Illegal / Community guidelines

The low-down - when does an answer violate the community guidelines, and when does it break the law ?

When it comes to reporting unsuitable content within the community of Yahoo! Answers, you are helping to keep the community safe and pleasant for other community members.

Users have two options when reporting content.

- Does the content breach the community guidelines
- Is the content illegal

So what's the difference ?

Yahoo! Answers asks that all community members follow these community guidelines, and staff often post helpful blogs concerning such guidelines within the official Yahoo! Answers staff blog. Such content does not break the law, yet is simply frowned upon and is not necessary within the community. Remember, if it's too rude to say to a stranger, it's too rude for Yahoo! Answers.

So what is breaking the law ?

The law is used in society to maintain order. However some users might not realise how law relateds to Yahoo! Answers. Users should only report very serious content that requires urgent attention as illegal. Such content is generally removed quickly from the community and investigated by the Yahoo! Answers customer care team, so don't use it lightly. Breaking the law is not acceptable, and includes extreme harassment (this can include bullying), racism, threats, blackmail, fraud sites and harm to minors and so forth.

Some common example of questions and how they should be reported:

What is my favourite colour?

Reason for reporting: Chatting
Violation of the community guidelines

Want to make money from home - go to this website
Either

Reason for reporting: Solicitation - a trusted site, yet advertising and not asking a question
Violation of the community guidelines

Or

A known fraud or dangerous site that could trick users into spending money
Reason for reporting: Illegal

I want to kill myself

Reason for reporting: Illegal
Such content needs to be removed to protect the use involved

If in doubt, report the content as a violation of the community guidelines, and provide a reason for reporting.

All the best
Chεεrs