Yahoo! India Answers blog

As we strive for high quality content on Answers, we also encourage freedom of expression and discussions on any topic. However, you can sometimes stumble upon questions or answers that seem to blur the line between strong opinions and a violation of the community guidelines,  plagiarism or copyright infringement.

Strong opinion vs. violation

Everyone has opinions, and these are what makes Answers vibrant and fun. Respectfully expressed opinions that contribute to useful knowledge for the community are accepted on Yahoo! Answers. However, anyone who promotes hate speech, uses slurs to refer to groups of people, insults other members, and acts in a belligerent manner towards others should be reported.

What is considered offensive?

It is not ok to report someone because you disagree with that person’s opinion. If you see something that is personally offensive to you but does not violate Community Guidelines, please do not report it. Their opinions may contradict your own, but please consider whether they are actually in violation. Do you think it contains slurs? Do they insult other participants? Do you think it is obscene or illegal? Remember that people are entitled to their own opinions, and it is up to everyone to express them in a respectful and constructive manner.

To be responsible, report only those opinions that violate the rules of our community. Please find the Community Guidelines here: http://in.answers.yahoo.com/info/community_guidelines In fact, you will become less empowered to remove abuse from the site in the future if it is determined that the people you report are not in violation.

What is plagiarism?

Intellectual property infringement is a reportable offense on Yahoo! Answers, but the process is a little different from ordinary community guidelines violations. If you believe your intellectual property has been infringed upon and would like to file a complaint, please see our Copyright/IP policy here: http://in.docs.yahoo.com/info/copyright/copyright.html

Have more questions? Let us know.

So what do we have against chat? Absolutely nothing. Chat away on Yahoo! Messenger or Groups — just not on Answers. We’re not trying to be mean or limit free speech — we just want to maintain the mission of Yahoo! Answers:

Yahoo! Answers connects people to the information they’re seeking with those who know it. Everyone has life experience and knowledge about something, and Yahoo! Answers provides a way for people to share their experience and insight.

Like any other community, we have a core set of principles that must be followed by all members. Some of those core principles are: sharing what you know, being courteous, and asking clear questions. Examples of unacceptable behavior include: ranting, hate speech, cheating, behaving maliciously, and chatting. If you want to participate in Answers, we ask that you abide by the Community Guidelines and Yahoo! Terms of Service.

While chatting seems innocuous in comparison to more-obvious offenses, we discourage it because it doesn’t add to the intent of the site: to share quality knowledge. Answers was never meant to function as a chat room or forum. There are other outlets (like Yahoo! Groups) that are ideal for this type of social networking, and we hope you’ll channel your inner chat into these more-appropriate venues.

Still unsure about what’s considered chat? Here are a few examples to help clear up the confusion:

Chatty: “Do you like my poem?”

Better: “How can I improve my poem?”

Chatty: “Do you like my avatar?”

Better: “How do I make my avatar look more fun or attractive?”

The Guidelines weren’t created as a cloaked attempt to exercise ultimate universal power over Answers members — really. They’re meant to provide commonsense ground rules so we all know what to expect inside the Yahoo! Answers community. That’s not such a bad thing, is it?

Instead of having to report abuse, wouldn’t you much rather see it prevented in the first place?

UPDATE: Just to clarify, it’s fine to be conversational within your actual question or answer.