Do you want to find information for a case (or for anything else) and are willing to pay someone to do the searching for you? You pay only the amount that you set – starting at $2.50. (That’s $2.00 for the search and $.50 – fifty cents – handling for Google.) It’s whatever you offer. If someone is willing to research it, that’s the price. No bargaining. And if you don’t like the answer, you can clarify your question and ask for an additional answer. If you still don’t like the answer, you can tell Google and you won’t have to pay for it! (Sometimes no one answers. Although you might have to pay the $.50 Google charge, you won’t have to pay whatever price you said you were willing to pay for an answer.)
Google Answers has over 500 web-searching experts whom they have tested. The searchers get 75% of whatever you set as the search fee. People use it to find all sorts of information: medical information, business information, to see who wrote a song that they have a lyric from — for finding almost anything.
You can browse questions to see generally what people are asking, how much they are paying, and how good the answers are. To browse prior questions and answers, go to the Answers home page and click on “view all questions”.
You can also use search words to search all the past questions and answers to see if anything similar to your question has already been asked. Again, just go the Answers home page (www.answers.google.com). This means, of course, that any questions that you ask are also searchable by anyone, including an opponent, so be careful of what questions you ask and how you ask them. Your own name as a questioner, however, is not searchable. That’s because, when you register with Answers, you create an alias, so your real name won’t appear in your question.
HERE’S WHAT LAWYERS HAVE FOUND USING ANSWERS
For the lawyers, do you want to find information for a case? For instance,
1. Do you have a case with a judge you don’t know and want to find out about him? How about this question:“Tell me all about Frank McGarr US Federal judge.”
The questioner set the price at $2.00 (plus $.50 for Google for a grand total of $2.50.) The answer came back exactly one hour later. It included portions of an article about the judge with a link to the full article. It also included another link to a short profile about him.
2. Do you have a case where a child drowned in a “wave pool” (a pool with artificial waves) and you want to find out about prior drownings? One lawyer (I presume a lawyer) offered to pay all of $50 and he got an answer less than 24 hours later. The answer listed over 10 sources of information and included links to articles and other information. And the answer also included a listing of sources of information on wave pool safety.
3. Want to find out how to obtain a copy of a medical article like “Treatment of Chronic Back Pain” from a 1987 issue of Journal of Manual Medicine? For $2.50? Try Answers.
4. Do you have a simple
question like this one: “Where is a source for procedures or protocols in regards to repair, maintenance, or modification of high temperature boilers used in power generating plants that used insulation containing asbestos from the 1950’s through 1970?”
Would you pay $25.00 for an answer? Someone did and, in less than 2 hours, there was an answer listing a dozen resources with the information.
5. To see examples of other requests that lawyers (apparently lawyers) have made, search on benfranklin or on alexanderhilton (no spaces in either name) or on mhg.
FINDING ANSWERS TO YOUR COMPUTER QUESTIONS
Do you have a computer question? Use Answers:
1. Here was Mike P’s question: “I have VoIP [voice over internet protocol] through Vonage. Right now I have it directly connected to only my main phone. How do I connect this service to my entire house phone wiring so that all phones can connect?” How much did he say he would pay for an answer? All of $5.00.He got an answer within 12 hours that he rated five stars out of a possible five. In addition, four other people made suggestions, and this was at no additional cost to Mike since there is no charge for comments.
2. This was Doug’s problem as he explained it: “I messed up. With great deal of difficulty removed downloaded program ‘PC Doctor OnCall’. As well I deleted numerous backup files. Now all programs - Word, IE, Outlook Express etc. are distorted and lacking correct colors. One error message says, ‘Error starting program. A required .dll file, OLEPR032.DLL was not found.’ Please help. Doug.”
Doug set his price at $15.00. He got an answer in 59 minutes that solved his problem.
3. Here’s an Excel question: “I wish to run a macro that will find a specified value in a range, say C1:C9, when that value is found I want the macro to ‘Cut’ this value as well as the value in the cell to the right, lets assume that the specified value is 17 in cell C4, then highlight this and cell D4, Cut and paste to C10. . .”
He set his price at $5.00 and got an answer that he said “works perfectly” less than three hours later.
USE ANSWERS FOR OTHER QUESTIONS
Here’s a sample non-computer question:
“Curlyman” had been offered over $100 for his black leather motorcycle jacket and he wondered whether there was anything special about the jacket to merit that price. He described his jacket and, less than two hours later, he learned why: the same type jacket was worth $800 to $1,000. What did he post as his price for an answer? Two dollars. That’s right, two dollars.
WHO ARE THE SEARCHERS AND WHY DO THEY SEARCH FOR WHAT ARE OFTEN MINIMAL FEES
What are the background and specialties of the Google searchers and why do they do the searching?
“Badabing” put out a question asking the searchers what their specialties were and why they did their searching.
In the 13 pages of answers, the searcher Pinkfreud notes that she spends some 10 hours per day, seven days per week, cruising Answers for questions she might answer.
Want to know more about why the Google searchers do the searching? Carl_in_florida did, and for his $5.00, he got five pages of responses. Some of the responses included the following:
“I am a Web Designer, marketing consultant and illustrator, which affords me a decent ‘living’, but tends to be more narrow in focus. Very simply, Google Answers gives me a chance to widen those horizons - something I’d do anyway - and to earn while doing so. Now, how cool is that?”
“[T]here are a few Researchers who live in Third World countries where the cost of living is quite low. While a $2 question might earn me enough to tip the waitress, for some of the Third World Researchers it will pay for a meal. And for someone in one of those areas, answering a $200 question might buy the groceries for a month.”
“I work on questions that either interest me, or are within my specific fields of experience (which is pretty varied) or are just plain obtuse or obscure. In other words, I love a challenge!”
Here’s what Journalist wrote: “Like some Researchers, I depend on Google Answers for the majority of my income but I’ll answer any question — no matter the price — if it piques my curiousity [sic], if I have personal experience with the topic or if the topic speaks to my spirit. I’m freelance, too, as a journalist, copywriter, researcher and PR specialist. Freelance demands a frugal lifestyle yet it’s where I’m the happiest, and Google Answers enables me to blend my talents with the needs of others in a wonderful way. Also, the quest for information is darned addicting. ;)”
Answers is a phenomenal source for finding answers to virtually any type of question quickly and cheaply. It is not limited to lawyers. All types of people use it. Again, try browsing the questions – you can browse the questions and the answers from Answers’ main search page. You can also search past questions and answers to see if a similar question has already been asked and answered.