Posting Dangerously

I was about to log wout and go to bed when I saw the following:

What gets your questions removed??

i mad one on here about a baby name and they removed it.... it wasn't a bad name either... just asking opinions on the name i picked out

Reading through the listing I saw a number of answers that are likely to get accounts suspended.

For example, Rox says: "Well some people are just stupid and will "flag" your question, which will remove it. I don't even think yahoo actually monitors anything on here."

I wonder if Rox's account will be suspended soon. The post is critical of Yahoo, devoid of spelling errors and makes valid points in an articulate manner.

Hot Legs was even harsher with "I wonder if there is a person who actually reviews the questions reported or does the computer just automatically remove reported questions. Also the appeal process doesn't seem to be a real person either, just a "form letter"."

Will posting something critical of Yahoo Answers get your account suspended or your answer deleted? Let's watch these two users and see what happens.

Yahoo Answers - Banning a Pregnant Woman

Bogger "A Cowboy's Wife" had a nasty encounter with Yahoo Answers.

Yesterday, I answered all kinds of questions. This morning I wake up to about 15 emails saying all my answers are violating the rules. Then about 2 hours later, I get an email saying I am suspended. WHAT THE HECK??? I go and read the rules but was unable to pinpoint my violations.

I recommend checking out her Blog. She too got no information on WHY she was suspended and wrote the process of seeking more information "was like talking to a robot." While she doesn't give any examples of the kinds of answers she was giving, my experiences with Yahoo Answers leads me to give her the benefit of the doubt.

Banned Again

I just got the following from Yahoo Answers:

Date: 06 Oct 2007 20:55:02 -0700
From: "Yahoo! Answers " Add to Address BookAdd to Address Book Add Mobile Alert
Yahoo! DomainKeys has confirmed that this message was sent by cc.yahoo-inc.com. Learn more
Subject: Yahoo! Answers Suspension Notice
To: bulkhater01@yahoo.com

Hello Anon A(bulkhater01)

You have posted content to Yahoo! Answers in violation of our Community Guidelines or Terms of Service. As a result, your account has been suspended.

If you feel you were not in violation, please contact our Customer Care and tell us why.

Regards,
Yahoo! Customer Care

Let's take a look at this. I Answered THREE questions with this account.

First, I revealed the meaning of the ASPCA acronym

Next, I discouraged Software Piracy

Finally, Instead of the vague "You should go to a doctor" comments made by other people, I described possible causes of a seeping "bump" a woman claimed to have, avoiding most "icky" terms in the process.

What could any of those answers POSSIBLY have done to justify the suspension of the account? I'll admit I was a bit rude with the first account which may have been why I was suspended, but I was polite, accurate and succinct with all three of my answers.

Before I was willing to write this off as the act of an overly aggressive moderator with insufficient accountability. The most recent bout is far too arbitrary and irrational for even that excuse.

Either Yahoo Answers is penalizing people randomly, or someone at Yahoo found this Blog and is using Yahoo Account suspensions to "Punish" me for daring to speak out about their incompetent moderation. Lacking propper nut job paranoia, I'm inclined to suspect that the Yahoo Moderators are just stupid and incompetent. Perhaps they saw scary words like "cyst" and figured I MUST be posting something disgusting.

OMG! A Reply From Yahoo Answers!

It's not MUCH of a reply. There's still no information on WHY my account was deleted or WHAT I allegedly wrote to get my account deleted. All they do is tell me that they "reviewed" my suspension and decided I wasn't eligible for reinstatement.

I think it's disgusting that some power tripping little twerp decided to delete my Yahoo Answers account and has NO accountability or even the need to tell me what my allegedly infringing post WAS.

Date: Fri, 05 Oct 2007 15:25:54 -0700
To: "Bulk Hater"
Subject: Yahoo! Answers (KMM58190552V23140L0KM)
From: "Yahoo! Answers" Add to Address BookAdd to Address Book Add Mobile Alert


Hello,

Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Answers.

We appreciate your inquiry about your suspension from Yahoo! Answers
and/or the deactivation of your Yahoo! ID. We reviewed your case, and
decided that your account is not eligible for reinstatement.

Once an account is disabled for a violation of the Terms of Service,
the
subscriber to the account will lose the ability to log in and access
the
account and its contents (including email and content stored with any
other Yahoo! service). The account also will not be reactivated.

Should you choose to create a new Yahoo! account, we invite you to read

the Yahoo! Terms of Service and Yahoo! Community Guidelines to help
ensure your new account is not deactivated.

Yahoo! Terms of Service:

- http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

Yahoo! Community Guidelines:

- http://answers.yahoo.com/info/community_guidelines.php

Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Answers.

Regards,

Nick

Yahoo! Customer Care

40323436

For assistance with all Yahoo! services please visit:

http://help.yahoo.com/




Original Message Follows:
-------------------------

I'm confused, why was I suspended?

What did I do wrong?

I don't think I'm asking for much, just an explanation as to WHY I was banned from Yahoo Answers. At this point I'm not even interested in fighting it, I just want to know what piss-poor excuse some self important Moderator used to justify banning someone from Yahoo Answers.

More attempts to contact Yahoo Answers

Having heard NOTHING from Yahoo Answers about my "suspended" account I sent the following messages:

Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2007 17:01:40 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Bulk Hater" Add to Address BookAdd to Address Book Add Mobile Alert
Subject: Still no answers
To: answers-abuse@cc.yahoo-inc.com
I still haven't heard from anyone. WHY was I suspended? What did I do wrong?

Date: Fri, 5 Oct 2007 08:03:24 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Bulk Hater" Add to Address BookAdd to Address Book Add Mobile Alert
Subject: Suspended and I don't knwo why
To: answers-abuse@cc.yahoo-inc.com
I don't know why my account was suspended. I've sent a few messages to the account listed in the suspension notice and have not received a reply.

I do not know why my account was suspended or what I could have done to get suspended. I find it to be a poor reflection on Yahoo that a user can be suspended an never given ANY information as to why. It almost seems easier to just delete this account and create a new one than to resolve anything with Yahoo.

Is ANYONE going to tell me why my account was suspended?

Date: Fri, 5 Oct 2007 08:06:25 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Bulk Hater" Add to Address BookAdd to Address Book Add Mobile Alert
Subject: Fwd: Yahoo! Answers Suspension Notice
To: answers-abuse@cc.yahoo-inc.com
I do not believe I did anything justifying a suspension. The e-mail informing me of the suspension gave me NO information as to why I was suspended.

I've made a number of contact attempts to find out WHY I was suspended and have yet to receive a reply to any of them.

Am I at least going to be told what I supposedly did to GET suspended?

What do YOU think the odds are I'll get a response?

Yahoo Answers Sucks

On October 4 I created a Yahoo Answers Account and spent a little time answering all the questions I could. I used up my quota for the first day and moved on. When I next checked my e-mail I found the following message:

Date: 04 Oct 2007 13:10:02 -0700
From: "Yahoo! Answers " Add to Address BookAdd to Address Book Add Mobile Alert
Yahoo! DomainKeys has confirmed that this message was sent by cc.yahoo-inc.com. Learn more
Subject: Yahoo! Answers Suspension Notice
To: bulkhater@yahoo.com

Hello THe Grand Bastard(bulkhater)

You have posted content to Yahoo! Answers in violation of our Community Guidelines or Terms of Service. As a result, your account has been suspended.

If you feel you were not in violation, please contact our Customer Care and tell us why.

Regards,
Yahoo! Customer Care

I started wondering what the heck had happened. I wracked my brain for an explanation and sent the following:

Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2007 14:05:46 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Bulk Hater" Add to Address BookAdd to Address Book Add Mobile Alert
Subject: Why was I suspended???
To: answers-abuse@cc.yahoo-inc.com
I'm confused, why was I suspended?

What did I do wrong?

I waited a while and got no response, so I sent another message.

Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2007 14:16:00 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Bulk Hater" Add to Address BookAdd to Address Book Add Mobile Alert
Subject: Still confused
To: answers-abuse@cc.yahoo-inc.com
Was I suspended because of my Screen Name? I'll change it if that was the problem.

Was I suspended for telling that woman that the flashes in her vision could be a detaching retina? Because I had a friend who had a detached retina and needed emergency surgery and that was one of the symptoms she had.

Did I really get suspended just because I gave an answer that
wasn't a "feel good, everything will be fine" response?

Still no response. I was getting really upset with the lack of a response from Yahoo Answers. If you're going to "suspend" an account at least have the decency to tell someone WHY you're doing it.