I checked off boxes on lists of interests and availability, feeling a bit like this might be a trick to get me to join eharmony.com. I clicked through a series of multiple-choice and written tests that measured my typing speed and ability to find information on the Web. In between guide exams, ChaCha assured me they were “reviewing my submission,” and would get back to me soon, which made me worry that perhaps I wasn’t cool and Web-savvy enough for this, and that maybe they’d write me off with an “it’s not you, it’s us” e-mail — like I was getting denied a job at the Gap.
Finally, though, I got the congratulatory e-mail, officially welcoming me to the ChaCha community. Next, I went to the ChaCha “universe,” the Web site where I’d log in to answer questions. (Like my fellow 15,000 brothers and sisters, ChaCha guides — Chachis? — work not in an office but at home, or in cafés — I guess wherever they can have access to Google.) Seconds after logging in, a window popped up.
“You have an SMS query. Would you like to take it?” Was I officially ready to be one of The Internet’s Answer Providers? Nervously, I accepted my first questions. “What was Radiohead’s first hit?” (“ ‘Creep,’ which enjoyed unexpected popularity in the US a year after its 1992 release,” I replied.) Then the floodgates opened. The variety of questions one receives as a ChaCha guide is far-reaching. In my two months on the job, I’ve now investigated everything from the ridiculous (“If flowers were stars and crickets were airplanes, what would that make you?”), to the lewd (“How should me and my girlfriend screw today?”), to the subjectively lewd (“What movie has the best sex scene of all time?”), to the herpetologically intriguing (“Do rattlesnakes give birth or lay eggs?”). I’ve bookmarked the page where I found the size of the supposed longest penis on record (that’s a frequent question). I’ve been asked, “What’s the weirdest question you’ve been asked?” more times than I’ve actually been asked weird questions.
I had to wonder: is ChaCha merely an outlet for the lonely and the prank-inclined? Or part of myriad Web sites, including Wikipedia and Yahoo Answers, which indicate that, despite our wealth of technology in 2008, sometimes people just want answers from other people — even if it means they’ll never actually speak to that other person?
And what about the source that, for centuries before the Web was even a glimmer in our collective eyes, was the place to go for answers: the library?
Given that Boston is the birthing place for the first public library, it’s no surprise that Massachusetts’s librarians technologized themselves in 2003, with the launch of MassAnswers. MassAnswers employs librarians to answer any questions — not just research-related ones — online, chat-room-style, 24 hours a day, every day.
“Essentially libraries are resources people know and trust to provide reliable info,” says Celeste Bruno, communications specialist for the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, in an e-mail to the Phoenix. “And, of course, it’s free.”
