Do you like my avatar?
We might like your avatar, but we don’t want to answer questions about it. We’ve blogged before about the fine line some questions straddle between offering up a legitimate poll query and falling into violation territory. But after seeing the ongoing confusion and annoyance in the forum displayed over avatar games, we thought it was time to tackle the subject again.
Previously, we tried to gently persuade aspiring pollsters to use alternatives, like Bix.com, for burning questions about who has the prettiest avatar. Now let us be a little more direct: Do not play avatar games on Yahoo! Answers—it is a violation of the Community Guidelines. Why is it a violation? Because it’s considered chat.
According to the guidelines, examples of chat include:
- How are you today?
- What are you doing?
- Do you like my avatar?
See? It’s right there in the guidelines, so there should be no doubt in anyone’s mind—avatar games (including “Vote for the best above/below” avatar questions) do not belong in Yahoo! Answers and should be reported as abuse. More appropriate chat and game outlets are the previously mentioned Bix.com, Yahoo! Groups, and Yahoo! Messenger.
We really want Answers to be an informative, engaging, and enjoyable place to be. By sticking to the guidelines, we hope to foster an environment everyone can live with and learn from.
OK, lecture time is over.
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…why dont they just make a “chat” section then?
what a ridiculous rule.
here is my 2c hint for what is chat and what is not:
if something feels like meaningful thing to type in search engine then it is totally legitime to be asked as question.
I do not type in the search engines ‘do you like my avatar’, do you?! … well, maybe you do
If avatar games, and is my avatar hot not allowed, why do you post them. You make us do your dirty work and repot these people. You could so easily resolve this conflict by not posting them. Reprogram your computer to do this. Your guidelines are almost to the point of being against freedom of speech, no matter what you say, it’s against your guidelines. It seems to me the nazis did this during the war, and killed anyone who spoke out about what they were doing. Most people on here are sick of those questions anyway so PLEASE, DO NOT POST THEM, NUFF SAID.
you should be catering to your users, if we want avatar games what is the harm? i agree that who has the prettiest avatar is a stupid question, but a lot of people enjoy the ones that involve everyone, like “where would you go shopping with the avatar above you?” also, these are technically polls and you have a polls/surveys section. why are you dedicating all your time to policing your users instead of trying to get rid of the trolls? seems like you have your priorities a bit mixed up.
seriously, if you keep up these ridiculous dictator-like guidelines, you’ll find that you’ll have a lot less users.
LIGHTEN UP
seriously, why does it have to be so strict, when p&s falls under “entertainment & music” there should be a little freedom…
Are “Am I Pretty” questions allowed?
While I know these types of questions are against the guidelines, I think they are entertaining to answer. If anything needs to be monitored more, its questions about people asking for free things (specifically in the Video & Online Games section). People ask for free accounts to things, free trials, and free other things as well, and I am pretty sure there are things like these already in other categories as well. I think these should be against the rules because in a way it is like spamming.
Honestly, they should just ask their friends if they like their Avitar.
Hi,
Could you also address the billions of questions to the likes of “I’m 13, where can i get a job in Colorado?”
Why are these questions not allowed? Yeah, yeah I read the rules and disagree. Make a category for them and let them ask. It’s not that big a deal. I don’t go to that particular part of YA but I sometimes go to photo sharing and it’s fun to look at photos and answer questions. Just give them their own space, no harm done.
If the “Do you like my avatar” questions aren’t allowed, why are the “Do you think I’m pretty or Is she fat” questions allowed. Both are annoying and just feature young girls begging for attention or approval so if you ban one, PLEASE BAN THE OTHER. Most people don’t report the avatar or ‘pretty’ questions b/c they are so busy reporting the truly inappropriate questions and answers that ARE ALLOWED and probably stay on longer than the others mentioned.
I wouldn’t worry so much about the avatar ones but I would worry and police the boards for the trolls and people out there who post horrible racist, sexist and downright ribald things.
What a Ridiculed rule ,avatar VS avatar it doesn’t hurt any body
Do you like my avatar?
Hello…..FREEDOM OF SPEECH!!!
I think polls and surveys clearly requires different guidelines ,now your risking a violation regardless of how or what the content of the question is . Virtually everything is considered chatting now . Clearly the people have spoken often enough that they want an enjoyable site but what we have is a communtiy civil war created by yahoo because of calling for community policing which is a major failure of extraordinary proportions . Why not stop saving the question and answer content in polls and surveys and lighten up so we have at least one enjoyable area . Those that don’t like it are not forced to participate and can question in another catagory . It’s a simple solution and/or add an adult answers catagory that isns’t so stuffy as to be like report mania as this is. Again we have a civil war on yahoo with reporting galore and it’s now ruined in the current state.
I have to agree with all of the people above me. There are SO many other violations out there that get by time after time after time after time and Yahoo Answers does NOTHING to stop it, and to get all hot & bothered over something so trivial as “Do you like my Avatar” just doesn’t make rational sense.
Besides, if you don’t like the question - DON’T ANSWER IT.
Here’s another reason. All those questions bury the ones that are legitimate. By that, I mean someone is asking a question that they really want an answer to, and in 2 minutes it’s already on page three because of things like “Do you like my avatar?” and nobody sees the real question. That was the intent of this site, and the guidelines are simply requestion that you use it for it’s intended purpose. Do we really need to compare that to what the Nazi’s did? Do you even know what the Nazi’s did???
Just another example of the Yahoo! censors smacking down free speech! Hey! If it IS chat, then why do you hate it so much? Why not just leave well enough alone???
You people are beyond reproach. You open up a board to the WORLD, and then you *limit* people’s free speech by instituting lame rules and guidelines that have NOTHING to do with people asking questions or wanting information, but more to the *point*–?
BECOMING THE ‘FREE SPEECH’ POLICE.
I wish to God that Microsoft did take you turkies over. It would’ve ended this farce long enough.
How bored — or how something — must a user be in order to come on here and ask endless questions about the actual experience of being on here. (!!??!!) It’s like writing a letter to a friend and spending the whole time talking about the paper used in the letter, the favorite pen used to write it, the size of the envelope, the scent of the glue on the envelope flap, etc. In most circles, this would be called not having anything really worth saying.
There’s a big wide wonderful world out there, people! (I just wish the enforcement of your rule was a whole lot faster.) Thanks!
Yahoo your such a load of garbage,what the hell are u waiting for,start a adult section or chat category. it’s bad enough people get deleted or reported for bogus reason’s.
I really hope microsft takes yahoo over and fires all your worthless asses.
“you should be catering to your users, if we want avatar games what is the harm? i agree that who has the prettiest avatar is a stupid question, but a lot of people enjoy the ones that involve everyone, like “where would you go shopping with the avatar above you?” also, these are technically polls and you have a polls/surveys section. why are you dedicating all your time to policing your users instead of trying to get rid of the trolls? seems like you have your priorities a bit mixed up.
seriously, if you keep up these ridiculous dictator-like guidelines, you’ll find that you’ll have a lot less users.
LIGHTEN UP”
You took the words right out of my mouth.
I have to agree with some of the others. I don’t see why this is such a problem. I, personally, have never posted a “do you like my avatar” question - and don’t plan to! ….But, what’s so bad about someone asking? A “Chat” or “Small Talk” section on Y!A is a great idea. Something maybe you can consider?
I am not the one playing the avatar game
I even ignore question about avatar game
I would say its a violation too, but I am not sure
which violation.
I too know about the chat
do you like my avatar that is chat
I have even answered question
what is chat I would send to website
http://help/yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/answers
What is considered chatting
I got that page printed so I can refer to it.
On that site the incorrect way is do you like my avatar
now that I know its chatting
I can report
The correct to ask this is for advice
how can I make it better.
please put our avatars back
I have never abused any rules.
I write poetry and at least I say title poem
( how can I improve this )
yeah, just make a freaking chat section. -_-
I’m tired of the Do you think i’m pretty and the Rate me….questions. No one cares if you’re pretty, get some self esteem.
that’s a stupid rule. and i don’t like the blog editors avatar. do you like mine?
I agree that Yahoo!Answers is meant to be informative but plenty of other useless questions that do not ask for information but are designed to antagonize or find people that agree remain up on Y!A everyday! Chatting does not harm anyone and it strenghtens the community.It would be annoying if Y!A became a total chat website but there must be a middle ground somewhere. Y!A should be fun, right? A system which does not allow for repeat questions would help with the chatting. Reminders before a question is asked might help but it would not get rid of the problem. There are far worse problems than chatting in my opinion. Anything that would get rid of some of the trolling would be helpful.
Ummm. But MO-o-m! Everyone else is doing it!
Really, that’s not a reason why we should. The real question is, why do you come here? I didn’t join this site to talk about people’s avatars, or even their freedom to talk about them.
I have to agree with you guys. Although they may be fun, I don’t generally like avatar games, and I will especially avoid the “chatting” questions like that and “How are you today,” etc. Although I do admit I answer questions like “When is your birthday” and “What is your horoscope sign?”
And I just want you to know that I am above posting such questions, as I don’t think they would gather much interest. Click on my questions list, and you’ll see I tend to come up with some thought provoking questions.
However, I will agree that you should devote more of your “policing” energies to stamping out trolls who report innocent questions and answers just for kicks, or just because they don’t agree with the asker/answerer’s viewpoints. The reports have to be more legitimate and “I don’t like this answer” or “This doesn’t agree with my religious/political views” or “this answer is too biased” or anything else of that should not cut it. I agree that this would be a bigger problem with chatting, and this kind of frivolous reporting should be curbed.
I would suggest hiring extra manpower on your web staff, and assigning them to each category.
If you’re going to consider THAT chat (no problems here), then can you also put under that category, the “Am I pretty?” type questions that I have seen asked by MANY MORE people. I find those borderline as well, and far too common.
Ur avataar is a hairy rat how ugly!
That sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I recently asked a questioner why his avatar was dressed as a Pilgrim. Is that considered a violation? I only meant to be funny.
Just more dictatorship by Yahoo. Hopefully Microsoft does buy out Yahoo, maybe THEN we’ll be able to have an OUNCE of fun.
Awww…how boring! I think those questions make the Y!A community REAL. It makes it feel more personal and more enjoyable and engaging. Although I understand why this might be considered a violation and that someone might feel like it is a very “stupid” question and that there should be more informative place, it creates a bond between the community members. When questions such as “How are you doing today?” pop up once in a while, it makes me smile. If it bothers someone, then they dont have to answer it. I think the reason why the majority of us are on Y!A anyway is because we are opinionated people and we want to share our knowledge. I dont think there is a problem here.
You people at the Yahoo! headquarters are starting to get ridiculous. Almost every week you find something else that you want to ban and remove from Y!A. Jeez, give us a little freedom of expression and stop being such a stickler about it.
I really don’t see what the big deal with avatar games or chatting is. Sure nothign but chat is annoying but a little bit is nice, and it would be nice if yahoo let more avatar games through cause really avatar games are better than half the questions that get asking here, well in polls and surveys at least.
Yes I am
I don’t believe all these avatars!
I dont know the reason that dont let ask more questions….
They are a HELLUVA lot more than chat!!! They are soliciting, point gaming, place holding ,not a question, not an answer, can be insulting to other members and the list goes on.
Yahoo needs to clamp down on these games once and for all.
Thanks, guys!
Why use Y.A. to chat. If ya want to chat then go to a site that specialises in it. If I want to download pictures of motorbikes I wouldn’t look on a porn site now would I. Stupid questions like ‘How are you?’ drive me nuts. Nail ‘em up I say. Nail ‘em up.
While I agree that these questions should be limited (because they are, obviously, very stupid, and contrary to the entire purpose of this website), I certainly don’t think it would harm anyone to have a section devoted exclusively to it. Add a chat section; what’s the harm?
I agree, but there were several legitimate polls I had posted that you refused to restore even though there was nothing wrong with them… Screw you Yahoo!
Thanks for the blog!!!
I think that it clearly states the objective of Yahoo!Answers AND gives those (that want to play Avatar Games) an alternative site (also a Yahoo! property) to play.
It would also help if you would add “Yahoo!Avatars” as a sub-category to the “Yahoo!Products” (main category)
http://answers.yahoo.com/dir/;_ylt=AgPmNOj4Uh3y0azfk_wrZOjpy6IX;_ylv=3?link=list&sid=396546089
That way, when somebody has a “real” question about avatars, or how to improve their avatar, they would have a ‘real’ category in which to place their question…
http://suggestions.yahoo.com/detail/?prop=answers&fid=70605
This is kinda going too far. Let the people play! They’re the ones using Answers and supporting it. If it weren’t for them, Yahoo wouldn’t be in business. And they’re about to lose mine. I personally have never gotten a violation and don’t ask “chat” questions, but I have read about too many people getting violations for no good reason (or no reason at all!) Many times. This needs to stop. Do something about all the trolls, why don’t you? Start with fuzzdude.
Yahoo is not here for the people. They’re a bunch of control freaks that get off on hurting others.
Repeat questions should be okay because a lot of times one doesn’t get the correct answer, or some troll picks a stupid answer.
Ridiculous. A lot of those avatar games are polls. What is the big deal, it dosen’t hurt anyone. If the P&S section became just a serious poll and survey place, like it seems you want, there wouldn’t hardly be anyone left in there asking or answering. Hows that good for your advertisers eh?
First and foremost, to explain every complaint that there is about Y!A being strict…
Y!A is a question/answer site. Period. If the Great Powers that Be wanted a chat site, they would have made a chat site. Do *you* own Y!A? No. Accept Y!A for what it is and enjoy it. If you don’t like it, there’s a little red X in the top right corner that’s calling your name.
And there *are* other places to chat. The Answers team states right there in their text above, “More appropriate chat and game outlets are the previously mentioned Bix.com, Yahoo! Groups, and Yahoo! Messenger.” Go to them if you want to chat. It’s really quite simple.
And Yahoo Answers also *is* most likely cracking down on all the other malicious ‘questions’ on the site; just because they are focusing on chat right now doesn’t mean they aren’t doing other things as well. Chances are they are and they just aren’t saying anything. Why aren’t they saying anything about it, then? Because they figure it’s unnecessary and that everyone knows about what is against the rules such as asking for ‘free stuff,’ or whatever. This whole section written here is to once again *clarify a definition* of chatting, so that hopefully people stop. Chatting is something that can be stopped more easily than most other things, and with it gone perhaps YA can spend more time working on those other problems.
Now, why don’t we be supportive and encouraging and thankful to the wonderful people and their website, that we even have such a great site to begin with. YA does not have to exist, and it is free. Rofl. If you have problems, phrase them politely and with due respect, not, “i hate u guys 4 not alowing us too chat u’r so mean” etc. Thank you, and have a nice night. =)
I’m just wondering what is so bad about chat things anyway? Why does it go against guidelines?
I’d think talking racism, cussing and “the like” would be against guidelines. That stuff should be axed.
Other than that, it’s cool participating in “Answers!”
Sounds like a wise move at present. As I understand things, it’s only a matter of time before somebody sets up an Avatar Pageant at Y! Bix, as a Contest. I still have to work out a Question about categorization of such a pageant, as the Avatar is in what I understand to be a gray area between Photo and Video categories.
It’s Yahoo’s site, they get to make the rules. What’s so horrible about that? The point of Yahoo Answers is to get real information, not play games. Why is this so difficult to understand?
Hi There,
I would just like to say that I totally agree with the whole issue over avatar games, they are anoying, slow to load because of the amount of “thanks for the points” answers that just serve to bog down Yahoo Answers and make it less of an information sharing community and more of a general discussion board. Also it is anoying when you have to sit and wait for 5 minuets for your computer to load the page because of the amount of useless junk that gets posted on it.
I agree with the previous commenter that suggested to make a Chat section for “off topic” things like this. I don’t think they would hurt a thing if they were sequestered off in their own little zone.
Seriously, Yahoo answeres should be just as fun, as entertaining. And while “some” people dont apreciate those kind of questions. some people like to interact with such questions. This is starting to get ridiculous, i dont apreciate this situation. Yahoo A! is starting to over stipulate the guidelines, and there should be a stop to it…
then why dosent yahoo answers have a section for Avatar Games and i think that would bring many people to use YA more :]
Yahoo Answers should be / must be sued for causing mental agony and torture in the form of violations and suspensions!!! Nobody…I mean nobody gives out violations to peace loving incredible human beings like us! YOU MUST BE SENT TO JAIL YAHOO YAMSTER .
How about we just make everyone happy, by creating a specific section for avatar games?
Don’t tell me what to do. You ain’t my dad. I can port whatever the hell I want and then, if someone dosen;t like it, they have the right to go report. It’s not like anything you say matters. I see chat ALL THE TIME. It’s not the stupid avatar games or people chatting, or even the trolls that bother your users. It’s you! Without you there would be no trolls. community guidelines, HA! Real easy to try and do when you don’t ever have to face someone. Come and tell me what I can and can’t say to my face.
My issue isn’t the chat with avatars. It is the nasty, bigoted, racist ones that you allow to be posted. They are obscene!
I really enjoy this site. As long as the Q & A is not offensive, then I think that we should be allowed to ask said questions. After all, technically they are a survey and a poll. Just because it is not a poll that means anything to you, does not mean it doesn’t mean anything to the asker. The purpose of P & S is to gather people’s opinion about ANYTHING and EVERYTHING. Please look for the more offensive questions and answers to violate. “Chatting” should be the least of your concern. Focus on finding and violating trolls as an alternative.
- Thank you for your time.
All your bossiness is immoral. All your rules are violence against me. How dare you tell me what I can and cannot ask? It doesn’t matter if you’ve invented the thing or run it or anything, what matter is whether you adhere to a might makes right philosophy and are therefore a criminal forcing your will onto others, or you acknowledge my right to be an individual. Until you understand that it doesn’t give you the right to tell people what to do no matter whether this is your site or not, you will be losing customers and making the world a darker, more cruel place.
Dear Yamster,
Yes, I like your avatar.
Thanks for asking.
Love,
Guido
People actually LIKE playing avatar games though. They don’t find it to be an annoyance. The only annoying thing is when Y!A deletes the avatar games questions. You guys should be happy that we would rather play avatar games here than at some silly website like Bix.com!
Funny, because I can recall SEVERAL extremely offensive questions and avatars that remained for days… and you are concerned with avatar polls? Are you serious? What a great way to piss off the people who make you who you are. If this is what YOUR USERS want, then find a way to please them.
Since there are so many “legitimate” sources of information online, why not alter the rules of Y!A to meet the needs of the majority of the users? Allow chats.
as much as they are sometimes annoying, I don’t find them that bad at all. Avatar games are not a sin but I’m surprised at how Y!A are so strict about it while we keep on reporting FIZZDUDE’s and their obvious spam but nothing happens!!
talk about priorities..
About chatting.
The reason for why chat is a violation seems specious.
To say that it lowers th quality of answers here on Yahoo Answers is to say nothing at all.
How exactly does it lower the quality of information, or interest in such information, or enjoyment from such information?
I would like to know.
The fact is that these questions are popular and therefore very engaging and enjoyable.
Obviously, someone is asking the question so they must want the information.
So, where is the lowering of standards?
I mean, if you want to call this point gaming then do so but do not call it chatting because it is not. Only an illiterate person would say it is.
Chatting requires a give and take relationship between the participants and that is not the case, or should not be the case, however; Yahoo provides the option to edit an answer and or a question and that would allow for chatting, but; these violations are being handed out with out actual chatting going on.
The question “How do you like my avatar?” is not addressing anyone in particular. It is not defining the depth and breath of an answer, so; it allows for critical interpretation. It is specific as to the subject matter, “my avatar” but you could interpret this as a “how to” question or an opinion question. (Your choice).
I have taking classes in statistics and poll and survey taking and I do take unbridge to the misuse of the word “legitimate” here. It is a legitimate poll. Yahoo simply does not want to see the results and that seems a contradiction to the invitation it sends out to all its subscribers to join “Answers” to ask the questions that interest you as a person, and answer the questions you feel you are capable of answering for others.
I think it is Yahoo that needs to give up here and not its members. This is beating a dead horse.
Here is the truth as I see it.
Yahoo has a small group of people who like to complain, many of who were suspended in a previous account and now think they know so much better than others. For that reason they hang out int the forum section and on the suggestion board chatting much the way they keep reporting others for only in this case they are addressing one another back and forth and carrying on a dialog. That is real chatting.
And the answer team know this to be true and you can find many of these people with direct lines to Answer Team members. It gives the appearance of partiality.
At any rate, these people complain and yahoo listens. They go so far as to reference them in the report page as favored reporter or more reliable reporters, when in fact all they are is more frequent reporters. I have read many of their questions and they smell of “chatting” too but they do not get reported because they are the ones doing the reporting. That is patently unfair.
The vast majority of the people here on Answers veiw these people as “Report Trolls” and would like nothing more thatn to see them silenced. they are actually making a point to go to Polls and Surveys and report people when they have no intention of actually answering any questions in that section. Again, I have looked.
They report in packs for added credibility and effectiveness. They vote in packs to effect single answer questions, and they have no shame in the fact that they behave in this anti-social manner.
So, they report, Yahoo violates and suspends members and those members open up new accounts and do as they please all over again and again and again.
The here is you are wasting your time trying to fix a problem, most members don’t see as a problem for the few members that do. Why?
These questions are entertaining and informative and enjoyable, all of the things you are looking for in a question, but still you argue they are not good enough.
Here is a thought. Get rid of anyone under under 21 on this site, because a large number of your violators are children Then, get rid of Polls and Surveys because none of you know what one is and to be honest the whole site is either a poll or a survey. I think there would not be nearly as many questions reported if they were not all in one section. It is like stocking a lake with fish. You are very like to find the thing you are hunting for if you set up a place like Polls and Surveys to look for violators. get rid of it and you will see your problems disappear. You already insult the members who go there by not allowing them to have a top contributor badge for the section. You might as well be thorough and erase the section or subsection as it is.
BTW, you have a section on singles and dating. What exactly do you think they are going to do there? Chat.
Religion and Spirituality is there primarilly to rant.
Trying to concieve, STDs, and Adolescents are all about sex.
The point here is stop beating a dead horse and focus on those live ones.
I know none of this may make a difference but I thought I would offer an opinion and hopefully point you in the right direction. Good luck with this witch hunt and here is hoping that you get the place the way you want though in the process i would not be surprised if all of you most loyal members leave you for lack of a reson to want to stay.
I am seriously considering leaving and this has been part of my life for almost two years now come June. I will miss the people you want to punish more so than the people you are listening to.
Thanks for the enjoyment to them and to you.
The problem I see here is many users reaching high lvls by answering “How are you today” questions with a “Fine”, and ending up with more points than users that try to act in Yahoo!Answers as if it was a proper Question and Answers site.
So if you guys are gonna ban the ‘chat’ questions (probably a term you came with after a night with beer and tequila) you should start erasing a lot of thousand points from users that leveld up by not abiding to your rules…
Get it? (dont answer, its chat)…
I like it when conglomerate organisations moderate like nazis, it makes me laugh, brings a smile to my face everytime. What’s the point of yahoo questions if not to encourage social networking thorughout yahoo? The more ive surfed over the years, the more
I’ve come to the conclusion it’s only really worth adding content to your own website.
We really want Answers to be an informative, engaging, and enjoyable place to be.
How enjoyable is it when accounts get suspended because they made it to Level 7 only to be trolled out?
You still don’t see that thr report function does not work.
Anybody with a grudge, or because there is a person or persons whose mind is so twisted that they have their fun by getting people suspended.
I try to stick to the guidelines, but they are so dang vague. What constitutes a “slur?” Using filtering software does not always work. I know somebody who got suspended for saying the brand name Spic and Span. If the whole answer team is too young to know that brand of cleaner, they need to have somebody mature on the team to slap their hand off the “Suspend Account” button.
This STINKS. Should I report abuse when someone answers question with “I don’t know”… there are tons of these kind of answers…
You guys want this to be INFORMATIVE…
MAYBE START WITH FIXING THAT THERE IS 10 000 IDENTICAL QUESTIONS… IF YA WANT T FIN ANSWER YOU HAVE TO THRU HUNDREDS OF PAGES, CUZ 500 PEOPLE IN THE PAST HAVE ASKED THE SAME QUESTION OVER AND OVER AGAIN………
I think this is a great rule. I mean, I’m tired of coming across these questions even though it is an easy two or ten points. However, I’m happy that Yahoo finally addressed the situation.
I agree with you to some extend however many questions in P&S can be considered as chatting while abiding to the statement above, and both J&R as well as P&S itself is tottaly against the guidelines, if you can not tolerate such questions then get rid of those categories. How about people asking about their genital organs at health section? How about those who are abusing each others at Religion Section, Why you guys (or those reporting) deletes the JOKES while stating that it is not a question??!!. As someone above said if you can’t take do not allow the system to post such questions, the same way you guys filtering out the slangs from the postings.
lame. just a lame rules. avatar games is the best.
Hi,
why can boys about about the length of their penises but other people can’t ask about their avatar?
there are so many inappropriate things said on here, i just can’t equate avatar questions with the rest. it is a question of opinion, as are just about all of the advice requests.
so many questions are asked per second, if you don’t like one move on…
i don’t care for the avatar questions, and have no inclination to respond - any more than i do calculus equation questions, so, i don’t answer them.
silly rule.
Out of curiosity I just went to P&S and saw these questions (only few of them) and confused to figure out that ‘which one falls under the permitted questions by the guidelines’ ??!!!
*Is your head rounder or your avatar pictures?
*Who on Y!A would you ask on a date?
*When you wake up of a morning, do you feel like sayig good morning to the world or do you get all crabby?
*If country roads took you home, where would you be?
*Why do girls like to flash their boobs/body ?
If you want this site to be an enjoyable place to be then you, the Answers Team, need to step up and start taking ownership of this site. Stop relying on the Community to enforce law and order because right now it seems like the inmates are running the asylum. You give Violation notices by the boat load but never with any consistency. I have had questions deleted for “chatting” that were not in the above format. One was deleted because I merely provided additional details in order to get the answer I wanted. Your lackadaisical enforcement of the rules is the reason why trolls run rampant on here. They use their 20 accounts to report innocent questions and you just delete them. You also don’t provide any specifics in the Violation notices as to why a question or answer was in violation. Education is a part of enforcement. If you show someone what they did wrong and why it was wrong, you might find that people will not do the same thing again. It also seems that the point system is at the root of much of the evil. Everyone, whether they want to be or not, is in competition for points and the opportunity to advance to the next level. Some people have a “win at all costs” mentality which means that they will resort to tactics like bogus reporting and points gaming to get ahead. Besides, the points are worthless as you get nothing outside of bragging rights. If you insist on keeping the point system then you need to have the site policed by people not involved in the points competition to ensure some type of uniform and objective enforcement of the guidelines. Allowing people involved in the competition to enforce the rules is like the NFL or the NBA allowing the players on the field/court to referee the games they are playing in. Bottom line Answer Team, fix your own mess and stop depending on the Community to do it.
Does it REALLY matter? I mean, you just ignore them if you don’t want to answer them. Why not just have a chatting section? Why be all strict for no reason. The only thing’s that should be banned are offensive and racist comments
Oh for the love of god, They say one simple thing and you morons start going on about nazis and freedom of speech.
Speaking of avatars… where the hell are they???
Duh, then make a section for chat questions. Believe it or not, some people actually like answering and reading these types of questions.
Not me, but I know some people do.
Actually, it is not correct. Y!A is not a place where you ask stupid questions like, “Do you like my avatar?” Avatars are just a virtual image of yourself (or the image what you want to be). It is nothing else.
Who cares about it!!?!!
Then, what is the point of the “Polls & Surveys” category if we cannot ask fun polls like this?
Gee, why don’t you just remove the Polls and Surveys section while you’re at it? “Do you like my avatar?” seems like a much more legitimate question than half of the stuff I see on here. But I suppose racism and homophobia is clearly OK.
Hmm, but as a level 3 peon I suppose I have no true influence, other than I click on the ads that keep you employed.
These guidelines are pathetic and a waste of everyone’s time. Let people ask whatever questions they want to.
Agreed such questions are chat and don’t belong here. There are TONS of chat sites online and one reason I like Y!A is because it’s different. If I want to chat, I can go to a site designed for that. The “moderating” of the site could be improved, but I know it’s tough with as many posts as are made a day (I used to moderate a smaller site that was for chat and it would take hours a day to run through every post and some categories I just had to skip and rely on members to report, as is done here). Keep tweaking the violation reporting and ‘punishment’ process but I completely agree with the types of questions/posts that aren’t allowed. Thanks for providing us with a fun place to “play” online. ?
Yeah! Good points AI!!! Yahoo yamster… first get rid of your points system!!! and then the really annoying, offending and insulting thumbs downs!!! and then talk to us. okay?
YAHOO YAMSTER MUST BE SUED FOR CAUSING MENTAL AGONY AND TORTURE IN THE FORM OF VIOLATIONS, SUSPENSIONS AND THUMBS DOWNS!!!
FIRST IT ENGAGES INNOCENT PEOPLE AND THEN>>> IT IMPOSES RIDICULOUS RULES AND RESTRICTIONS : YAHOO YAMSTER IS A DICTATOR.
WE ARE FREE FROM OUR FIRST BREATH, WE DON”T NEED YOUR UNFAIR RULES AND REGULATIONS YAMSTER!
You guys blow. I’m glad corporate raiders are coming in to tear you guys a new one. Yahoo! and Yang are losers. Good luck in the unemployment lines. Bring a lunch.
I have a idea maybe there should be a avitar section or, maybe there should be a do you like this or that section that breaks a few rules maybe like chat. The reason that ppl are posting this is to see what type of responses they are going to get. Try meeting some of the consumers needs and you will have more ppl attend.
Non question related.
I agree with making a chat section. BUT! You could help us ALL if you just allow a certain level of REAL conversation within the Q. and A. section. For ADULTS that don’t trash talk.
People are having a hard time understanding why they can’t post such questions. I don’t know why you don’t just explain why , so I will.
This forum is not primarily for your entertainment. It is not even really a feature to be used by yahoo subscribers.
It is a resource , used to draw more users to yahoo , by providing “solutions” to thier problems when they search a subject.
We are merely “employed” by yahoo to provide content.
The rules are set up to where every question can be subject to scrutiny.
I’m not bitter , I don’t mind , but I would rather them thank us for helping them , rather than scolding us for having fun , and using the forum for entertainment. Some are under the impression that this is what the forum is for. Someone should inform them to the contrary.
Umm O.K I think your cool!
Bravo. If you don’t have a decent and thought provoking question then say nothing at all.
Is this really necessary? Questions like these aren’t hurting anybody. “Do you like my avatar” doesn’t even seem like chat to me. Chat = conversation. Asking people if they like your avatar is a question. Well, isn’t that what Yahoo Answers is for?
I think you should be spending your time taking care of more important things. Like people who post inapropriate questions and answers, those looking for free things, the trolls, spamming, etc. Those are affecting people, unlike simple avatar games. They’re under the Entertainment & Music category, I mean, come on!
I just think you should lighten up a bit. 99% of Yahoo Answers are all serious questions and answers anyway, a little fun won’t hurt anybody. I just think you guys should lighten up, or you’ll be seeing alot of people going to Dizzay or Answerbag.
wow thats a rule alright man thatblow make a caat room
From what I’ve seen 99% of the items in the political section should be deleted…most of them are rants..a violation
I kinda agree with everyone above if that makes since. I see so many stupid/offensive questions in polls/surveys and if I don’t like it I skip it. Sometimes I don’t know until I read the entire question….if I don’t like what’s on TV I turn the channel. I don’t care whose chatting but I know it annoys others and it is against what Y!A is. They do have chat areas if you just want to chat.
I wish they would spend more time getting rid of other annoying idiots than worry about the Avatar questions/chats….
There are some really really mean offensive people here sometimes. They don’t bother to answer the questions asked, the TD everyones opinions like their opinion is the only one thats right.
That said….you can please some of the people some of the time but you can not please all of the people all of the time.
This a ridiculous guideline. Clearly this site has kicked off well above what even Y/A anticipated. If the bloggers want to have a site on here for “asking” silly questions and playing avatars games, then you should allow it. Clearly if it’s happening at a high rate, then you need to take another look at your silly guidelines. If it’s not offensive, leave it be.
Why are you people complaining about the avatar rules so much? My goodness, use your energy to do something more useful instead of criticizing Yahoo for their rules.
Can’t you find something more substantial to complain about, something that shows your intelligence rather than your immaturity?
Hey YAT,
Maybe if you highlighted all the OTHER violations that Avatar games can entail (point-gaming, placeholding, format, solicitation, insults), and not only the “chat” aspect, it would be easier for all those who defend these useless posts to see why AVATAR GAMES ARE NOT WANTED in YA.
Just a thought…
Shuck,
Yahoo already has chat rooms. Go there if you wanna chat.
ard_vrk,
Yahoo IS doing things to stop violations. It’s not as easy as you think. Plus, why all the fuss about trying to keep avatar questions, anyway? Big deal, get rid of them. If people would obey the rules, then there’d be no squabbles. But, of course, there always has to be someone who breaks the rules, merely just to break it. Immature.
Yahoo, your reporting solution is defective.
Do you realize how many users have had their Answers accounts sabotaged? How other malicious users on reporting crusades use literally DOZENS of separate accounts to report people whom they dislike, to either eradicate their questions or the users’ accounts themselves?
Personally, I’d rather see questions which violate the guidelines be MOVED rather than just deleted outright. For example, if someone does ask a chatty question, and someone reports it, move that question to a more appropriate channel so that users in say Politics don’t have to read it, but at the same time so that the user who posted the “question” isn’t given a hard lesson in Yahoo’s loosely enforced yet arguably anally retentive guidelines.
Ridiculous
- Whether against guidelines or not- there is no way that I would be enough of a loser to report an avatar game. They’re harmless whether they contribute to the community or not, and there are far worse questions in violation that STAY posted on answers…
There are users who log on simply to harass and report people in certain sections of answers. Many of these people will post derogatory comments and hate speech, and the post never disappears- and you’re worried about “how do you like my avatar?”
Yamster- get your priorities straight. When people are done beating the crap out of eachother and teaching younger users new slang, THEN punish them for being nice…
POLL: Who here likes Yamster’s Avatar?
How about dealing with all those idiots who keep putting the “am I pretty” or “am I ugly” questions? yahoo!answers isn’t “hot or not” so why are those people still posting such questions?
I agree that “chatting” and certain types of questions are childish in nature and are not for the purpose of realling finding out information. I consider myself an “older” member and I love reading the questions and answering those of interest. I also think of myself as someone who is a mentor. I don’t profess to know everything, but I have been blessed to have a lot of infomation about a lot of topics and I also believe that people are placed in the world for different reasons. I believe one of my purposes is to help others - so I teach, I offer suggestions and advice and this is a forum for which I find great pleasure in being able to do what I believe God called me to do. It is disturbing when people don’t think about the questions they ask and reduce this forum to some lower level help column. The reader nor the person who posted the question is being helped with the elementary-type questions.
Quality versus Quantity. Some things do change, but for the worse. A spoiled brat will never accept anything except what they want. A person who uses the site for entertainment will always find a way to keep amused.
Perhaps P&S could be moved to a new site: Yahoo! Opinions. Hehehe.
I have to agree with the other posters. This seems a little weird. There are so many trolls on here asking TRULY inappropriate questions - get rid of THEM first! And the polls & surveys section SHOULD allow this kind of thing. Otherwise, what do you post there? Shouldn’t it be for FUN? You really need to lighten up. If it’s SUCH an issue, make a category called “chat” for it, because no matter what you say people are GOING to continue to do it. Which just wastes your time taking it down when it’s reported. Get rid of the REAL trolls instead of trying so hard to enforce this tiny little rule which, in all reality, is not hurting anyone.
What about the “Am I Pregnant” questions? There is a RIDICULOUS amount of those and the answers are ALWAYS the same. Try policing that instead. THAT’S what’s annoying to me.
guys: if you want this place to be informative and engaging, you need to do something about the fact that all the people asking and answering are under the age of 18!
People do what they enjoy. Some people enjoy Answers for “chatting”, even though that is a violation. Others enjoy if for trolling. My recommendation for Yahoo! is
Set-up an Yahoo! Answers-like system:
Yahoo! Opinions
Yahoo! Answers ; Adult 18+ section
Yahoo! Battlegound (for purely for trolling)
Bring back yahoo! news message boards.
I agree that Y!A categories, including P&S should not be clogged up with avatar games.
But…they really are very fun, and I would suggest having, not a chat category, but an avatar game category. That way, people who like avatar games can go there, and people who would prefer no avatar games can go to Politics or P&S or Sports, or wherever else they wish.
I really think that might be a good idea=)
I have to be honest though, I have posted a few avatar games=( but I honestly didn’t know that it wasn’t allowed, I have seen lots of them posted without getting reported, and thought it was okay. I apologize, though, for doing that. =)
I honestly don’t see what all of the “hoop-la” is about. If a person doesn’t want to answer a question about avatars, then just ignore it. Perhaps the reason behind those kind of questions is because of the age of the person asking ( meaning young ). I personally get tired of the pregnancy questions, someone should tell the young ladies to seek a doctors advice not people portraying to be physicians.
yea a lot of people like to snitch
I really can’t stand those questions, including
What are you doing right now? What are you
having for lunch? So I don’t answer them.
The ones asking those questions must really
be lonely or trapped in a dungeon somewhere.
STOP IT! PLEASE! STOP IT!! (anguished cry)
I agree with Yahoo!, that questions such as those about avatars and such should be kept out of the Answers community. I mean, really, they DO have chat rooms for chatting; the point of this forum is for people to get information/advice for a question or problem they have. I like the idea Valedictorian had - if you wouldn’t use a search engine to find the answer, or seriously ask a friend about your issue, than don’t post it. I also have to agree with my fellow Yahoo! members, however, that there are more serious violations that appear on this forum that do not appear to have any action taken - even when reported. I think the worse offense is to post an offensive answer to somebody’s question (why not ignore the question if you don’t like it?) than somebody polling about their avatar.
I don’t mind answering questions about his avatar. There is absolutely no reason these chatting questions should be deleted. If you don’t like a question, you don’t have to answer it. Lighten up.
I’m in agreeance with most people on here. It seems that these questions are harmless enough. Besides, you post them in polls and surveys which is a place to ask questions on peoples opinions. If you think that is chatting then you need to delete the whole section. I recently read a question from a woman who wanted to know why her question had been deleted. She asked how often other mothers newborn babies slept. The best answer she could get is that it was chatting. So, I want to know how that question is bad maybe she had a legitimate concern and needed to know what to expect of her newborn. If you are going to just start deleting questions then you need to tell us why you are doing it. Don’t depend on the community to enforce the rules thats when the trolls take over.
I say we make a chat section on yahoo answers.
I agree you should not ask questions like that.. but I also say that yahoo answers add a chat section to the website.
Consider it?
They are much more than just “chat” and Yahoo knows it. They are predominantly POINT GAMING, SOLICITATION, PLACE HOLDING, INSULTS TO MEMBERS, NOT A QUESTION, NOT AN ANSWER and on..and on.. and on..
Until Yahoo treats them as the pernicious FLAGRANT CG violations that they REALLY are. The kiddies will NOT take this blog post seriously
Here’s the most recent allusion to this on the suggestion board….
http://suggestions.yahoo.com/detail/?prop=answers&fid=87630
yawn
Wow, theres no more fun in the world is there?
I have to agree with this!. I’ve seen that question asked many times, (usually by females) but it appears the asker never chooses a “Best Answer”. I’ve also noticed,that people who use seductive looking avatars,such as:
Pouting Lips,Bare Chest, Legs in Fishnet Stockings,and “Boobs”,get the most answers,to their ridiculous questions. (Seriously?). About 2 weeks ago,I ran into an avatar of a female who was completely nude,but the avatar only showed her from her face to midway of her hips. She did’nt try to cover anything from that point—up!. We don’t need YA’s turning into a mini porn site,but it’s darn near close!. (lol)
Other questions that I concider “Chatting are”:
(1) What should I cook today?
(2) What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?
(3) What should I name my baby?
And the list goes on!.
I still say,that if certain avatars (and questions) are deemed inappropriate or concidered chat,then they should not be allowed to be posted.
I hardly ever use Answers anymore because of dumb rules like this. They are missing out because I used to answer a lot of legitimate questions for people. If I ever saw a question I didn’t like or thought was dumb, I just moved on to the next question–no big deal. Add too many rules and people are just going to stop using it (like me!)
Bleh. I disagree. Questions which look like chatting….like “Do you like my Avatar” are harmless!!!
Do something about the trolls, stop the spammers! I once came across a Top Contributor posting a link to gay porn. Of course I reported and his answer was removed, but I expected a more serious action like account ban against him
So its time, for you Yamster, to stop worrying about people trying to make friends here by posting questions like “what is your favorite.. “, “Do you like…” and take a plunge on the more serious violations of the TOS!
Probably my comment will be removed coz I spoke something against you, but I really don’t care!
I just wonder why so many people even care about what others think about their avatars anyway. Mine only vaguely resembles me so I can’t imagine any link to self-esteem. If you need a self-esteem boost then go out and do something positive to benefit someone and then you will feel better about yourself.
Anyway - I ignore those questions and they don’t really bother me; I just don’t understand why it’s so important to people.
I hate absolutely everything about the TOS, burn in hell, yamster…
rules are rules get used to it.
This is to all the other commentors : The blog post in this instance does not need nor require a comment. It is the rule as defined by the Yahoo team. If you do not like it or disagree with it, I strongly suggest you go elsewhere. The team is trying to to do the best it can in a free-form forum. They are not censors as such. They do confine language to what is acceptable by the majority. Will not tolerant verbal sparring nor any insulting behavior. The age limit is confined to 13 and above on the assumption that adult behavior may be expected at this age bracket. It is apparent from the comments, that this assumption is not borne out in a few individuals. Adult behavior implies respect for your fellow participants and precludes childish behavior. So, let’s be adults and abide by the guidelines.
thats a pretty dumb rule
its a question so why shouldn’t it be able to be allowed?? its not chat its just like posting a picture n saying am i pretty?
i think as long as something is a question and is not inapropriate it should be allowed
it’s funny how yahoo claims to want to create a “community” and in the same breath crushes the community that wants to build itself.
This place would be a GHOST TOWN if all you wanted was people asking stupid questions that they could very easily look up elsewhere.
If people chat, that is an indication that there is a MARKET for that chat, a niche. The message boards are garbage, YA! is where people want to do these things so either let them or watch them leave on DROVES.
i think this is taking it bit too far… don’t get me wrong, I don’t waste my time with questions like this, but no one is getting reported for the COUNTLESS “Am I pretty? (pic included)” how is this not the same thing? No offense, but i think you should be spending more time getting rid of the people who leave rude, hurtful, or just plain ignorant answers to questions… just because they think that someone is stupid for not knowing everything.. So many times during the day i see answers that say, “Don’t be stupid” “are you kidding” “get a life”…. and most of the questions are legitimate. So. please. this is just my opinion, but i think this should be th main focus here.
I agree with some comments here, why dont they just make a chat or games section so people can chat about anything. Those questions are annoying but if there was a place for them then they wouldnt asked them in the sections that everyone doesnt want them to be asked in. I also agree that Yahoo seems to address this problem YET there are still worse violations and questions out there AND people get reported for the same questions that are STILL on Y!A that were never removed. If your gonna play the game of being strict over this then play it FAIR and do it for everyone not just here and there. If your gonna just make the site completely strict and no fun then people WILL stop coming here and go somewhere else.
Assuming the whiners are done now, the ones who want to ask such things and see nothing wrong with it, let me suggest another thing to add which wastes the time of the community and isn’t really a question anyway. Please do a blog saying these “questions” are nothing but chat.
“How much do you pay to fully gas up your car/truck/SUV?” or “How much is a gallon of gas where you are?” or any of a number of variants to that question.
ARRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHH!
Thanks.
I don’t ask avatar questions ever but besides that, I just don’t ask many questions at all. What if something you consider to be an appropriate question, such as a poll titled “What is your favorite type of pizza?” or “What is your favorite book?”, is considered chat? When does the line between poll or survey and chat appear? It seems to be an “iffy” idea at best to ask pretty much any question, unfortunately. I agree that avatar games do not belong here but perhaps you should post a blog entry on appropriate polls and surveys that you can ask that will not be considered chat, that would be very helpful.
This is one of the reasons I keep pushing for the ENTIRE “Polls & Surveys” section to be eliminated - if we seemingly allow one kind of chat (”polls” - 99% of which are BLATANT chatting), then why stop others?
Don’t get me wrong - I think they should ALL be gone!!
But all that singling out one group (admittedly the WORST OFFENDERS), you essentially tell the rest “what you are doing is OK - because you are NOT posting Avatar Games”…
There should be NO “fine line” - “polls”, and other grey-areas like them should be treated JUST as harshly as the serious offenders.
If a CLEARLY defined line is created - there won’t be any need for posts such as this one ;);););)
If you don’t like the program, change channels, if you don’t like the question, move on. It’s only a waste of time and space if you let it be.
Enough rules.
Yahoo has already created TWO pages JUST for these activities:
http://CHAT.yahoo.com
http://BIX.yahoo.com
Go to the first if you want to CHAT (or ask pointless questions), and go to the second if you simply want to RATE things…
;););)
I agree with many frustrated posters here. I am tired of getting violation warnings for simple non-offensive, non-cursing questions. In some cases, your rules are too much in the “gray” area. I can understand violations for extremely rude or lewd comments and for foul language, but not for asking a simple question. This is after all a Questions & Answers forum. I think at some point we may become too frustrated to continue visiting here, and I would hate to see that. Just my two cents…
Yahoo SCREWED UP when they capitulated to the litigious lawyer who threatened to sue them when he got his poor little feelings hurt on the old discussion boards, and they have YET to recognize it and put them BACK.
As a result, people continue looking for a way to have conversations about relevant (to them) “stuff” where other people actually congregate!
Shame on you, Yahoo, for giving in to that guy, and shame on you for engaging in censorship just to protect your butts.
GIVE US BACK THE ORIGINAL BOARDS, and we’ll leave this nonsense to the twelve year olds who’ve taken it over.
I agree–such personal polls are foolish and pointless. But I have noticed that such questions are asked in other categories besides polls. It seems to me that it would be counterproductive to ban this particular question, as the askers would then all go to other categories to ask their vain questions. Let them stay in polls. Then those of us who do not give a flip about their avatars will not be stumbling across them even more in other, more appealing categories.
but theres plenty probs like cheating left y’all gotta solve that first
You want people to take this seriously, yet you have an effin hamster as your icon? Get bent yahoo, I’m glad Microsoft rejected yo a$$
i dont mind answering those
I think this is really stupid. I mean why don’t you do something about the people who leave mean and insulting answers on peoples questions for no reason at all!?!?!?! I mean most of my questions have been deleted that weren’t even in violation of the TOS which again is really stupid. You say you want this to be a fun and safe site, yet and still you have people who leave dumb answers like “Get a life” or “you’re so far beyond stupid” just purposely rude. And I’ve already reported two insulting answers today which surprisingly are still there. If you want it to be so safe and exciting, then quit worrying about these kind of questions that don’t even really matter, and start taking some action against the ones that don’t need to be here i.e the trolls. I mean why create rules to ask a question?????
I just got a violation notice for answering
“you are the wind beneath my wings!”
There are people on here that are abusive, mean perverted and post horrible sexual questions and I get a violation notice over a friendly comment. This is stupid plain and simple.
As for the “chat” issue in here, it’s silly. I want real questions. I got sucked into a question that was a violation and I did not know it. This is unfair because YAHOO! should be screening the questions and answers for violations BEFORE they get posted. Quite simply do away with violation notes UNLESS someone is being flat out rude, mean and sexual.
I agree with most people here. Chat belongs in a chat room. But really now, the rules are in such a grey area on the subject I am now afraid to answer anything.
I think yahoo answers is too strict if you want a place to be ENJOYABLE then don’t allow the trolls to rule the site. I don’t think it’s that big of deal to have someone ask how are you, that’s a bit ridiculous of someone gets reported for that and thus your blog is encouraging the trolls to keep reporting and getting innocent people’s accounts suspended. This right here is making the site that much more unbearable to come to. I’m so tired of it already, anyways I’ve seen worst postings about racism or racist comments and questions that I’ve reported and others have and the questions are still there to this very day. This blog is useless unless YA! is going to start monitoring more closely instead of throwing out lame violations every now and again. People cannot even say the simplest things and they get violations
go figure YA! is a place that enables trolls, nothing more and nothing less.
THIS BLOG IS USELESS AND DOESN’T DO MUCH TO SOLVE THE BIGGER PROBLEMS AT HAND ON THE SITE.
Yahoo get over it seriously you need to leave people alone and if they want to effin ask the question let them who are you to tell them it isnt a legitimate question to them. Seriously worry about bigger $hit like all the perverted and sexual questions on here jeez.
avatar games are so much differnt than do you like my avatar questions!! y dont you ppl get that!?!?!
these “guidelines”and “suspensions”have made all the good folks leave..what has remained,is the rude and abusive people!!!this site used to be fun and WE are the ones who made this site what it is,not you,not your guidelines!WE brought our friends and have been with Y!A since it started,and yet,we may get our account deleted cause we posted a chatty question!
there have been many Q&A that are rude and abusive,
this site is great,not because of your guidelines,but because of the good people that still remain!!
when they have all gone,this site will be left with teenagers[who will report each other,or anybody who disagrees with them]religious fanatics[who will report cause you are another religion],and young adults who are rude and abusive!
Well,i hope you’re happy with what you have accomplished!
If you are concerned about people violating the rules, why not check out the questions and answers posted by users like Reverend Wright’s Mentor and Mickey Mao. I wish I could remember some of the names of users who spout off pure unadulterated HATE, calling Barack Obama the N word and such, but checking out these fools, or trolls as we call them, might give you an idea of what I’m speaking. Posting stuff about avatars, as though that is truly the stuff that upsets and/or angers people, as well as offends them, in Yahoo! Answers is ridiculous. If that is what you are here to police, then there is apparently no reason to have a Yahoo! Answers team at all… except to answer questions about how to use the site. Try checking out some of the HATE being spouted off in politics and government, elections in particular. Anyone who is aware of their surroundings knows that the primaries are heated right now, and many people have strong opinions. But lies and hatred are being spewed out left and right (from the left and right) and it’s making one of my favorite areas to visit nearly intolerable at times. People generally ask sensible questions, wanting answers or opinions, and at least half of the responses are disgusting. Why are you talking about Avatars and not the racist stuff I see everyday????
You Yahoo! people suck. Yang is a giant loser and I’m glad the proxy fight will take your board and give them the boot. I hope you all lose your jobs when Microsoft takes over. Oh yeah, thanks for suspending my account with over 7700 answers, many of which were “best answers” for the violation of recommending a travel website over using travel agents. I guess travel agents can’t take the competition. So guess what I think of your “guidelines”. Yup, I got your guidelines right here. Guideline up on this. P.S. Ask Mike is another giant loser. Get his herpes treated.
The only problem since the beginning isn’t the guidelines, its the fact that you let ANYONE enforce them. All you do is trot out more means of abusing the system of checks and balances in effect making that “fine line” more obscure.
Your clarification is commendable but, once again, is pointed in the wrong direction.
Why stop at the people who put up such questions? Its the reporting fanatics that are the worst violaters not only of the CG’s and TOS, but of the basic human right to express oneself.
Oh no not chat! This is why i hate yahoo, if you dont like a question dont answer it, their “violation guidelines” are bs
“The blog post in this instance does not need nor require a comment. It is the rule as defined by the Yahoo team. If you do not like it or disagree with it, I strongly suggest you go elsewhere.”
Well, thank you Mr. Nazi Supporter. And here we were, thinking this was a COMMUNITY board, where people were allowed to share their thoughts and opinions.
Guess we were WRONG.
You guys didn’t happen to sell the advertising space on Answers on the basis that it was full of sensible, discerning, mature, educational content? Boy are you lot in trouble. Guess you’ll have to hope the advertisers are only interested in numbers.
You gave birth to a baby, but now it is a sulky teenager that wants to go its own way. I’d just leave it to evolve. I don’t think you have much choice now anyway. Self governance has created anarchy.
Unfortunately a lot of mature content, that is much worse than ‘chatting’, is getting through. I certainly wouldn’t let my children on here when they get to thirteen. You have a lot more problems than a few pseudoquestions from bored chatters.
i TRULY had a laugh out of the comment written before me, they are ALL right because i have been through the same experience where there are ABUSIVE top contributors who will report you or even delete your question/answer immedidiatly if they dont like it..
but yet i respect your democracy of posting these rants and not deleting/rejecting them.
Oh PLEASE. Everyone knows by now that the “chatting violation” is the catchall for pretty much any & all content on Y!A that people (mainly report monkeys or the easily offended) decide they want removed for no legitimate reason. If someone doesn’t like your Q/A, they can report it as “chatting” & POOF, there it goes, vaporized into the ether. The automated report system disintegrates it.
The particular Guideline concerning “chatting” is so laughably vague that it can be stretched far & wide enough to encompass virtually EVERYTHING on the site. Taken in literal terms, a question is a request, a communication, one person’s words reaching out in the hopes that the words of another will reach back. What is “chatting” if not an attempt to COMMUNICATE with other people? –ALL– of Y!A is chatting, you ninnies!
So either bring into very sharp focus what EXACTLY you mean by “chatting” or remove the option to report content as such until you DO have it all figured out, kiddies.
I think it’s good to limit people’s questions if they’re going to be petty like that. I mean, how many pages of questions do I have to go through to find a question that I can really answer? It’s not easy sometimes, it’s all choked up with “Am I pretty?” and “I’m bored. What are you going to have for dinner tonight?” and stuff. I admit, I sometimes like to answer them, but they can set the guidelines wherever they want, you know? It’s their website, and some of us think it needs to kind of stay true to its intentions.
If “avatar games” are annoying to you, skip past the damn question! Problem solved. I know, I know, Y!A isn’t supposed to be fun. Nobody should be having fun at Yahoo! Just ask Li Zhi.
I know chatting is a violation I read the community guidelines. Also I gotten what is considered chatting
so I can refer to that too.
It is not me who is asking questions am I pretty
and do you like my avatar
Please put our avatars back so I can comment on my best answers from my home computer.
By removing avatar is a disservice
because you are punishing people who are innocent
like me.
I also emphasize the user to read the community guidelines.
My opinion, I think it wouldn’t hurt if the YA! team would lighten up on the violation rules. Sure questions like”how are you today?” or “do you like my avatar?” etc may not be serious of formal questions, but their still questions nonetheless.
There you have it YAHOO administrators, no one likes it! Everyone agrees that it should be the trolls you need to be worrying about and not the innocent questions!
I don’t do the avatar game
I never heard of it until last year
but never got involved.
However when avatars didn’t come like it should
I answered questions like that
Mine is from my 360 so I was able to put in here last summer.
When Yahoo avatar wasn’t functioning
and there were frustrated people about this I helped them.
I think Y!A has gotten a little out of hand. You want it to be “informative…and enjoyable”- well, with the number of trolls in certain sections- targeting people- causing top KNOWLEDGEABLE contributors to be suspended- Y!A gets less and less enjoyable! The regular contributors in one particular section are fighting senseless violations, and are being run off- so, the trolls are taking over.
Perhaps, rather than pick on “avatar games”, maybe you should focus more on the REAL content of Y!A, and scrutinize what is being violated a little more carefully. It would make Y!A a llittle more enjoyable for ALL of us!
Bi*ch , Its Yahoo ANSWERS….I understand the Avatar games thing (well , not really.) …But the not the “We might like your avatar, but we don’t want to answer questions about it” thing….If we have ANY question..it should be ANSWERED Because its called YAHOO ANSWERS….
Btw , Snoogans is right.
I think that Y!A is a little to strict on this whole “chat” thing. Trolls and people posting ignorant questions are the ones we need to worry about.
Thank you. I come to this site to find answers to legit questions and to help others with their legit questions.
You focus on silly, harmless things that help build community and refuse to deal with reporters, trolls, clones, and pornographic questions/avatars. Yahoo seems determined to act like it’s doing something about the abuses on the site while letting the true abusers run wild.
You people are funny. Ranting and raving, spitting and stuttering over such mundane things as avatars, getting suspended, silly questions, blah, blah, blah.
DON’T YOU REALIZE THIS ISN’T REAL LIFE?
Get a grip. Take a chill pill. Sit on your back porch with a glass of iced tea and some cool music. You’re all too hyped up and high strung. I’m guessing you’re mostly kids. It’s a good thing Ask Mike doesn’t take you seriously or else he’d have a nervous breakdown.
You guys are FUNNEEEEE!
I know what I’d do if I was Yahoo. I’d get rid of the avatars in Y!A. That would surely get rid of all you whiners.
Actually… no,I’m wrong. Getting rid of avatars in Y!A wouldn’t get rid of you whiners. You’d find plenty of other silly things to squawk about, I’m sure.
If you people hate Y!A so much, then don’t participate. Get completely out of it. How foolish do you have to be to keep doing something that completely aggravates you to no end?
Instead of blaming Yahoo, blame yourself. You’re the ones that keep coming back for more…and more.. and more. It’s like you’re hitting yourself on your head with a hammer while asking Yahoo why they gave you a hammer in the first place.
HAH! Real intelligent, people.
Everyone repeat after me, very slowly….
THIS IS NOT REAL LIFE, AND I WILL NOT GET UPSET ABOUT SOMETHING SO SILLY.
THIS IS NOT REAL LIFE, SO WHY GET SO UPSET AND RANT AND CURSE AND SPIT AND SPUTTER?
THIS IS JUST A COMPUTER…… NOT MY REAL LIFE.. THESE ARE JUST BUTTONS, THESE ARE PEOPLE I DONT EVEN KNOW.
I SHALL BEHAVE MORE RATIONAL NOW.
See, wasn’t that easy?
This iz kool
We cant go into the Yahoo Chat rooms because there are so many bots it isnt funny! So if Im sucked into “chatting” on Answers, yeah for me.
if you hate yahoo answers then dont use it. another thing is why do u chat on yahoo answers? You know that there are messengers out there where you can do all your chatting business.
Are avatar games really even that big of an issue? Why not crack down on trolls or something that really bothers everybody? My guess is theyre not going to stop anytime soon, so maybe you should take a pro-active approach to it and create a section specifically for avatar games and random other “chatting” that way they dont clog up other categories.
I’m sure your advertisers will not be pleased when you tell them that you drove away 90% of your users because you only want informative answers to serious questions. I come here to have fun and relax. I don’t have a problem with chatty questions. The only thing that bothers me on Yahoo Answers is people who are abusive or ask graphic ual questions.
Chewbakka, If you don’t think the computer is real life, then why are you here? Why don’t YOU go get a life?
instead of getting mad when people ask those questions,
why don’t create a specific category to chat, to make avatar games, to rant and to vent…….
of course those things could be allowed only in that category, it’s a violation if someone does that on another category…….
it’s easy to solve that problems
Chewbakka, the internet is real. If you are going to attempt to argue that the internet is something fake, that it is something not in existence, I’m going to buy you a dictionary.
This community was created to help people. The rules have been made. By joining this community, you agreed to this terms, whether you actually read them or not.
Again, this community was created to help people. When someone has a legitimate problem, they can come here, ask a question, and get a legitimate answer. If you want to play ‘Avatar Games’, Yahoo was kind enough to offer suggestions as to where it is not against the rules to play them.
Yahoo gives us avatars because they give us a sense of identity in this “fake” world where nothing is “real.” They are trying to create the most enjoyable experience possible for those people who are here for legitimate reasons.
If you do not enjoy Yahoo! Answers, leave. Yeah, it REALLY is that simple. Make your own blog somewhere and complain about this “fake” world, which, might I add, you seem to be very upset about, considering it’s “fake” and all…
Have a nice day.
Next thing we know, you’ll have to pay to use Y!A, and anything that remotely resembles an opponent of anything the Y!A crew doesn’t like will be burned at the stake.
You guys are such jackasses. If you don’t like your job, don’t take it out on us. Quit and do something productive in your lives (wait, what lives?)
When will you people realize that We Are Yahoo! Answers. Start giving us what we want, and you will make money. Like my avatar?
Ok…so Y!A allows young teens to use their service and then -
a) thinks lectures will work
b) wonders why posters persist in asking these types of questions
Y!A - if you want to truly be a reliable and engaging source of information then you need to rethink your strategy. As long as Y!A is a playground for teens then you will just need to deal with these types of games and get over it.
The behaviors and questions you don’t like are not bad unless you are trying to establish yourself as some sort of academic or professional source of information. If that’s what you want to do then you will have to use a different model than this.
I won’t go through comments as they are mostly irrelevant to the question, and surely SOMEONE figured this out.
People get angry when treated differently. When certain people get “custom” avatars and others do not, people will get angry over not being treated equally in even such a superficially significant manner. Countries have had civil wars over far less significant or obvious inequality inside an organization.
A “good ole boyz club”, as it were. Some allowed to create their own, others forced to choose from a list. It is dangerous ground as newcomers feel ostracized and old timers begin to feel “entitled”.
My answer then: Custom Avatars may be a rite of passage, but if it is, let people know when they’ve earned the rite through answering, instead of people wondering whether or not they’re being targeted and left out.
Because that has always been the crux of the problem. Not knowing if it’s part of some system nobody knows about, or it’s a rigged system that you can’t fairly compete within. The audience will much improve after setting rules of the game.
This is a stupid reason for a violation without being justifed why the question was removed and no wonder why the communty doesnt take appeals seriously and even when good users get suspended and trying to get their account back also and plus when trolls are nasty with users and you report it and they dont to nothing about it and people cloning users and the cheaters with muti accounts also and the communtity needs to improve on everything and take all answers users more seriously as well
Yes, it’s a violation. No, it does not seem worth reporting. Just ignoring.
We have a problem with the report abuse criteria. Some want to interpret it loosely, and some precisely. Some people think it is wrong to ever report; some report way too eagerly.
I think we need to give the benefit of the doubt to one another. Let’s privately agree to include in the twilight zone questions which may be answered “Well, this is technically a violation, but…” Because in a lot of cases it is just technical.
Reporting, it seems to me, is best reserved for when someone is really over the top. Most of the time, it is quite intentional: they have a rant to post, and they don’t much care if they get deleted. And there are those who are simply so filled with hate or crazy ideas that they are unable to recognize their own distortions.
I have an award from Y!A for “Community Leadership,” so I dare consider that the staff of Y!A considers (or did back in December of 2006) that I have a pretty good grasp on what is intended. Indeed, I flatter myself that I had a hand in shaping the Community Guidelines.
I continue to believe that you can say almost anything here, so long as you say it politely. The guidelines have, for good reasons, included a limit on chat and personal communications, and on commercial messages. They are not so much wrong of themselves, but belong elsewhere.
Let’s all play nicely. Sportsmanship requires that you play by the rules.
I am quite annoyed about how over the top reporting is getting. I was reported on an extremely minor offense (simply didn’t add enough details to my answer) and was reported for it being a “non-answer.” Personally, I think Yahoo answers should stick to the really bad offenses (soliciting pornongraphy, hate messeges, profanity, etc.) and ignore or ask the harmless offenders to re-evaluate their questions or answers rather than slapping a violation on them.
I really don’t see the harm. It is a question after all. If someone doesn’t like the question, maybe they should just not answer it.
Get over it! They aren’t hurting anyone!
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times, if chat is so heinous, and the net nannies want to be rid of it, then save us all a lot of grief and just call the site Wikipedia.
Otherwise, you will never get rid of people being people in an open and easily accessible forum. To expect the same body of users to agree on how the site should be policed is undeniably and clinically insane.
I personally can not stand the “do you like my avatar” questions. It is a desperate veil of attention seeking validation when a user has an avatar of herself in a scantily clad bikini who obviously knows she is attractive but wants to draw attention to herself.
Several others have expressed my thoughts already. If Avatar Games annoy you, don’t look at them and don’t answer them. It amazes me that Yahoo! and reporting snitches pitch hissy fits over something that’s vaguely named “chatting”, but let racist, bigoted, sexist, or perverted questions/answers slide by and remain posted.
And speaking of Avatars, where are they? Did the Yamster eat them? Mine has been missing for three weeks now, and several of my contacts have their’s missing as well.
What’s the deal Yahoo!? Trying to draw attention to something that doesn’t really hurt anyone so as to take the focus off your own failings?
Beth is right! The Yahoo! Answers section Polls and Surveys is for questions like that. People shouldn’t report questions like, “Do you like my Avatar?” because that is a question that people can answer. If that is not a Poll question, then what is?
Personally, chatting does not bother me. True, many of the questions are annoying and repetative (especially in the Men’s Health category with endless ‘How do I make my penis bigger?’ questions), but I do not feel that Western Civilization will fall into wrack and ruin because someone asked ‘Which dress shuld I get?”
Violations should be for major infractions: obscene avatars, insulting other participants, cloning, foul and profane language, troll-like behaviors.
I am not afraid of chatting. I am not afraid of miscategorized questions. I am not afraid of humor (which seems to get an inordinate amount of penalties as well).
LMAO I TOTALLY AGREE WITH THE YAMSTER
ALL YOU CHATTERS ARE HELLA ANNOYING!!
I think this just proves that Y! doesn’t really give a damn about it’s users.
Yahoo, we don’t have to use your service…there are plenty of others just like it. We CHOSE to use your service, and we can just as easily choose to leave. It really doesn’t seem as though you care though…as long as you’re keeping the trolls who go around reporting the most minor of ‘offences’ happy. What harm are these ‘avatar games’ doing? None!
Reporting is getting out of hand…why doesn’t Yahoo! just give us a list of ‘acceptable’ questions? The list would only consist of about five questions!
Ridiculous.
It’s not questions like “Do you like my avatar” that people are confused about regarding “chatting”. I don’t think anybody could seriously object to getting a violation for a question like that.
It is genuine opinion seeking questions on subjects like politics, movies, TV shows, web site, e.t.c.
The community guidelines on chatting are very much open to interpretation when it comes to a question like “What are your views on the latest episode of the BBC drama, ‘Torchwood’?” or “What are your opinions of the new look BBC website? Is it less user friendly than before?” or “what do you think of the policies of the three main UK political parties?”
I have had a number of violation notices for questions such as this. Some have been successful, some haven’t. So it seems that opinions about what constitutes “chatting” differ among Yahoo staff just as much as among yahoo users.
I would like some clarification or comment on this from Yahoo! staff - please follow the link to comment.
http://suggestions.yahoo.com/detail/?prop=answers&fid=85782
Correction - 4th paragraph in comment below, I should have said “appealed against a number of violation notices”.
YAY! I get so tired of seeing questions like “Do you like my avatar?” listed here. Thanks for writing this, I’d like to include a link to it as an answer to all those annoying questions. It would be nice if everyone else did the same.
Thanks again.
PS: do you think I’m hot? ;-P
Indeed, as a Yahoo C&A and P&S active person i have noticed and sometimes even participated in such polls and questions, and not only there is no benefits from asking such questions, and that the people a
Indeed, as a Yahoo C&A and P&S active person i have noticed and sometimes even participated in such polls and questions, and not only there is no benefits from asking such questions, and that the people are adding details (editing) all the time the question or poll it self derive to the non sense and chatting purpose, witch is clearly as you said not what Yahoo Q!A about.
As of being aware of this i tried so many times to bring sense to the people (and most of them are girls) they refuse to listen, and keep on posting, while their polls and questions keep on being deleted until they are reviewed by Yahoo staff and therefore got deleted, just because they do not heed our warnings.
Problem is; most of this girls are young teenagers and do not understand fully why they should not play avatar games and that is why i think it is a good thing that you posted this blog, maybe now they will listen to you!
Also avatar games are harmful to other people who have been putting time to put their Picture or avatar in 360 or Yahoo avatars then someone come and tell them it is ugly, clearly it is depressing and they will flee from this place witch is clearly something you and we do not want.
Make this place the best are for your creative questions and answerers and try to help others as good as you can.
I feel that the excessive “complaints” the yahoo staff are alledgedly getting only adds to the obvious ignorance of both the people complaining and those responding to the complaints by ridiculous reporting. As long as those who play avatar games and similar posts are in an obviously “made for screwing around” section such as polls and surveys there should be no problem. if yahoo doesn’t want polls or surveys in the polls and surveys category then maybe they need to re-evaluate their own intelligence.
What is the purpose of Polls and Surveys Section then?
I like how Chewbakka keeps posting comments on how people need lives and to stop complaining, yet he’s posted more comments complaining than everyone else.
Wow YahooAnswers, no one really cares. Get off your high horse. People don’t really care about yahooanswers. ooo yay you can enforce rules!!!
okay, now go find importance in your real life.
You seem so strict! Why can’t people do that? I got reported for basically nothing! I just needed to reword my question. Just let the people do what they want, and report more offense comments!
I agree with Ecter, Bill and Beth. This reminds me of how the news will focus on certain subjects that they want us to focus on, rather than addressing the issues that are actually important. They would rather deal with celeb rehab and what our kids are doing on their cell phones than bring up boring subjects like kids STARVING and stuff like that.
There are much bigger issues you should be focussing on. Try to control us a little less, and address our real concerns a little more, and Y/A will be better for it. Thank you.
I was reported for answering a question where the writer typed a bunch of jumbled letters and then asked a hideous question and then stated I don’t care what you say anyway. They erased the question, then reported me for saying “if you don’t care why did you ask this question?”
I think Yahoo should focus on the problems with idiocy rather then get all upset over some 12 year old looking to talk but who parents block chat programs, Yahoo should be happy not putting out cocky rule postings. Sorry but whoever wrote this post, needs a lesson is how to speak to people.
People enjoy avatar games and they don’t really harm or insult anybody. I think people want knowledge and fun, not another army school. Yahoo! Answers is supposed to be a public anonymous online forum, not a school or an encyclopedia or a homework help site.
Stick to getting rid of harmful and bad users and content instead of policing people looking for fun.
Yahoo Answers Team,
i’m gonna try to say this in the most polite way that i can… you shouldn’t worry about this so much. you there are a lot more problems than this. there are people who report other users, even if they didn’t do anything wrong. there are some people, who ask important questions, but get them deleted just because other users THINK it’s a “chatty” one. Some other users use this site for saying mean things, insulting other users, posting inappropriate jokes/questions, and as simple as a question, that’s…not even a question.
I read this question about a girl who wanted to run away, and asked for advice. I just answered her question properly, but i got reported for it… is it bad to be a little too friendly?
I heard of this person who asked an important question, but most of the people answered in a rude way. she reported the answers, but until now, they’re still visible.
there’s another user who asked an important question, but it got deleted, because another user used “multiple accounts” and kept reporting that as a bad question…
please try to fix these problems first, before worrying about the “chatty” questions, that aren’t even so bad…
maybe you guys can make another website for opinions only, instead of answers.
As for the people who post “chatty” questions:
go to other CHAT ROOMS instead!
hasnt anyone noticed that almost every time you recieve a violation, the reason for it is that you were using chat on yahoo answers. what a bunch of bs.
This is just rhetoric. Yahoo Answers is doing nothing to prevent the widespread posting of such ridiculous “questions” besides posting this article. If they were actually serious about altering the content of Answers then they would pretty much remove the Polls & Surveys portion, because 99.9% of the “questions” posted on there are ridiculous and encompass what is listed above.
That won’t happen however, so this article is pointless.
To use the famous cliche, “actions speak louder than words.”
You punish those who ask/answer innocent questions and let the trolls ruin what was once a great community. I have little faith in Yahoo Answers anymore.
THIS IS THE COMMENT SOME1 ELSE POSTED AND I AM REPOSTING IT JUST IN CASE THE Y! PPL DIDN’T SEE IT AND BECAUSE I COMPLETLY AGREE!
You focus on silly, harmless things that help build community and refuse to deal with reporters, trolls, clones, and pornographic questions/avatars. Yahoo seems determined to act like it’s doing something about the abuses on the site while letting the true abusers run wild.
I’ve been reported several times over ridiculously harmless things, while I see spammers and other members leaving vulgar and rude answers which do not get deleted. I think Y!A isn’t focusing on the right things.
No
I cant believe you think this is a problem.Why isnt the question considered a poll.Isnt that what a poll is for, to illicit a response to a question.Why not use your time to address the true issues like out of control reporting and trolling.
Rule crazy morons who don’t bother to understand what this site is. Sure, porn and insults should be forbidden but this is supposed to be for fun! Does anyone really come here looking for serious answers? I pity anyone who does. If I’m sick I see a doctor, if my dog is sick, we see a vet. I’m not going to ask anything important here and I sure as hell am not going to take advice I get here. IT IS FOR FUN!!! But the joyless, lifeless automatons who protect us from ourselves want us to use the site without enjoying it. Why issue points if it’s not a game?
I think this is a valid concern. In fact I don’t think it goes far enough. When Yahoo answers started, it was supposed to be a resource where you could ask real questions. Now it’s become primarily a chat room riddled with nonense topics like, who is going to win the big game tonight? Do you think I’m hot? It’s also got an element of the Myspace popularity contest thing. People are flooding the place with answers that repeat what’s already there just to get more points.
The vote for best answer is a waste of time because too many people are just voting for the answer at the top of the page so they get their point as quickly as possible. The best answer is rarely the best answer.
Yahoo should have got onto this a long time ago before it became such a joke. Fix it up Yahoo. As a resource, this place is a joke. May as well just go to wiki - unless you desperately need to know if you are hot, or whether he’s into you or not…..
I think that Y!A is focusing on the wrong abuse of its community. While some people get deleted for posting their opinions or having something not in answer form, there are repeat spammers and people using inappropriate terms or vulgar language who are not blocked. Please pay more attention to this instead.
Still can not find away to get my avatar onto my answer’s page,or even place any words with my avatar profile on Y?A’s….
REMOVE THE POLLS & SURVEYS SECTION!
For crying out loud Yahoo! Having that section is the equivalent of pulling up a chair and saying “have a seat” to someone you do not want in your home.
You guys think THIS is a serious problem? What about the recent flood of trolls we’ve recieved? Compared to that, this is nothing.
They were getting pretty annoying. But this isn’t a major issue.
2 the YA censors:
Whatever.
I really don’t see why it is a problem — I am a yahoo answers user, I do not answer those kind of questions, I see them alot —- and yet —- I still find this place to be an “informative, engaging, and enjoyable place to be.”.
Let the kids have their fun — they are sectioned off to P&S — that place is famed for its idiocy.
If they break out into other categories, sure, I’ll report, but that’s what P&S is for.
The people who ask “do you like my avatar” (yes, it is mostly girls who ask that) are clearly insecure and looking for attention. They love getting answers from guys hitting on them and telling them how “hot” they are. It’s annoying.
Why are you worried so much about a stupid avatar question? I’ve seen questions on here in my short time here,that where very vulgar and rude.I’ve seen comments that were absoluty offensive.And this is the junk you care so much about? I don’t get it.Why waste our time reporting offensive material,if this is your main focous?
how can somthing this stupid be a problem?? how can it be abuse? how is it harmful?? asking people how their day was is just plain being nice. all these stupid rules are ruinning the community. the real problem is the yahoo answers team deleting innocent questions and banning innocent people for no reason what so ever
Yahoo you are focusing on the wrong things, your priorities are all messed up. Instead of worrying about harmless little “Do you like my avatar” questions why don’t you worry about the trolls, perverts, mean and racist people on here. You talk about wanting this to be a fun exciting site yet like one poster said earlier you let the true abusers run wild. I got reported for answering a question with “thanks for the heads up” Yet someone who asked a very mean and unnecessary question got through and no action was taken at all. This site is so effed up that Im afraid to ask a question half of the time anymore. You should take that into consideratin instead of worrying about little simple and harmless stuff
In common with many people responding here, I don’t understand why you are focussing on things like avatar games when there is abusive material being posted (as both questions and answers) all day, every day. Your desire to keep Y!A as strictly a question and answer forum has failed to connect to the reality of human nature. Anywhere we go, we try to create community. And people who frequent any particular forum will have community-based in-jokes, discussions, games etc which build that sense of community further. Face it, this ISN’T a version of Wikipedia, with some supposedly noble attempt to provide truth about every topic. It’s a dynamic intereaction between thousands of people, and when people get dynamic together, they will play games and chat. And it’s what keeps us here, so banning all such things will act against your own best interests, Yamster.
This is STUPID!
People should be able to ask if others like their avatar
and how everyone’s day is going!
Y!A is starting to become a dictatorship!!!!
>:( I’m disappointed.
the “am i pregnant” questions are even more annoying. why not violate them? it’s unfair that people with legitimate questions are getting violations for no reason.
Its the kiddies that dont realize that the TRUE Avatar Games DO violate TOS and CG’s in a half dozen other areas than Chat— such as Format, insults,point gaming, place holding, etc etc etc etc.
Yahoo should be suspending the ID of the users that post this insidious swill, and those point gamers that participate in them by point gaming (answering the “question”)….
Maybe then the kiddies will take heed
I’m actually glad that YA is doing something about it… This is exactly the reason I haven’t logged on in about a year (just so happens the one day I do, there’s a posting about this).
I get soo irritated with a bunch of stupid kids asking stupid questions that take away from what YA is trying to achieve. Who wants to answer 30 questions a day, much less look at them, about “Am I pretty?”, “Does he like me?”, “Would you go out with me?”. We don’t know anything about these people, and instead of going to their closest friends and family, they’re going to strangers who can only give them vague answers about a situation not fully understood! Insecurity isn’t an excuse.
I’m looking forward to YA becoming a credible place to come to look for REAL questions & answers… I don’t mind goofy, fun questions occasionally, but I’m tired of redundant questions from the kids.
whats next? will “am I pretty” or “am I pregnant” questions be forbidden too?
yahoo, focus on true issues. when someone says that americans have a terrible food, the answer gets deleted. while people can bash chinese for being brainwashed and nothing will happen.
I recently got the following question deleted:
“So what makes you think you are so special?”
I had posted it in the Religion and Spirituality column. Ironically, I actually got several interesting and thoughtful answers and several people thanked me for posting the question before YA! deleted it as chat.
I ask you, what was so harmful about this question?
Well whats the point of having a polls & surveys catagory than? i mean really all people want in that catagory is a little entertainment so if you just want info then stay out of that catagory!!! problem solved duh!!! the avatar games are fun & give you something to do. i think the y!a team is way to hard on that catagory people obviously arent in that catagory for information!!! why cant people just go in there & ask so how was your day? whats wrong with that? i think everyone just needs to lay off im so sick of hearing this crap about what you can & cant post. also i think the report button does more harm than good! inocent people get reported all the time even when they arent violating rules. its just these trolls out to get people. you dont see yahoo bloging about the trolls. why cant yahoo just give the people in p&s freedom?
i agree with some of the comments here.
i’d like to know what type of questions these are, do these questions share knowledge ? do these questions share information ? the simple answer is no right ? then they should be considered as chatting, right ? i am right, right ???
1. Am i pretty ?
2. Do you like ICE CREAM ?
3. what comes to your mind when i say _____(insert word here) ?
4. Whats your favorite COLOR?
5. Do you sometimes wish you had a _______
I see that YAT just don’t get it. P&S has no meaning. it never shares knowledge. well thats why its polls &surveys right ? avatar games do not share knowledge but do the questions above share any type of knowledge ? NO.
P & S = fun & entertainment
if YAT want to remove the avatar games because they are considered “chatting” and they do not share information then please i beg of you remove the P&S sections well it never shares knowledge we all know that.
i don’t live in the P&S section like some users, i answer a few questions in the sports section then hand around in the gaming section and then to P&S and when i see an ‘avatar game!!!?!?” question i answer it quickly and its so much fun and we enjoy it and they are popular.
legitimate poll or whatever dude, i asked a question “POLL : do you wear glasses” question and it was removed for chatting. I searched for this same question and i found more than 25 questions still on yahoo answers. If you removed my question “do you wear glasses” then remove the rest of the same questions as well posted each day and the ones posted before.
the next thing thats gonna happen is the “am i pretty/pregnant” questions getting removed for chatting . i think i made my point. I have wrote more than this a lot of times, YAT and YAHOO always win Vs us(users). HAVE you ever done something called ‘fun’ to yahoo answers and for us or made some of our ideas work ? no is the simple answer.Go to the suggestion boards and blogs and check their 2 year history.
It’s about time you reiterated the chatting violation here. People have no right to chat on Y!A. “This isn’t at all knowledge-worthy and doesn’t benefit the Answers community at all,” as I told other users whose questions were deleted for incurring that violation. You need to remind users about more violations of the Community Guidelines (i.e., insulting other users, spam, cheating, profanity, etc.). People always don’t read the rules, so they’ll just have to pay the price for their actions.
[...] the big deal about chat on Yahoo! Answers? Tags: Community Guidelines Last week’s post about avatar games stirred up some strong reactions to the rules regarding chat in the Community [...]
I don’t think those are chatting because its ABOUT PEOPLE’S OPINIONS!!!
I mean come on polls and surveys. Those questions belong in those sections so don’t like report it. I’m sorry but how are we chatting its not like we’re doing this:
S: hey
G: Hey
S: What’s up?
I don’t see that happening. I mean come on we’re just doing polls and wanting opinions. There’s no harm to that.
We all have opinions and what’s wrong with learning about new ones. I don’t see any harm in that.
I agree, we should keep it a safe place and Yahoo! Answers isn’t a chatroom, ya know!
You all may want to actually pay attention to those who have pointed out that Y!A users do not have to come here. We choose to come here. There are a number of sites practically identical to Y!A–and much more user friendly. And while Y!A may currently be the most popular, if you continue with your asinine policy of allowing profane, racist, vulgar questions and answers to stand, but accept as valid those reporting someone for no other reason than they disagree with an opinion stated in an answer or possibly implied (probably only in their minds) in a question, Y!A will not remain the favorite “answer” site. Especially when those being reported have violated no rule or community guideline.
Also, your problem with “chatting” and what you classify as “chatting” is extreme and counterproductive if you are looking to attract the teen/young adult age group. What do you expect in a category labeled “Polls & Surveys?” When I visit this section of Y!A I’m not really expecting to find a debate on the economic policies of the presidential candidates, a serious discussion about the meaning of life or even the answer to 2+2.
I’m not even sure why I’ve wasted my time writing this as I am not convinced this or anything else containing user complaints, including appeals, is ever read, much less acted on.
Calm down, Y!A Team. You are so uptight!!
Polls & Survey and Jokes & Riddles are categories which are full of questions which are actually violating the Community Guidelines. Remove both categories and create another site for that thing. We should keep Yahoo! Answers clean from anything that violates the Community Guidelines.
Remove also questions and answers which are violating the CG, and any behaviours that violating the CG: obscene avatars, insulting other participants, cloning, foul and profane language, and troll-like behaviors.
Y!A, you are wound really tight. Seriously, guys, “How are you today” questions are not violations. Actually, they may be a poll to see how happy the community is. Well, I’ll tell you one thing: I’m not happy.
wow you are so freakin uptight!!!! shouldn’t you oh i don’t know, cater to the people USING your website???? or you might find that we’ll just give up and delete our accounts. and lots of times, people ask avatar games with a POLL question as well (in polls/surveys, mind you) so it IS a legit question.
seriously, not allowing avatar games just makes you hated and dictator like. why not let us have some fun for a change?
That is carp!
Can’t YOU make a catergory for avatar games and chatting then please as Yahoo would be more fun then.
And you let some users get away with thumbing down answers and reporting answers for NO reason.
I don’t get it. I really don’t.
Yahoo! Answers was created for a specific purpose. To bring ‘knowledge’ to the world at large.
For those who cannot understand ‘RULES’, or wish to defy ‘THE RULES’, well, isn’t that just too dang bad for you.
No one is going into the Avatar Game place asking, ‘What’s the meaning of E=MC2?’ So don’t come into Yahoo! Answers asking, ‘What do you think of my Avatar?’
You can disagree with ‘THE RULES’ all you like, but your incessant whining will get you nowhere. If you don’t like ‘THE RULES’ of Yahoo! Answers, then there is only one thing left to do= CREATE YOUR OWN ANSWER FORUM WHERE ANYTHING GOES.
Personally, I came to Yahoo! Answers to fulfill the specific purpose for which it was created, not to fulfill your immature, pimply-faced, ‘whaaa, whaaa, whaaa I want my way’ tantrums.
You not only don’t belong in Yahoo! Anwers, you don’t deserve to be there. You belong, and deserve, to be in a playpen… like when you were two-years-old and pulled the same whiny-tantrums on your mother… TIME-OUT in the kiddie jail.
I hate to be the one to break it to you, but THE WORLD DOES NOT REVOLVE AROUND YOU. Get over yourselves already.