think they function to help indicate community norms in an amusing way, as long as they are kept to an absolute minimum and aren't mean-spirited. I should probably dial it back a little, I think.

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