Suspended for Conspiracy To Kidnap Fat People
I had heard about Yahoo Answers off and on for a while. If you are unfamiliar with this site, it’s basically a
How Smart Is Yahoo?
place to ask questions and seek advice. The answers and advice you receive are not from the staff employed by Yahoo but from everyday people around the globe. It wasn’t until my son came home with flash burn in his eyes that I actually used the site myself.
Apparently, my 17-year-old son thought he was “cool” enough to weld his friend’s exhaust without wearing the proper eye protection. His side of the story… the welding helmet he had only offered a very small window to see through. Regardless of the actual events, he had a horrific case of flash burn in his eyes.
Before I made the trip to the emergency room, I decided to ask about flash burn on Yahoo answers. I was blown away by the amount of responses I received in only 2 minutes! After my son’s eyes were properly examined, treated and he was fast asleep with potatoes on his eyes, I decided to explore this site further.
Any and every question you can think of has been asked and answered. The range of questions is astounding. Some people ask for advise on relationships, recipes and health, while others ask for specific information on vehicles, businesses and pet care. As I was exploring, I noticed about half of the questions seemed to be from teenagers. Some were seeking help with homework and puberty, but the majority wanted feedback on their looks…even posting pictures of themselves.
There are 3 basic sections of Yahoo answers. A section to “ask” where you post your question; a section to “answer” where you post your answer to a question and a section to “discover” where you can read questions which have been asked and resolved. Since I didn’t have another question to ask, I opted to click “answer” to see if perhaps I could assist someone with a problem. I found myself completely addicted! I was sharing advice, my views on different topics and even posting some of my own personal experiences with complete strangers. Before I knew it, it was 4am so I logged off and headed to bed.
The next morning, as I sipped my first cup of coffee, I found myself logging back into the site…I was as hooked to Yahoo answers as a hungry fish is to a fresh worm. Throughout the next few weeks, I logged in 3 or 4 times a day to share my advice and thoughts. As the days passed and the newness of this addiction faded, I logged in less frequently, but still at least once a day. Once a day, that is, until last evening.
As my guests left earlier than expected, I settled onto the couch with my laptop and once again logged in. I performed a few searches on various items I am somewhat knowledgeable about, but found no new questions that peaked my interest. I began reading the most recently asked questions and gave my 2 cents on a few questions. During this time, I came across a question someone asked about funny advice. My curiosity got the better of me and I read the entire question. They were asking for funny advice…as in funny, ironic statements. This question had many responses, some were old clichés, some were rude and involved 4-letter words and some were unmentionable. I briefly thought about it and opted to give my funny advice…”Never take a sleeping pill and laxative in the same night”. It is an old one, but still funny and true in it’s own right. I went on to continue answering some more questions and shared more personal experiences. During this time, Mike and I were chit chatting and I told him about the aforementioned question as well as my response. He suggested I edit my answer and add one of his favorites….”Fat people are hard to kidnap”. This phrase was something we had received and printed on a t-shirt. We both chuckled and I added his suggestion.
Please don’t take this the wrong way, Mike and I are the most down to earth, fun loving people. Neither of us have a prejudice bone in our bodies and have many friends of various colors, sizes, shapes, orientation, beliefs, etc. As long as you are a true person, you are welcomed into our lives and home.
Once again, I looked at the clock and headed to bed at about 2 am. When I awoke this morning, I followed my usual routine…coffee in one hand and laptop on my lap. I attempted to log into Yahoo answers to view any feedback on my advice, but was greeted with the following:
“Hello Tracey
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”
Naturally, I emailed “customer care” asking what I could have done to yield this result. After hours of waiting, I finally got this email:
in Yahoo! Answers.
In order to investigate this issue, we will need the Yahoo! ID that you
use on the Yahoo! Answers site.
This information will help us to assist you. We apologize for any
inconvenience.
Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Answers. Your case number for this
issue is XXXXXXXX. Please reference it in all future communication about
this particular issue.
Regards,
(Actual Name)
Yahoo! Customer Care
XXXXXXXX
For assistance with all Yahoo! services please visit: (website)“
I supplied them with all the requested information and again asked what I did to cause this result. The only
thing I can come up with is the “Fat people are hard to kidnap” response. Again, after hours of waiting I finally got a response, here is what it said:
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://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/utos/utos-173.html
Yahoo! Community Guidelines:
http://answers.yahoo.com/info/community_guidelines.php
Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Answers. Your case number for this
issue is XXXXXXXX. Please reference it in all future communication about
this particular issue.
Regards,
(actual name, yet different name than previous email)”
Once again, they did not tell me what I did to deserve the “tos”! I feel like a child being punished but not
That's What A Guy Vito I Know Says
knowing why. Would you ever punish your child or anyone and ignore them when they asked what they did? How can one correct the problem, or defend their actions without knowing exactly what they did wrong?
Another point one should note…though they penalize me and completely delete my account without explanation, in the same email, they inform me I could create another account and continue to ask, answer and discover. In the words of Garth from Wayne’s World….”As If”!
Has anyone had a similar experience? Was I wrong to post the funny advice I posted? I’d love your feedback and comments.
I had something deleted once, but not my whole account banned.
and your addiction process sounds an awful lot like mine was
oh and, why is this here, and not on yahoo answers??
Hi Franman,
Thank you for reading my blog and taking the time to submit a comment. I posted this on our blog to see if anyone had a similar experience. I did not post this on Yahoo Answers because my account was deleted. Although I can create a new account and post my question, at this point, I am boycotting them. Why would I use their service if they don’t have the decency to enlighten me on the exact reason my account was deleted.
Tracey
Unfortunately, with a site as large, and with as much market share, as Yahoo….the moderators simply don’t care. There are millions of people on the site, and if they annoy one or two, it doesn’t bother them.
I’ve seen a lot worse on that site that hasn’t attracted attention. My personal guess is that a portly moderator happened to see your comment by chance.
Just smile and nod, and make a new account.
Gotta remember here, Yahoo is a corporation, and things like free speech only apply to the Feds. As long as you use Yahoo’s site, you’re stuck at their whims
Heh, I’ve heard that phrase before in those false ancient chinese sayings sites.
As for banning and not getting evidence of your infraction? Welcome to the internet. Moderators and Operators have full exclusive and unabridled access to their websites. When it comes to something like kicks and bans, they will do it without sufficient evidence or cause. When they do have evidence, they may not investiage the source of that evidence. In the event they do investigate, they will not admit to making an error. Even still, you are unlikely (near impossible to say) will ever be shared what this evidence is.
I was reading a story in MaximumPC (The Watchdog section) in which a kid had his account banned on BF2. A kid that played for hundreds of hours (presumeably legally) could have done one thing “wrong” by BF2 standards, and had his account deleted.
When questioned and pushed, EA stated they “investigated the occurence, and the account holders stats were above normal levels” or some such. They didn’t provide any evidence however.
In such a case, there is nothing you can do about it, because what EA did (and Yahoo did) are there sole responsibility. They can do literally whatever they want with their websites.
yahoo is full of people who I believe are just there to shut people up. 911, the holocaust, questions asked about the war will see members posting insults and complaints instead of responding with answers, which their meant to do get deleted as so as posted.
Yahoo is not the place to ask questions since those who complain are the ones in the right and the posters are treated like criminals without trial and Yahoo pander to moaners by deleting questions there and then and the poster has to explain them self’s, yet the complainer is given cart blanch to do what they want.
I had a complaint, I questioned it and yahoo reinstated saying they saw nothing wrong with my question. No sooner was my question reinstated and another or the same person complained about it and it came down a second time. Only for yahoo to say sorry there is nothing we can do and deleted my question even though they said it was ok….
Like I said there are those who just delete questions because it conflicts with their sense of reality and god forbid we should have a different opinion in a free speech world and yahoo pander to the fascists over those who seek an answer to the facts….
I also got a warning and mt post deleted. I like the political section and am a Democrat.So naturally I question the view points of republicans. I asked why do republicans deny they distroyed the world. I like to bait them for they are so easy to rile. My questions have resulted in cursing, doubting my family ties and a host of anger. So,I then asked why do they always resort to name calling on opposing views. It really hit the fan then. I just chuckled.Mypoint is that no one seems to monitor these crude and rude retorts and my questions get a warning of acct cancelation. I wonder if the monitors are republicans.