Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers blog

Ah, “noise”. You know, the trashy questions that pop up here and there, like “What’s your name?” and “Who wants to chat with me?” (Note of caution: “What’s your pet’s name?” is probably a phishing attempt to get your password).

Some of you complain that there is too much “noise” on Yahoo! Answers, and some of you complain that we’re too strict in our removals. Well, today’s post is about how we can all do our part to make everybody happy (I’m feeling idealistic today).

First, to the people complaining about having a question removed.
Let me reiterate that Yahoo! Answers is NOT a chat site or personals message board. It is a Q&A site where human knowledge can be shared. Therefore, questions like “Does Larry like me?”, “What’s my middle name?”, and “Who wants to date a hot stud?” will be removed. If you try to post your email address in an attempt to chat with other participants, we will also remove it. For you, we recommend http://uk.chat.yahoo.com. It’s a great place and trust us, you will be much happier there.

Second, to the people complaining about the noise.

You may not know this, but you have the power to weed out noise. Here’s how:

1. Don’t answer those questions. Questions with no answers are deleted automatically after  seven days, so it’s a good way to purge them.
2. Report the abuse. These questions are in violation of community guidelines, and customer care will review the report and take appropriate action. We are working on ways to make it  easier to weed out bad stuff, so stay tuned.

And for some stimulating bedside reading, our community guidelines page is a great place to get a sense of what we’re all about.

– Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team