When faced with a problem, we often seek peer review. In school, teachers usually insist on having undivided attention. However, on the internet, there are a series of question and answer sites meant only for peer review. In these communities, people are welcome to ask almost anything, with subjects ranging from urban rumors, trivia, math problems, philosophy, or how-tos to personal relationship advice. These sites have participants who, with their tidbits of knowledge, are able to help out the average Joe with his or her problems. Two of these communities include Yahoo! Answers and Two Cans and String.

One of the most popular Q and A sites is Yahoo! Answers. The site has an easy, user-friendly layout, which divides the home page into separate sections. It has different parts for subjects and recent questions. On the left it lists subjects stretching from Arts to Yahoo! Products, and the top three steps to be part of the Yahoo! Answers community. The most popular questions, the best answers and even the top contributors are also displayed. There are also site moderators who make sure inappropriate postings do not remain online. Unlike many other sites across the web, Yahoo! Answers has active users, which gives a sense of bonding.

After asking a question, it took only a short amount of time to receive a series of answers. The answers to my question were diverse: from the strict uptight answers, to abbreviated language and slang. In an instant after asking your question, you are able to see the opinion of different people around the world, or find factual, scientific answers based on hard evidence. Yahoo! Answers’ atmosphere is cooperative and somewhat fun to play with, allowing the user to feel relaxed while on the site.

Yahoo! Answers displays several other ways of drawing people closer within this interglobal society. Yahoo! Answers offers both a Blog led by the top editor of daily Q and A column Ask Yahoo! Mike and a forum page, open to all of the public as a stirring pot of comments, opinions and suggestions. With both the forum and the blog, Yahoo! Answers uses this element to once again draw the community closer.

Two Cans and String is less user-friendly. The layout is primitive and there are not as many options. The possibility to do anything seems limited. On the home page, there are only two different buttons: Ask and Answer, which you can access only after registering to the site. After selecting the answer link, the format is less efficient. On the screen lie two buttons: Send and Get Another Question. You are unable to select which questions you desire to answer because the site automatically redirects you to another random question. After sifting through questions for a few minutes, I encountered many ads about special new music videos on YouTube, and a variety of crude statements and questions.

After asking a question, it took a relatively long time to receive an answer. The most depressing fact about Two Cans and String is that the bottom right corner shows a counter for the amount of active users, which seems to never rise above twenty. Different users of Two Cans and String were less than professional experts. The answers received were abbreviated and profane.

Unlike Yahoo! Answers, the forum base on Two Cans and String is not very active and, like angry YouTube users, the opinions and ideas tossed around are less than friendly. The format made me feel hyper individualized, making me feel like a single individual in comparison to the community like the one that Yahoo! Answers supports.