Yahoo!7 Answers Blog Australia

Here at Yahoo!7 Answers, we strive to provide quality content for the community. Every day, trusted users work together to report and remove any content that violates the Community Guidelines. Since abusive content is the most talked-about topic, here is a refresher on what we expect from our users.

Do:

• Show courtesy to your fellow community members
• Ask and Answer clearly
• Share what you know
• Cite your sources
• Categorise your questions correctly
• Star/Thumbs-up great questions and answers
• Report abuse

Don’t:

• Rant – Posting questions with the sole aim of giving your opinions is a no-no. So is answering questions for the purpose of venting. When you post a question, it must be written in the form of a question. When you answer, it must attempt to answer the question being asked.
• Insult others or be obscene – Sexually explicit content and images are not welcome on the site. We also do not tolerate any form of insult, discrimination or hate speech. Answers is a diverse community, hence everyone should be respected.
• Spam – Answers is not a recruiting site, a dating site or an advertising billboard. Posting irrelevant links for personal or financial gain is prohibited.
• Cheat – Creating multiple accounts to reward yourself, copying and pasting other people’s answers and asking for points are all infractions.
• Be harmful and violent – promoting violence or harmful practices and threatening or harassing other users violates the guidelines. Anything that is considered illegal in everyday life is also illegal on Answers.
• Share illegal content – You can share information about where to download free entertainment and programs as long as it’s a free and legal download site.

We have received many questions about why this or that was deleted, and we think these explanations will help you better understand the Community Guidelines. In extreme cases, members risk losing their Yahoo! ID, and consequently, access to all other Yahoo!7 services. If everyone follows the rules, content quality will be at its best.

Have more questions? Leave us a comment and let us know!

Time flies when you’re having fun with Yahoo!7. It’s already been a year and a half since we launched Community Moderation on Answers. Everyday trusted users work together to report and remove any content that violates the Community Guidelines and Yahoo!7 Terms of Service. Here is a nice refresher if you’d like to be part of our effective system.

How does Community Moderation work?
Before:
Any user could report abusive content on Answers. A Yahoo!7 employee then reviewed the report and decided whether to keep or to delete the content. This system is still in place.

Now:
Thanks to Community Moderation, our efforts to control abusive content on Answers have greatly increased. Once a report is submitted to Yahoo!7, Community Moderation measures the reputation of both the reporter and the person being reported. The system then determines whether it can remove the reported item directly from the site based on community input or whether further review is needed.

How does the reputation system work?
You must be very familiar with the Community Guidelines in order to become one of our trusted Answers users. When you feel you have a good idea about what’s acceptable on Answers as you begin to report content, you will build a good reputation and gain influence. The more accurate reporting you do, the higher your reputation will become.

However, if you abuse Community Moderation, your reputation will suffer. With a low reputation, your power to report and remove potential abuse will be reduced, which could result in a suspension.

The community is very important to the Answers team: without it the site is nothing, so we have set up protection mechanisms to filter out specific targeting of one user by another. Similarly the system promotes accurate reporters, giving them more influence.

How does the appeal system work?
Although very effective, Community Moderation is not perfect. Incorrect reports will occasionally happen and some users will find their content erroneously deleted. If your question or answer is reported, we’ll send you an email stating that it has been removed. If you feel that the system was mistaken, first read the Community Guidelines to double-check. If you still think there’s a strong case, click on the “Appeal” link in the e-mail to submit an appeal. This will be reviewed by a Yahoo!7 employee. If we agree, your question or answer will reappear on Answers, and whoever reported you will have less influence when they report abuse in the future.

We highly encourage you to appeal if you’ve read the Community Guidelines and are sure your content has been removed in error. If your appeal is successful, not only will your content be reinstated but your reputation will be boosted and those that reported you will lose reputation. Of course, we would advise you not to appeal for the sake of appealing either. If your content truly deserved to be deleted, it is very unlikely we will put it back on the site just because you’ve appealed.

What to do if you report spam content?
Easy! Report an abuse and indicate that it’s spam. You might remember that we used to ask you to report Spam on the Forum. The Community Moderation system is faster and will help you improve your reputation if you report correctly, so reporting spam using the “Report abuse” button is beneficial for everyone.

That was an update on how it works. We hope you found this helpful! However, if you still have questions, please leave us a comment and we’ll be happy to assist!

In September 2007 we launched Community Moderation, a system that allows trusted Answers users to work together to report and remove content that breaks the Community Guidelines and the Yahoo!7 Terms of Service. Due to its very nature, there is always a great deal of interest in this system and how it’s working, so we wanted to give you an update on it and how the subsequent appeals process works.

What is Community Moderation?
Traditionally on Answers if a question or answer broke the Community Guidelines or Yahoo!7 Terms of Service, an Answers user could report it. This report is reviewed by a real person and a decision is made whether to keep it up or to delete it. This system is still in place.

However, Community Moderation works in parallel to the old system. Once a report is submitted to Yahoo!7, Community Moderation automatically measures the contributions and reporting history of both the reporter and the person being reported.

Community Moderation then determines whether it can remove the reported question or answer directly from the site based on community input or whether further review is needed.

So how do I build a good reputation?
First and foremost, it’s important to familiarise yourself with the Community Guidelines. If you’re interested in reporting bad content on Answers, it’s very important that you’re accurate. When you feel you have a good idea about what’s acceptable on Answers as you begin to report content, you will build a good reputation and gain influence.

On the other hand, misuse of the new system will result in a lowered reputation. A low reputation means that the power to report and remove potential abuse is diminished, and may even risk suspension.

The community is very important to the Answers team: without it the site is nothing, so we have set up protection mechanisms to filter out specific targeting of one user by another. Similarly the system promotes accurate reporters, giving them more influence.

How accurate is Community Moderation?
According to our current analysis 94% of reports removed by Community Moderation in the US were correctly removed. Occasionally it makes mistakes, which we would strongly encourage you to appeal, but on the whole your efforts in reporting are making a massive and accurate difference to the site.

What should I do if my content is erroneously removed by the community?
By the very nature of the system, incorrect reports are occasionally going to happen. If your question or answer is reported, we’ll send you an email stating that it has been removed. If you feel that the system’s decision was incorrect, first read the Community Guidelines to check. If you think there’s a strong case, click on the “Appeal” link in the email to submit an appeal. This will be reviewed by a Yahoo!7 employee. If we agree, your question or answer will reappear on Answers, and the member(s) who reported you will have less influence when they report potential abuse in the future.

As a team, we’d like to strongly emphasise the importance of appealing, once you’ve read the Community Guidelines and are certain your content has been removed in error. This is because if your appeal is successful, not only will your content be reinstated but your reputation will be boosted and those that reported you will lose reputation.