Doin' the ChaCha

You can use your mobile phone or other SMS device to ask ChaCha any question you can imagine (and even some you can't). I have been working for ChaCha as an independent contractor since November, from my house, on my computer. Go ahead and try it by texting a question to 242242 right now.

ChaCha has over 55,000 human 'Guides' just like me all across America taking queries and answering questions all hours of the day on every topic conceivable. ChaCha Guides are divided into three groups. While Generalists and Specialists do the actual answering of the questions, I am an Expeditor, which means I receive the question, rephrase it into a standardized form, categorize it, and send it off to a Specialist or Generalist to be answered.

Working for ChaCha is not for those who easily blush. While people can ask about sports or biology, music lyrics or the numbers to local businesses, a large percentage of them are related to sex. Within the space of even an hour, I will get lots of bizarre, disgusting, and sometimes downright disturbing questions. If you are at all uncomfortable with sexual subject matter, even if it is only in text form, working for ChaCha is not for you. I thought I had heard of it all before I started working for ChaCha, but I was wrong.

I have nothing good to say about ChaCha's competitor KGB but do realize I am biased. The only thing I can say objectively is that KGB charges one dollar per question while ChaCha is ad-supported.