Community moderation explained

Yahoo! Answers makes use of community moderation, a process where members of the Yahoo! Answers community will report content they feel violates the community guidelines.

Users are assigned a trust level which is based purely on a user's previous reporting accuracy. Very accurate reporters shall have a high trust level and therefore will have more power when it comes to removing content. If content is reported by two or more trusted reporters then that content shall be removed from the community automatically.

When content is removed, the author of the question may be docked points (between 2-10) as a form of punishment. They shall also be sent a violation notice which shall outline the reason for their content being removed as well as a link to appeal the removal of such content should the author of the content feel it was removed incorrectly.

When a user files an appeal, a member of the customer service team for Yahoo! Answers shall review the appeal. If they agree the content was reporting incorrectly, the content shall be reinstated back into the community along with any points originally deducted. Furthermore the user(s) who filed the report shall be considered less trustworthy and will find it harder to incorrectly remove content from the site.

This is further explained in the diagram below:

Your content (i.e. a question or answer)
↓
2 or more reports are filed by trusted users
↓
The content is removed automatically without review
↓
The author shall be sent a violation notice
↓
The author of the content can appeal → Or author will take no further action
↓
The appeal shall be reviewed by a member of staff
↓
The appeal can be declined → Content is not replaced and ten points removed
↓
The appeal is successful and the content is reinstated along with any lost points

Violation notices are simply a warning to indicate that a user has broken the rules. Your account should be in no danger of being suspended unless you receive many violation notices in a short period of time or post very bac content such as breaking the law.

Hopefully this helps to explain the process a little clearer.

All the best
Chεεrs