Yahoo Answers has some explaining to do.
Over the past several months, I’ve asked 13 questions on the site, as at first I was impressed by the community response. My most recent question asked for help in getting a Slingbox to work, since it won’t work with the Ambit wireless modem I have with Time Warner Cable (as an aside, please let me know if you’ve had similar issues and know if it’s hopeless or if there’s a fix; I’m about ready to send back the Slingbox). This question on the Slingbox, and four others, have recently been removed by Yahoo Answers, apparently for violating its community guidelines.
The other questions included such “offensive” material such as:
* Wondering what others thought of a certain TV show (and a PG show on basic cable, for what it’s worth)
* How people value inbound links for SEO, in doing research for a recent column
* Seeking the best vacation guide anyone has seen in Yahoo Travel
* Asking for any insight into a business service, as someone asked me what I thought of it and I hadn’t heard of it
Eight other questions remain on the site, for now. Though it’s possible they’ll be gone too, including one seeking help in changing a setting on my Motorola KRAZR phone. Why that’s up and my Slingbox question is down makes no sense to me whatsoever. But what do I know?
I tried emailing Yahoo through a link in its help materials, but the page was down. I also posted a message in their forums. I’m not expecting an adequate response, but I’d love to hear from others in the blogging community if they’ve faced similar problems. There are dozens of other Q&A services out there, and if Yahoo gets trigger happy with filtering, then it won’t dominate this category indefinitely.
I’ve also included my interpretation of their wallpaper below (click to enlarge).
