Chat, games, and polls revisited
Many of us like to chat and play games, and there is a time and place for that—just not on Yahoo! Answers. The mission of Answers is all about sharing knowledge and advice within the community, not gaming and popularity contests. We’ve blogged before about the fine line between offering a poll query and violating the Community Guidelines. But after seeing another rise of avatar games, along with the ongoing complaints in the forum over this type of recurring abuse, we have decided to go over the issue again.
What’s the difference between polling and chatting?
Polling questions such as “Who do you think will win the election?” or “What kind of decorations do you put on a Christmas tree?” are OK. Advice-seeking and knowledge-worthy questions are more than welcome on the site.
On the other hand, questions such as “What’s your name?”, “Am I pretty?”, “Vote for the best above/below avatar,” or any sort of avatar games, name games, guessing games, truth or dare, trolling games, etc., violate the Community Guidelines and should be reported as abuse. We also consider questions that call out other users by name to be chatting. If you want to chat with another user, please use instant messaging or send email to that user. Yahoo! Groups is another great social networking resource, and a quick search on Yahoo! will point you in the direction of plenty of avatar and other game sites.
If you want to ask a follow-up question in response to someone else’s question and that person is not available via email or IM, post a new question that’s open to everyone in the community to answer—there might be someone else who’s better equipped to answer it.
How do I report chatting and gaming questions/answers?
Go to the page where the abusive question or answer appears, and click “Report Abuse.” To report abuse that does not appear directly in the question or answer (such as harassment, obscene avatars, etc.), you can still click “Report Abuse” and describe the abuse in the “Additional Details” box provided. Once you’ve reported the violation, you’re done. There’s no need to email the team—we will remove the abusive content.
When people use Answers to chat with each other, it lowers the quality of the site and defeats the knowledge-sharing purpose of the site. By sticking to the guidelines and reporting abuse, we can all make Yahoo! Answers an informative and enjoyable place to be.
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so how come when i asked a poll question i got suspended? this site is racist.
and by the way it said something like “who do you think will win big brother?” you suspended me for “chatting”
This was hardly informative as we know that you will not enforce these rules with any consistency. What needs to be done is scrap the Community Moderation system and hire moderators who are not involved in the competition for points.
Poll: What is your favorite color?
Wow that’s really uptight and incredibly stupid. Just leave us alone who cares if people ask questions like that. It’s not hurting anyone, and people are going to do it anyways whether they get “reported” or not. By the way, do you REALLY believe that reporting people actually hurts their feelings and will make them stop doing what they were doing? HA! You’re a bunch of idiots if you do. So you know what? JUST BACK OFF ALREADY!!!
I agree 100%. The young people keep trying to use this as a social neworking site and that just is not what it is here for!
I personaly get really tired of the chatting and games. that is why a rarely venture out of renting and real estate.
Here here, it’s about time this was spelled out. Personally, I love reporting avatar games. It’s great to see them go “poof!” and see 20-40 answers wiped away in one fell swoop.
I’m a little unclear…in politics, it’s pretty common for people to pose a question, and then various answers take a crack at it. People frequently go back and say, “Well, So-and-So (called by name) says in his answer that A, but I believe be to be more honest and accurate.” Okay, so that may be a more polite rephrasing, but generally, that’s the intent. Is that “chatting”? People are, after all, discussing the issue or question being posed.
That would be “B” not “be” in the quote above…sorry for the poor editing.
I assume your referring to the P&S section mostly, right? The majority of the questions in that section can be reasonably considered a poll, or a survey. One of my questions were (actually, ALL of my questions) have been deleted for no reason, because they weren’t breaking any rules. You can’t count on individuals to truthfully report inappropriate questions, because they abuse the responsibility. The questions being reported (by trolls) aren’t even being monitored to make sure that they aren’t legitimate questions being deleted for no reason. Your reporting system is flawed.
whats YOUR name mr crabby pants geez let us do as we WANT to do.
QUESTION FOR ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHATS YOUR FAV COLOR?
i dont see anyone dieing did you guys?!
“we will remove the abusive content” When? I have reported clearly abusive statements and materials and the material still remains on the page.
You do delete offensive material with one person reporting no regardless of how offensive it is, why say you do, everyone knows you don’t. Sometimes the material is never removed. Be honest.
*annoyed*
EDIT: You do NOT.
Note that the ones protesting are the ones that think it is stupid and don’t follow the rules.
Their point, people is that this is not a social netorking site and there are other avenues for you to chat with your friends.
YA is for questions and answers – PERIOD. Comentng on other’s anwers is not chatting because it is still answering the question at hand and not just chatting back and forth.
I do think katrina has a point. The reporting process is flawed. I have gotten violations for no logical reason before too.
Well the people who troll, just troll if they get reported or banned they just make a new account. So this really won’t stop the trolling.
“whats YOUR name mr crabby pants geez let us do as we WANT to do. ” – What would be the point of having rules or guidelines if they just let everyone brake them??
You can never just do what you want to do in this life. There are rules everyware – Get used to it.
“Yahoo! does not evaluate or guarantee the accuracy of any Yahoo! Answers content.”
I will keep playing these games until you get a better reporting process. My questions are reported because people don’t agree with the content. Not because I’m chatting or asking if I’m pretty.
Hear Hear!!!
We have long since known what GARBAGE Avatar games are, and I too delight in whacking not only the games, but the cheaters, trolls, and malcontents that play them. You can tell when you are being effective because the screams over on the forums for a ” Avatar Game Section of our own” grow louder as the violations mount.
How about his kids?? GROW UP.
Thumbs up for this entry, guys. Let’s hope the people who are reading and protesting understand the rationale behind the rules — of course some will never *want* to understand, but that’s another matter.
I’m sure there are many more good misguided users than real trolls.
The funny thing is, I guarantee that if they were able to really enforce this in any serious way, they would lose a TON of members.
I spend my time in R/S, and we have tons of “regulars” there, none of who follow these rules. Enforcing this would lose at least 80 or 90 percent of the people there…and that would effect what they could charge for advertising, obviously.
In short, YA is only hurting themselves if they carry these rules through to their conclusion.
you can’t do sh*t on this place without getting reported 24/7.
what the hell is a little quiz going to do? this place was supposed to be FUN.
so effing stingy
also — we CAN share knowledge AND have fun at the same time.
and at that Wildcat guy– yeah yeah there are rules everywhere but THIS MUCH?
my idea of rule that should be here:
nothing illegal.
no heavy cursing. it should be okay if used sparingly though.
no trolling.
This is kind of a stupid post, no offense. We all know that very little, if any, of the “am I pretty” or “Do you like me” questions will be deleted, if even reported.
I do get your point, but Yahoo! Answers is for QUESTIONS. Even if it’s not what you had in mind, “am I pretty” is still a question.
Now, what you SHOULD be bringing attention to is the people who don’t post a question. Like, go to the celebratey page. There are many “questions” that go on and on about why ‘the JB fans get treated by crap by MJ fans’ or, like in the pet section, ‘will you vote my dog for the cutest pet’. Although the last one was a question, all it has in it was a link and something like “Millie Bug is the cutest! You need to vote!” and has no direct question.
Actually, some of the questions that you said that disobayed the rules are the most interesting. I like looking at the ‘am I pretty’ pictures, and answering the ‘what’s your name’ or ‘why do you all hate the JB’s’ “questions”.
um you DO realize that the entire Polls & Surveys category is made up of the exact questions that violate the guidelines…
That’s all well and good. Your rules can be taken to mean different things to different people. Each person comes equipped with their own values and experiences that make interpretations unique from one individual to another.
On top of that, you rely on the same body of users whom are competing for top spot on leader boards to do the moderating. Do you actually expect us to believe that Yahoo has found the secret to people policing the people that has eluded humanity since we stood upright? Especially within a framework of competition?
C’mon, stop insulting us and get some moderators who don’t require an account to keep the site clean.
ok, i dont get why people get so upset at this. if you dont want to see the games or other things that were tlaked about in here, THEN DON”T CLICK THEM!!!
it’s not like anyone is forcing you to open those questions.
so suck it up and stop complaining and stop getting off by reporting questions…that is so juvenile.
Why dose Yahoo! hate me?
I think this is stupid. Everything in Polls and Surveys is upposed to be fun. And I love avatar games! And besides, what is your reason for doing this? I think everything is fine, and you should Kee Yahooo Answers they way it is!
I had a question deleted that wasn’t chatting, so I asked that it be put back, it was looked at and they said it would be put back but it never was put back. I don’t understand that. But also I asked a question and it was deleted but the reason wasn’t given and I asked that it be put back and was turned down. I read thru the guidelines and everything else but don’t know how it violated anything (the question was about sand). So now I don’t know what I did wrong so I don’t know how to prevent it. I’m sorry if I did something wrong but I don’t know what I did. I don’t want to be suspended or deleted, so now I am afraid.
“In short, YA is only hurting themselves if they carry these rules through to their conclusion.”
This statment couldn’t be more correct, Jason. More than half the TCs in my section (Books & Authors) would just leave if chatting was banned. We will be left with nothing but trolls.
Uh, everytime I get suspended I just create a new account (it takes 3 minutes), but I was upset when my account with over 10,000 points and two TC badges was suspended because I told the asker that his taste in music was lame.
Chatting to other users and making them feel stupid is fun and it’s knowledgable when you can back up your opinion and make it FACT!
i’ve been violated for chatting when my questions fall into the category of questions like “who will win the election?”
community guidelines are a fail, a lot of times.
Honestly, this incessant bashing of Polls & Surveys is openly and flagrantly hypocritical if not abusive. Are you telling me that the Members over in Politics never chat, that people in the Pets Categories never compare pets (ratings), that there are never any “popularity contests” over in the Celebrities Categories? And don’t even get me started on Men’s Health. Just don’t–the category is a complete disgrace to the whole idea of an All-Ages site that is open to younger Members.
All, and I really mean All, of the people supporting this “re-entry”, all of the “complainers”, are people I haven’t even seen before, ever, on any Category I’ve even heard of on Answers. I mean really, “Renting and Real Estate”? Is this one of those really tiny clique driven categories like, oh, Economics, where people compulsively give their Contacts 20+ Thumbs up on every Answer just to suck up? Do I really want to know?
And if other categories offend you so, why *leave* your sheltered life outside of “Renting and Real Estate”, where everyone else is just like you? Really, this sounds like a complete Spammer Category, where people just want to know how to “make money for free on the internet”.
Honestly, one of these people admitted to going to Polls & Surveys just for the express purpose of reporting 20-40 items a day. What else does this person contribute besides open and glaring Reporter Trolling? Which is in fact Harassment and is in fact Illegal Conduct?
And then there’s this classic statement, cited earlier: “Yahoo! does not evaluate or guarantee the accuracy of any Yahoo! Answers content.” This applies to everything, up to and including Abuse Reports. Simply put, it takes *several days* worth of mass begging and pleading to get a Human Being at Yahoo! to look into an actual bot or botnet situation, still, after having to go through this time and again for Years. Why do we all have to put up with the Shoebot Spammers still? Why?
Because people, *Real People* and actual human employees at Yahoo! Inc. can’t be bothered to do jack squat for Answers, especially when it comes to actively monitoring Community Moderation when needed to stop open and flagrant abuse.
Community Moderation gets abused too often, Reporting Abuse has become one more game for the Trolls to exploit. I’m not kidding, the system is broken. It takes too much effort to get rid of shoebot postings and virtually none at all for some Bully to go on a rampage at Polls & Surveys and delete 20-40 items a day *Regardless* of content.
And make no mistake, most of the items the Reporter Trolls get are *not* Games or Chatting. This is stalking, bullying, and harassment, pure and simple. And from the looks of things, it’s a clique of so-called grown men doing it to tweens and teenagers.
How creepy and wrong can you people be? I’d like to see some of these Reporter Trolls get away with any version of their harassment and bullying in real life–in real life they’d get jail time for crimes against minors.
Ok? Does anyone get the point or have the lunatics completely taken over the asylum?
losers…
You do realize that polls are considered chatting right?
Good work chipmunk.Now if only you would do something about all of the bogus trivia questions in the country music section.
“Country music triva #1″ is NOT a question.They get reported, but remain.
dude that is not cool…. who cares if they ask those questions its not worth suspending their account and it doesnt hurt anyone
Well if your having a problem with avatar games, why don’t you make a section for it? GASP! OH NO! A solution for a problem? No way!
ok, we all know this is mainly geared towards Polls and Surveys users, and in that section, the majority of people know when it is a game. we use the @ symbol to tell you wehn its a game so people that dont want to play dont click it!!! its that simple.
if you don’t want to read the “am I pretty” or “avi games” or anything else that was mentioned, then don’t click it!!!
The problem here is teh fact that you’ve let the reporting system become a tool for vendettas and trolls.You really need to hire a team of moderators,and get rid of teh abuse-riddled reporting system.
The same day as this blog, Yahoo UK posts a chatty violation of their own. Unbelievable they can not follow their own question format rules.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Aqv4sc6jylyPAYAis_TBPpbpy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20090824044516AAzxbJE
If YAT really wanted to help the users, they would add a third violation category for specific violation types such as games, “Am I pretty?”, and similar violations where all the answers will also be violations. If the Q is reported, the YAT system would remove all the answers and also give them violations. With the current system, it takes up to 30 minutes to report three complete avatar games (30-50 answers). And then YA cuts you off from doing any more reports. 3 avatar games can contain 100-150 violations. YAT, we need help to help you. You should take advantage of the good users and help them.
Why not make a room dedicated to avatar games? you will get a lot of participation. that is good for business/ advertising prospects wouldnt you say?
I love this site because of it…… There is a very low amount of abusive content here and has a lot of knowledge. Keep up the good work
Addressing a comment to someone else, who answered the same question, often leads to clarification. Trying to draw too fine a line is merely arbitrary censorship. As long as a question or answer is not obscene or threatening, it should be allowed to stand.
Um….what is this talking about its like some cheap anti-virus this Poll suspension right ?
I went to dictionary.com and looked up the word question. This was one of it’s definitions.
1. a sentence in an interrogative form, addressed to someone in order to get information in reply.
Let’s see how this works.
Question: What is your name?
Answer: Bill
Here’s another one.
Question: Who’s hotter, Jessica Alba or Kate Winslet?
Answer: Jessica Alba
Frivolous and unimportant queries? Perhaps they are. But they are in fact questions. In fact, they seem to follow the outline of what an English dictionary deems to be a question. Strange, that the powers that be on Y! answers seem to feel they know better. If you guys really want to make this site better, loosen your grip. Quit trying to control every little thing that goes on here. Sure there are some rules that should always be an absolute no no. Like, using foul language. But even that shouldn’t be entirely stifled.
im not going to come here and say some “rebelious” statment like “gett off our bakcs” or what ever…
BUT, i dont see what wrong with a little networking in this form.
yes some of the questions are stupid, or pointless, but what better way to find a possible friend, than just messing around?
and thats all it is…playing around. its not like it REALLY hurts anyone. nor is anyone forced to participate in these questions/games.
by the by…i find it really messed up that you (the yahoo moderators) will delete a freaking innocent game. while there are people spreding hate, and posting things children probably shouldnt be exposed to.
its like the dress code at my old school. i got busted for a freaking undershirt (not ’school colors’) while people walked around with jeans, hoodies (not of ’school color’) and what not…
I think Yahoo! should construct a top notch public forum so we all can go there to chat and vent our frustrations better.
I really agree with you.
a lot.
Such questions and avatar games,I must admit,are sometimes fun to see,but really,they’re not the type of questions that should be around here…..
Besides,
I’d also like to request Y!A to put up a separate category for “magic” or “sorcery” or any such thing.
As i know,there are plenty of users very interested in talking about fantasy and magic,and mythology and folklore is really not that much into the topic.
You would think with such bad service Yahoo has now, with nothing working right, that they would try to keep people on their site and not drive them away with all this B.S. And to the old Fuddy Duddies on here complaining, don’t you have senior Bingo to go to instead?
If they make a room for such chronic abuse, what is next?? A special room for sexual predators, Rants?? Point gaming?? Loan scan spam??
What??
The attitude you are seeing above this is just indicative of the scope of the problem. The kids want to play, where they want to play it, and when they want to. Respect for their fellow users be damned…
What’s the harm?? The harm is that the content is utter GARBAGE and diminishes the credibility of the site as a valuable information resource.
The shouldnt create a special section, they SHOULD permanently IP and MAC address BAN the serial game players and posters. Maybe when their parents feel the pain of their children’s insolence, someone will finally step in and nip the problem at the SOURCE—- the bored kid with too much time on their hands that wants to spam everyone else to make sure every one else knows they are bored.
Wow, someone is really brainless and clueless:
“What else does this person contribute besides open and glaring Reporter Trolling?” – “Reporter Trolling” is not a violation nor is it mentioned anywhere in the community guidelines. It’s something that habitual violators like to say to try to rationalize their violations.
“Which is in fact Harassment…” Really? Community Moderation is harrassment? Where does it say that? Another thing you made up to feel good about your habitual abuse of Yahoo Answers?
“… and is in fact Illegal Conduct?” Illegal? Really? I could get arrested for that? It’s on the books in our legal system that you can’t report violations of community guidelines on Yahoo Answers? Thanks for the heads up, Einstein.
you trippin.. avatar games are awesome…
@v@t@r G@me
who will:
you date”
Marry:
kiss:
hug:
comment above and below:
For those of you posting insulting comments…put-downs & such to the staff of Y/A!, who do you think you are? Do you pay to use this wonderful, useful site? No, you don’t; yet, you’re telling the owners of it & their staff to “back off”!? GMAB…the “entitlement, the world owes me a living” generation, I suppose.
To Y/A! staff…I appreciate what you do for us each day! I know it’s not easy. Regarding the unwanted e-mails you’re receiving from people after they report abuse….I think the reason you’re getting those is because, lately, there has been a lot of violations reported by numerous members, but they never get removed(unremoved violations have never been this bad). I think that people want to make sure their not wasting their time by reporting abuse. Thanks again & God bless!
Polls and surveys rules foo!!!
your ssytem is so flawed. and your worrying about this?
How about focus more on spam and pornographic avatars, rather than something that doesnt hurt anybody
God forbid people have fun on Yahoo! Answers.
This place is srs bsns and I will have none of this foolish lollygaggery here.
I’d rather there be no questions at all than there be a ton of questions that I could just ignore, in my opinion.
Thumbs up for this.
It bugs me to see harmless, although possibly annoying, questions removed, but what annoys me like nothing else is the knowledge that this is what you’re spending your energy on.
What about doing something about the violations that are never explained – even when they are appealed – or the users who continue to use this site despite stalking, harassing, targeting, and trying to intimidate other users? These are real issues…avatar games are innocuous by comparison.
how bout making an extention to p&s that allows for avatar games i mean cuz u just sound stupid and annoying right now…who cares if ppl are having fun on here its not hurting anyone! u guys are just a bunch of stuck up jerks
“you can’t do sh*t on this place without getting reported 24/7.” YES you can if you follow the rules.
For the education of certain narow minded people: people in renting & real estate ask REAL questions about bad landlords and stupid tenants. There are virtualy no questions about how to make money in real estate. it is all about profesional people in the industry educating those that do now know the laws! Just because we do not chat, socialise or play stupid games does NOT make an any less valid category.
Don’t coment on things you know nothing about.
I try not to put links in my answers now because people will report you for spamming when I am not. I’m just putting a link for a reference.
wow, i asked a poll question, it was “parlez vous francais?” which is do you speak french? and you guys deleted it.
“but the cheaters, trolls, and malcontents that play them”
Yes we do need rules,but we need consistent enforcement.
Do the CGs apply here?
Wow. So much to comment on…
I’ve seen many comments like, “Let us do what we want!”, and “What’s wrong with avatar games?” My only response to this type of post is: Really? Do you walk into the grocery store and start doing your laundry? Of course not, because that’s not what the grocery store is for, and the management would kick you out. Suspending your account is Y!A’s way of kicking you out. Creating a new account and coming back is like putting on a Halloween costume and going back to the grocery store.
And I’ve seen a lot of people make comments here about the purpose behind Y!A, or attempting to rewrite the rules that Y!A has established. As stated by Yahoo, the purpose is to share knowledge. Any of y’all stating any other reason for this site is like you telling me what my religion is. Nobody gets to specify my religion but me, and nobody gets to specify the purpose of this site but Yahoo. Grasp the concept, or go somewhere else.
And my comments for Yahoo:
You’ve decided to go over these rules again, after seeing an increase in unwanted activity? Big surprise! I don’t understand the purpose for having rules that you’re not going to enforce. I can only agree with previous posters that it’s time to hire some moderators to look at what’s being posted on your site. In the long run, you own it, so take ownership of it!
Even after reading all these comments, I think the whole idea is just silly. I just don’t care about silly games and such, I simply don’t answer those types of Q’s. I have better things to do than waste my time reporting people. I would rather spend that time answering the real Q’s. Plus, occasionally there is a very interesting Q that sparks debate–I don’t see any harm in that as long as everyone remains relatively polite and respectful. That doesn’t always happen of course, but YA to me is here to make people think. There are some very challenging Q’s in the Pets section that really get people thinking.
I think there’s a very fine line between chatting and other ‘violations’ and just an interesting back and forth Q and A session. I’ve seen perfectly good Q’s and A’s disappear and there has been no reason for it.
How about a blog devoted to senseless reporting? That type of abuse has been on the rise for months. Some people have made a game of deleting my account by reporting harmless answers that follow the community guidelines. That’s annoying for Yahoo! staff and for users.
As you know. You’ll never make everyone happy,but for those of us who come here for the exchange of information,and sometimes opinions. It’s good to know you are trying. What I would like to suggest is when the team pulls a question they send an e mail describing in detail as to why it was pulled. This may,or may not help with those determined to play games,and incite anger,but it would help those who simply didn’t read the guidelines.
Not that i care, I usually don’t post in polls anyway. But what’s the point? People on here are allowed to do most anything anyway. When you let the inmates run the asylum you will have these problems. There is no moderator here. As long as Yahoo is not going to step up and moderate there site, As long as Yahoo will let the inmates run the asylum your gonna have these problems. So people may as well quit gripping about it. What’s it gonna hurt anyway? With everything that goes on here anyway what does it matter if people chat or whatever. Everything else seems to go. Malicious answers, Malicious links, Advertising, Spam, It’s all over this site. You guys are worried about chatting in polls. Seems to me like you should get your priorities in order. (1) Start moderating the site yourself or give people, Volunteers the ability to moderate the site. Be able to delete bad content on the spot instead of waiting for Yahoo to delete it. 2 maybe 3 moderators per category should take care of it. If your gonna allow the inmates to run the asylum why not allow Volunteer moderators.
By the way, I like hanging out here on answers. I think it’s a great way to pass the time and learn something. But at the same time i can see where it’s flawed very much. I can also see where people on here get the idea in there heads that Yahoo really doesn’t give a d.a.m.n. With all that goes on here, You guys are worried about chatting. “sigh” Shakes head?
Before tackling chatting, why not tackle the fact that the movies and video games sections are an open forum for people asking for and providing links to download illegal software and movies.
Although its good that the P&S section is being monitored for games, what about the Baby Names section, and all the other sections? In Baby Names people play Name Games and guessing games but its only because they really do want suggestions and comments on a name. My Name Game question got deleted, but my purpose was only to get new ideas for sibling sets. Please improve your reporting system, it is flawed.
BULLCRAP we should be allowed to do avatar games!
Why was my question deleted for supposedly violating the guidelines when I can see countless other similar questions to mine that are still up? Not to mention the ones that are considered flat out violations. Mine was a legitimate poll question and it was taken down but I counted at least three others that are still there. Now tell me the reporting/violation system isn’t grossly flawed and arbitrary.
More voting = Less nonsense
I think those on the Forum spend half their time chatting / gossiping & calling out of Categories that is also against the rules & not supposed to be done either..Jim & Tad who are also on the forum always say that p&s should be closed & all it’s members removed…that makes the area a target for reporters..I ask proper questions & they still get removed as some make it their mission to report everything in p&s…I do not see what purpose the Forum serves as it is where all the reporters ( self appointed moderators ) hang out & all they seem to do is to put down categories & moan…I think p&s is used as a scapegoat on this site & it is not fair as there are lots of proper questions asked in there…
Well, Guess they didn’t like what i had to say. Looks like my comments got deleted.
Sorry’ I goofed. Couldn’t find them. Made me think they were deleted.
oh totally agree with some of the answers, who is moderating the moderators..it is like a competition for them to see who can become Yahoo’s top reporter & some of them should not be allowed to report at all…there should also be a proper customer services that actually replies to a person who appeals a violation that was not in fact breaking the community guidelines…I think that the Forum should be closed as it is full of gossip, chatting, & very mean & nasty people who do nothing but insult if anyone dares to go there for advice..not really any addition to this site except for the reporters to badmouth categories & to cause trouble..think you should go & check out the Forum & see what really goes on in there…
Maybe you should add something to accomodate the people who are specifically from Y!A to allow them to chat. The Yahoo Messenger is only good to a certain extent and its just fun to do questions with a large community. Please don’t take the fun out of this site (especially P&S.). It doesn’t hurt the community as a large since P&S is a place that doesn’t even have a TC badge available. I believe that a set of rules that applies to everyone should also entitle us to badges. So give us badges or do what you normally do, ignore.
Ok, seriously?
What the heck is going on over at your headquarters that you guys are just deciding now “Oh we should tell people polls and games are considered chatting!”
You guys barely even take a look at the site! I would be surprised if you did..very surprised.
I’ve seen so many trolls become top contributers, or the wrong type of question in the wrong section, why can’t you guys actually moderate or MAYBE, just MAYBE make a FAQ so that we don’t get “What do guys like in a girl?” fifty million times in the LGBT section.
And what’s the huge deal about an opinionated question? How is that chat? It’s a little odd that you guys are deeming what is or is not question worthy rather than, maybe stopping and looking at answers to see that THERE ARE TROLLS!
Ugh, you guys should focus on other things rather than something that wasn’t even really an issue until you posted this.
:[
I have to agree with you on what you wrote in your blog. It’s about time you have to remind all users again about chatting and gaming here, as I see more of them there as of late. You had to make things perfectly clear to all users.
“What’s the harm?? The harm is that the content is utter GARBAGE and diminishes the credibility of the site as a valuable information resource.”
I just don’t think that any one who has used this place for any length of time would consider it a valuable information resource. You might get a good answer about graveling your back yard, but on the whole you have to be pretty darn careful what information you accept as true. The only questions on here that I think should be considered “trustworthy” are peoples opinions, like “My husband cheated what shall I do?” or “I feel depressed, should I kill myself?” – where you get opinions based on experience, rather than an answer claiming to be the absolute truth. I wouldn’t trust any actual advice from here if it was important, I have seen the craziest things suggested…I use this as a starting point, I say “What can I glue my lost tooth crown back in with?” then I read the answers, then I go out on Google and check to see if the suggested remedy was appropriate (superglue isn’t, denture adhesive is!)
Anyway, you should leave P&S alone since they are relatively happy and are harming no one; it seems that the only people reporting them are bitter and vindictive and can’t stand to see people enjoying themselves.
There are other categories that experience a high incidence of daily chatting and use the site as a social network – I won’t name the category, I don’t mind them chatting any more then I mind P&S chatting, but they are left alone since no one else wanders over there because they are really boring topics that you don’t happen upon by chance. P&S suffers because it has a LOT of users and regulars – and a lot of us regulars are big contributors to other categories, we just go there to chill and have fun.
I think the “ORDER OREDER ORDER” people need to get a reality check. Asking questions like, “What should I name my son” in the Baby Names category, or “Do you think my cat’s ears are cute” in the Cats category is perfectly acceptable. In fact, I’d argue that almost the entire Philosophy section is comprised of “chatting”. If you aren’t interested in naming babies or judging the ears of cats, either: avoid those categories, or don’t open the questions. I think questions about opinion can be very important, they can lead to profound new insight! Avatar games are annoying, but I don’t think that it’s reasonable to get so worked up about reporting, especially when they are mostly confined to one section. Ironically, that’s where the real flaw lies. Because any user can just walk up and report any question or answer that they deem objectionable, harmless questions and answers get deleted for no good reason. The way people are talking here, it almost sounds like deleting questions is a game… and games are not aloud.
Oh, and at the person who was dissing the Men’s Health section, I like the Men’s Health section. It might get a little annoying sometimes, but the intention behind most of those questions is genuine. Spamming exists in every section, there, the Dieting and Fitness, Language, Investing… There’s a scam for everything.
By the way, I don’t think Answers should be too strict about the answers that a question can receive, because although sometimes they can be people just trying to cheat for points, some answers in the form of jokes are entertaining to read, while not being distracting from the question at hand.
All in all, I like Yahoo Answers the way it is. I’m aware that it’s not a social networking site, (and I don’t really see it being used like one but whatever) but I think that if it starts getting too impersonal, it won’t be good for anyone.
ok yamster, then when will yahoo address the report abuse abusers? people right here on this page bragging how they like to report everyone. “great to see them go “poof!” and see 20-40 answers wiped away in one fell swoop.” a troll, and probably top reporter status. probably should clean up your own back yard before you complain about the neighbors’.
The flaw is your system resides in the fact that a sizeable group of people must report any one real violation, and the truth is that that often won’t happen. Why? Because too many people here have been burned by your manifest unwillingness or inability to follow up, on a consistent and common-sense basis, on reported violations. Garbage posts that use the n word or contain foul sexual language stay up for two years and longer because your reporting paradigm is broken. Face it guys: the site is hurting because, for every intent and purpose, it is unpoliced by the people “running” it, i.e. you and your fellow eomplyees.
Can you list me all the songs that were popular between December 2004 and March 2005?
nobody is nice I ask people where to find it a million times today they are mean nobody is nice
I wanna bring back some memories.
I miss specially during the holidays when I’m opening a present and when I’m playing games in the basement when my sister wearing pink.
I need lots of help finding it
I only want the nice people to answer this question
Might broad brush you paint with there Maisy. Usually it is the biggest offender that screams the loudest about what is being done. Av Games can violate over 10 DIFFERENT CG’s and TOS, and you want to point the finger at the people who wipe your bum for you.
Yahoo already has controls in place concerning moderators, and they have customer service in place to catch any moderation errors. You just dont like the fact that if you swim in a sewer long enough, you are going to eventually smell like poo.
Get it thru your head that Yahoo SUPPORTS the removal of abuse, and they arent going to do a THING to hinder removal efforts.
Just look at the fix they just did to the block feature TODAY. You cannot answer a question that you have been blocked from, but you CAN report it if it is abuse. That “fix” should tell you VOLUMES about how Yahoo feels about taking out the garbage.
Take the hint—- clean up your act, take it elsewhere where it is welcomed ( diz.zay), or expect the get VN’s if you play the games. It REALLY IS that simple.
Ok, I’m gonna try say this as politely as possible. What’s the big deal? Useless questions and chatting aren’t hurting anybody, are they? And we can do what we want. If we wanna waste 5 points on asking a pointless question, let us do it. In fact you should spend more time and effort in getting rid of trolls. In fact there is one user in the Australian Rules Football section that has at least 10 accounts (and I’m not joking) and has made clone accounts of most of the regular users. And he is very rascist, he verbally abuses people and perhaps worst of all, he stalks people, asking for addresses and phone numbers. I know some people who got bombarded by emails from this person. Now if you really want to make Y!A a better place, if you really care about your users then you would stop wasting time on this and fix things that really matter.
I believe the purpose of removing obscure Questions and Answers is to validate Yahoo Answers as a viable source of information.
All the Questions are made available over the entire Network including Google Search and Yahoo Search.
If Y!A allows abusive or derogatory Q & A, they may well be reclassified as Adult Content and be subjected to filters preventing many people from accessing the Q & A, and possibly Yahoo itself may be reclassified as an unsafe site.
However, avatar games don’t fall into this classification and cannot be seen as unsafe.
Yahoo should allow a separate Category for these sorts of “loony” games. Perhaps allow only a 4 day viewing period before being deleted so that the history of the avatar game is limited.
Category Loony Games
> Avatar Games
> Dumb Questions
> Chatty Questions
> Rants and Raves
http://CHAT.yahoo.com
http://GAMES.yahoo.com
http://PERSONALS.yahoo.com
Go THERE if you want to:
1) Chat
2) Play Games
3) Meet new People
And if all you want to do is “Rate” things – theres http://BIX.yahoo.com
Notice that these are ALL Yahoo pages…
Use Answers for what it was designed for – KNOWLEDGE-WORTHY Questions – and take the kiddie games to an area where they might be appreciated!!
Hi Y!AT
This is a good blog about chat, games etc…I wonder if since it has been posted if there has been a decrease in those kinds of violations. Though I think it will take a lot more to stop Avatar games. People do think they are fun, and it is so easy to play them really.
And I did see this blog being discussed on the suggestions board and did add a comment a while ago to this blog, but for some reason it doesn’t show now. Maybe it was because I added a link in a thread on the suggestions board?
But anyway here is my comment that I did make on the board (no links this time)
“But then I suppose a simple solution for now would be to change the current CG regarding Av games, when they finally get around to bringing the report box back
3 strikes and you out or something…IDK
Violation Reason – Avatar Game…Oops”
I don’t know if that would help Y!ATs but making them a greater offence than ‘chat’ may get a message across. Who knows