No Chat Allowed
We all like to play games, but there is a time and place for that. Since Yahoo! Answers is about a community of people sharing knowledge, it is certainly not about gaming and popularity contests. We’ve already discussed 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 annoyance 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 post on a Christmas tree?” are ok. Advice-seeking and knowledge-worthy questions are more than welcome on the site.
On the other hand, low-quality 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, use instant messenger or send email to that user.
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 question/answer?
Go to the page where the abusive question or answer appears, and click the “Report Abuse” link associated with it. To report abuse that does not appear in the question or answer (such as harassment, obscene avatars, etc.), you can still click the “Report Abuse” button 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 it.
When people use Answers to chat with each other, it lowers the quality of the site and inhibits knowledge-sharing. By sticking to the guidelines and reporting abuse, we can all make Answers an informative and enjoyable place to be.
Have more questions? Let us know.
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I agree.. =) Less spam, more real questions, which means, more real answers..
Good thing. Yahoo is full of spam… “Do you think I’m pretty?” Who cares! Especially hate those HP roleplayers…
How about we create a section for all of this? I know many of the Polls & Surveys people are very silly, but they also are very helpful in other sections. I believe this section acts as a stress reliever for those individuals.
Yes, get rid of the “Am I pretty?” questions. No one cares.
And, I’m tired of Twilight questions. Those are practically spamming and chatting too- get rid of those, or create a section for them.
Also, how about all that goes on in R&S? Have you ever seen how tense everyone is. It isn’t a question answer section- it’s a curiosity being bashed over your religion/beliefs section, and I think it upsets a lot of people.
There are many flawed questions. Try tackling them all- not just the small ones which actually entertain people.
Just saying.
I totally agree with this, though I think the moderators or whoever deletes questions/answers should actually look into the question/answer that is being reported. I had an answer of mine that was reported and they just up and deleted it. I had to appeal it TWICE to get them to actually read it. Someone had asked a medical question and I responded that they should contact their doctor. How does that not comply with the community guidelines???
Thanks for suspending my account for NO REASON yahoo answers. I only had 2 violations and yet you ban me. THANKS A LOT.
I agree with Laura. Y!A definitely needs a new system for the flagging/deletion/appeal of question. For I while, every question I posted was flagged and deleted, regardless of what the question was about, and despite none of them violating the TOS. I lost time and points and had to go elsewhere to look for answers. Y!A should rethink this system so that questions aren’t deleted so easily, and, as seems to happen so often, without reason.
I am with Stan and Laura. I have had questions (and answers) of mine reported simply because someone didn’t agree with my view on something. After a while I figured out that there was a user who was reporting every answer and question of mine because he didn’t like me for some reason, so I blocked him. It makes me wonder who is reviewing the reports sometimes. And then there are obvious trollers who continue trolling. It doesn’t really make sense to me.
Anyways, hopefully some of the consistent abusers have read the blog this week. I’m really sick of the “Am I pretty” and “What’s your name” questions. There are also a lot of questions that I have found that are more statements than questions…like someone wants to share their view on something, and instead of answering someone’s question, they will offer up a statement as a question when they really don’t want to know anything at all.
I agree that we should limit the amount of poll questions/silly questions etc
However there are a lot of annoying trolling questions -specially in the Newborn &baby/parenting section-that everybody complains and reports but yet NOTHING has been done! They’re the same offenders over and over again..So I suggest start with the big trolls and move your way down…
I would definately like to see yahoo seperate the kids from the adults, I don’t mind helping out young people but they are the ones mostly responsible for all these games and am I pretty questions, please do something about that.
Too little, too late I’m afraid. This site is filled with a lot of people that just use it to be mean and nasty. I have reported my fair share of mean chat and crude and demeaning Q’s & A’s and guess what? You do nothing!!!
Seriously, it’s time for me to bite the bullet and say “salut” Yahoo. . . .
Oh, and don’t even get me started about the drama and nonsense in the Pregnancy & Parenting section. That place is a joke! I think the average age is 12.
I agree to a certain extent.
Questions about things like Twilight should be posted in either Books or Movies. That’s what Twilight is. I think people just post in P&S because there’s a wider variety of people, and therefore, opinions. It’s also a place to post if you want lots of answers to your question.
Random questions that don’t fit in other categories are for Polls and Surveys. That section seems to be where people go to play, let off steam, and have fun. I, for one, need that. That’s why I come to Yahoo! Answers. To have fun. There should be more leniency there.
If I have a serious question, I know I can ask it and place it in an appropriate section. People who aren’t willing to give serious answers in those sections should be reported.
People who aren’t respectful of other’s questions or answers in any category should be reported. We all have our own beliefs, opinions, and feelings. There’s no need to jump on someone who answers a question like, ‘Do you believe in God?’. I know I don’t want to be attacked or fear that my answer will be reported just because someone doesn’t like what I believe. It’s not fair to lose accounts over things like that.
I have grievances about the appeal process as of late. I’ve appealed several violations that I know are NOT violations and have either been ignored, or been told it IS a violation. Please tell me how answering ‘yes’ is a violation. I did not win in my appeal. I’ve also noticed one country in particular that never allows appeals to be won.
I’m a responsible user of YA. I do my share of reporting the bigger violations such as obscene avatars. I will start to report more.
Changes do need to be made. There is really no other site like YA. I think we can all agree we like it, or we wouldn’t keep coming back. I also think we can all agree that something needs to be done to fix all these issues that, once again, we all seem to agree are problems.
Thank you for giving us opportunity to speak our minds. My only hope is that we are heard.
Here’s something else to add to the YCG (and for entertainment purposes only, shall be typed in the form of a commandment):
“Thou shalt not be a report monkey”
I want to do my graducation in the field of Administration Management, If your good organization could kindly consider my candidature, I would be highly grateful to you.
I agree with this wholeheartedly! There are categories that are completely inappropriate for the kids and young people, namely the LGBT category and the R&S category. These categories are just full of controversy and the language used by the askers is too graphic for many people who use this site regularly. The language, adult content and “attitude” must be put to a stop.
Yes. Let’s get these stupid questions off of yahoo. The best way to do this is absolutely zero tolerance. If someone writes one idiotic question then their account should be banned from Yahoo Answers completely. Also, it would be nice if we had some way of knowing if clicking on the report abuse button actually worked. I’m tired of clicking on abuse for a question and then having it pop up at the top of the page as soon as I click on return to the category.
Why doesn’t Y!A create a Twilight/HP catergory? that would help a lot.
Or a “Current Popular Literature” catergory?
There is a member it the Pets-Cats section that has been getting away with this sort of thing for almost a year. She rarely answers a question with a pertinent answer. She lures other members into a chat by insulting them and then openly threatens them and reports them and has them suspended. She is one of the biggest TROLLS in this section and yet she practices her trade with impunity. I refuse to be YAHOO’s Policeing staff any longer. I no longer report offences because no one at YAHOO is listening, which makes our efforts a waste of time. Bring back your human moderators and make customer service more accessible.
Why not concentrate on some of the hateful, and lewd answer. I find that much worse than just chat.
How about not giving a damn about the “chat” questions?
Polls and Surveys are not “chat”, they are fun.
IF YOU QUASH THE FUN, NO ONE WILL WANT TO STAY.
censorship sucks.
Yahoo! Answers has become a joke. You’re focusing on chat?! Are you kidding me? What are you, a bunch of children? Let’s give the audience SOME credit that they’re not brain dead. If they find a question as chatty or down right silly, they have the freedom to ignore it and move on. Why not tackle REAL issues that plague Yahoo! Answers, such as racism, abuse, hate speech, etc? NO….that you’re ok with, but chat? Heaven forbid. You guys are a bunch of morons. I wouldn’t be surprised if you were a bunch of snotty teens yourself posting some of these foolish questions; which would explain why all the “Am I pretty” questions exist in the first place (because you relate to them). I’m glad I canceled my premium e-mail service with you losers.
Yeah… sorry, but I kind of agree with Yousaf here. Not that I think you guys are morons, because I don’t, but I do think Yahoo! Answers needs to concentrate more on discrimination and attacks on other users. Like Yousaf said, if people think a question is silly, then they should just ignore it and move on. Don’t get me wrong, I am tired of all the chatting, but I think it’s more important to deal with answers that are actually harmful to other people.
ummmmm… Hi. It’s not chatting when you ask things like, what’s your name? What’s your eye colour? People as these questions because they are bored and trying to see how many people have the same eye colour as them or something. Although, I am tired SICK of the people who are asking, ” Am I pretty?” Because, they are ALL just fishing for complements.
Also, On the homework section, if any of you noticed, people are asking you (the person answering) to do their homework FOR them.
Your guidelines are too vague. One never knows when their questions will be in violation. This just adds to the confusion.
OH…and I think your staff needs to take deep breaths and go outside to chill so they don’t violate half my questions anymore. If they had a life, I’m sure they’d be less prone to worrying about my silly questions.
Chatting has never been a big problem for me as I simply ignore it and move on to a question that has any relevance. But I can see how they could be annoying, especially when posted in a group that has nothing to do with that (ex. Do you think I’m pretty? in the Food & Drink section….??!)
Like others have said, I don’t think it would do much harm to leave it on as long as it was directed in the right group.
On the other hand, there are people who purposely post misinformation and hateful content just to stir up trouble. I hope Yahoo! has some way to evaluate how many times a person has given thumbs down or reported a particular person (cyber-stalking) and should not remove a question if only one person reports it.
Here is a thought! Make a spam cati! Were people can be idiots, oh and a teen pregnancy one too.
i will stop chatting and gaming when yahoo answers gets rid of the obsenity
It’s not more enjoyable if it’s not fun.
What’s wrong with an occasional avatar game? I love those, and I still can give informative answers, enough of those to be a TC, and on the TA.
Are you kidding me? Your justification for banning ‘chatting questions’ is because it’ll ‘lower the quality of the site’? Have you ever even visited your own site before?
Let’s be serious, with categories like ‘Mathematics’, I can see how chatting would be a problem. People visit those sections to gain factual knowledge, not opinion and the like. However, you have categories in the ‘entertainment’ section that just beg to be taken lightly. Seriously, Y!A, give me a break. Visit your own website for a couple of days, get involved, and please, for the love of god, get your priorities straight.
I agree, chatting needs to stop in this place. Not to mention the idiots who come on here to ease thier bordom and spit out rediculous answers or rude answers.
Oh and there are too many racists on this site as well. Giving yahoo a bad name.
Yeah, I hardly think chatting is the biggest issue. I’m sure we can all read the questions and…oh, I don’t know…NOT ANSWER IT if we don’t like it. No one is MAKING you click on it. Duh.
I got a violation just now for a question that did not, IN ANY WAY, violate the TOS. But, someone was mad and decided to report it, knowing full well that Yahoo doesn’t actually CHECK what they’re deleting before they delete it.
How about getting some real people to moderate, and dealing with legitimate spammers, answering questions with ads for cheap sneakers?
So much abuse, name calling, using acronyms to insult other posters, ganging up on people is going on; it’s blatantly apparent yet I see that you do little if anything to stop these people..particularly when they’ve been reported multiple times….when is THAT change going to come about????? Some should have lost their accounts a LONG time ago!!!!! In the interim we’re forced to put up with them and watch the insults, crude comments and harassment’s continue! Enough already!
Agreeing with Yousaf…if people don’t like the “chat” (which is such broad term in itself – how does one distinguish what is chat and what isn’t?), then don’t look and move on. Polls & Surveys – what kind of polls and surveys are people “supposed” to ask then, if not silliness included? I also agree with Shamrock – the guidelines are WAY too vague. Sometimes it’s impossible to know if you’re violating guidelines, because even if you aren’t some bored troll with nothing better to do will come along and report you anyway. They suck the fun right out of YA. Just TRY to eliminate chat 100% – if you banned every person who was even minutely thought of being “chatty”, your user base would dwindle. You’d probably be down to about 10% of the users you have now. Sit down with your team, YA, and work things out rationally and thoroughly. Quit being lazy and subjective.
Raise the age to 18 and be done with petty questions. Ban everyone who chats, and you’ll get the knowledge part of the equation back. 10% knowledge is better than 100% crap. Quality, not quantity.
Another suggestion: force users to search before they can post a new question. In order to perform better searches, enforce a policy for better written questions. “How do I?” is not a question and should be deleted on the spot. 10 points deducted automatically.
I signed up back in 2006, and there was a much better community. Now heading into 2010, there’s very little knowledge circulating around and frankly, I don’t care to share it either. Why bother? I just post my criticisms now because I can’t tell who is being serious and who is bored and have nothing else to do. Why waste my time when the answer is not even taken seriously?
Still waiting for that first ban.