Ask Mike. He’ll know.

Posted July 30th, 2007 at 2:22 pm by Doreen Bloch, Yahoo! Intern

 7 Comments / Filed in: Behind the Scenes, Those Crazy Yahoos

Mike Krumboltz has seen a lot of questions over the years.

In fact, since November 2004, his entire role has been to look over questions submitted by users, choose one interesting query each day, and then hunt down the answer. His job was to write for Ask Yahoo!. Haven’t heard of it? That’s probably because Ask Yahoo! is now a thing of the past…

Ask Yahoo! was started in 1998 as a way for Internet users to pose questions to a team of Yahoo! surfers who would then search the Net to find answers. Mike’s tracked down answers on everything from dog saliva to impact of bovine gas on the environment to the order of succession for the office of POTUS. But ever since Yahoo! Answers launched and grew in popularity, Mike has had to deal with a minor identity crisis. Was Ask Yahoo! obsolete? What would Mike do if Ask Yahoo! went away?

A solution arose: give Mike a featured spot in Yahoo! Answers where he can continue to show off his mad cyberspace research skills. That’s the birds and the bees on how “Ask Mike” was born.

To ask Mike a question, you’d have to email him at y_answrs_mikek@yahoo.com, but he was nice enough to grant me some exclusive Q&A time.

You only just moved to Yahoo! Answers a few weeks ago. Do you miss Ask Yahoo!?
I do miss Ask Yahoo!, but writing for Yahoo! Answers is fun because it’s more challenging. I’ve opened myself up to more feedback – sometimes it’s positive, sometimes it’s really negative, and other times, it’s just really weird.

How’d you get this job in the first place?
I went to Miami University in Ohio. When majored in psych at Miami University in Ohio, I knew that I didn’t want to do anything with that. I lived in New York for a while, came back to the Silicon Valley, and got a job in Yahoo! Shopping as a production assistant on Video and DVD shopping. A year later I got moved to surfing, and from the moment I started in surfing I knew I wanted a shot at editorial work. Finally after two years they let me try my hand at Ask Yahoo!.

What’s the most common question you’re asked?
I get sent a lot of really inappropriate questions. People know we’d obviously never use them, but they are pretty funny to read.

Most controversial question you’ve ever answered?
Surprisingly the question about why so many people are afraid of clowns has had huge response.

What’s the toughest question you’ve ever had to research?
I remember one I did about the voice that says “please hang up and try again” on the telephone. That took a long time, but I finally found the woman and it was quite rewarding.

Have you ever been wrong?
Yes, I have been wrong. What comes to mind is a question I answered about Seinfeld. Someone asked what Kramer’s job was. I wrote that he didn’t really have one, but that he did take part in lots of schemes. I got lots of email saying I was wrong, that Kramer actually worked for a bagel shop, but was on strike the entire series. I ended up quietly correcting the answer.

Favorite types of questions to answer?
I really like word origin questions. Also I love researching urban legends and longstanding myths. I like writing about search trends too. I definitely put science as my least favorite question type; I peaked in 8th grade with that subject.

What are your best Internet search tips?
Putting quotes around search terms is really helpful when trying to narrow down search results. Also, use the minus sign.

What does that do?
Say you’re searching for a restaurant and your results are all about a movie with the same name. You can type -movie in your search to help eliminate results that include the movie title.

So if “Ask Mike” is work, what are your hobbies?
Well, I love to sleep. I love movies.

Are you one of those awesome-memory movie buffs who remember every plot detail, actor, trivial quotation?
Yes, yes. I amuse and annoy.

Ever make a movie of your own?
Yes actually! I was a finalist in the Radio Alice’s Three Minute Film Festival in San Francisco inspired by a comic urban legend.

That’s some great Mike Krumboltz trivia right there. Now see if you can go stump him.

Doreen Bloch
Yahoo! Intern

Post a Comment Bookmark This Digg This

7 Comments Add your own

Margaret Phillips | July 31st, 2007 at 9:53 am

Mike

Your interview was a riot and I love the picture of you. I laughed all the way through. You have a great sense of humor. I wish you the best in your new job. Margaret Ann (your aunt)

Uncle John | July 31st, 2007 at 10:30 am

Mike– You very modestly omitted any mention of your starring role as an actor in the famous movie “What Makes the World Go Round.”

Jeannie Welsch | July 31st, 2007 at 6:25 pm

Dear Mike:
I really enjoyed reading the interview. You have quite a flair for research and writing, but I didn’t know you were an actor also. Wish I could say I got to see the movie.

I love trivia but don’t get much time for it. It provides good content when you are writing. I’m often researching things that might help me build my business. I will remember you.

P.S. Visit my website if you need an oppty to earn additional income.

Nataly | August 1st, 2007 at 5:32 am

…word,word…
\”" \ \”
phrase .

Jack Straw | August 1st, 2007 at 7:15 am

Mike
Last night my wife and your present correspondent were looking at a TV piece regarding current movies. As a movie lover, I realised I/We didn’t know one darn movie they were talking about. Nada. Niente!!! While we realize the fault could not entirely be with the stars, might, I ask, might part of our abundant current flic disinterest/ignorance be with the movies themselves? What is the cause of our lack of excitement regarding movies?
Please note that I was fortunate enough to have a family of movie buffs. In High School (when virtually no one was high) I lucked out by having a teacher of English who spent half of the year’s classes showing us his selfcreated, “A History of Cinema.” Griffith, Eisenstein and “Dr. Caligari” were among the movies and directors we were exposed to.
In college, one name: Pauline Kael. We would watch on Sunday nights in a large ascending lecture room international classic movies. Then we’d discuss if what Kael wrote in “The New Yorker” that week was more significant than anything Nixon or Kissinger had to say during the same time (you know the answer).
Not to be a pain in the royal seat cushion but where or what should we be seeing or reading to not be so comfortably adrift on this ship of film fools?
Keep on keepin’ on in the new job. Sounds a lot more challenging. Instead of chasing down specific answers to questions of others you’ll be looking for what Edward Hopper stated he sought in all his many years of work: himself.
All our best,
Mike & Helena

Laura | January 23rd, 2008 at 11:01 am

I’m a student, a huge fan of the Ask Mike column and its predecessor Ask Yahoo. It would be helpful to know the age of Mike. In the picture, why is he wearing a shirt with “world greatest grandpa” written on it? Is he a grandpa?

Nicki Dugan | January 25th, 2008 at 11:24 am

@Laura: Nice to hear from a fan — I passed your sentiments on to Mike. The master of irony, Mike is in fact NOT a grandfather. Just a wise old 32.

Nicki Dugan
Editor, Yodel Anecdotal