Why does Yahoo! not seem to respond to reported Q/A abuse in the LGBT forum?

Question

I’ve reported a number of abusive gay-bashing questions and answers (*********** comes to mind) that are in the LGBT forum to Yahoo! through their “report abuse” system. Sometimes, the questions/answers are removed but I never get an e-mail about it.

In contrast, when I report people for trying to sell their PS2s or spamming (or such things) the question/answer goes away pretty quickly and I get a cute little e-mail message from Yahoo! saying that Yahoo! has/will look into it.

So my question is:
Does Yahoo! care less if people want to go gay-bashing than selling their stuff or do they just get too many complaints in the LGBT forum that they follow-through on reported abuses but don’t bother sending out the e-mail? Or am I just somehow missing these e-mails?

I'm not "hurt" per se, just curious.

Answer 1

I think the sheer volume of abusers in this forum is overwhelming to them. And I don't think they respond to every report of abuse we send, but do a 'one email response covers all' kind of thing. When I've reported several times on one day vs. once on another day, I still got that one email from them saying they'll look into it. They have a forum where they have suggestions and such, so they are trying to figure out better ways of dealing with these abusers. One suggestion which I like is to have a moderator in the forums (such as this one) where there's a lot of reported abuse. I like that idea simply for the fact that a moderator on site can deal immediately with the abuser. ;)

If you want to go to the forum they talk about this stuff in, it's called the 'yahoo answers help and suggestion board'. Just click on 'home' for yahoo answers (up at the left corner of every page), scroll down the page, and on the left side under 'categories' you'll see 'related links', click on 'forum'. you can add to the discussion there too.

Or, if ya in a lazy mood, lol.. here's the link:

http://messages.answers.yahoo.com/answers/forumview?bn=SEA-YahooAnswers

Answer 2

I've reported a few of those, too, out in the general population (my favorite being the "How to Cure a Homosexual Sinner" question). I've gotten maybe three "We'll look into it" emails and I've put in at least ten complaints (mostly advertisement spam).

First of all, you can't convince people to be rational. People are going to come in here looking for a fight and walking away thinking they're clever because they decided to tell the LGBT community off. Understand these people tend to not be terribly clever. Understand these people believe what their religious leader tells them instead of reading the religious text for themselves and making a judgement based from that.

Second, check to see if the offending questions are removed. If they are, that's good. If they aren't, just remember that it's a big red flag of Duh! and a reminder that the GLBT and the friends of GLBT community needs to work harder to get the message out that this isn't a sin or a "lifestyle choice" -- this is biology.

Third, I am really sorry that these people are flaunting their ignorance like Britney Spears flaunted her marriage to K-Fed. Knowledge is power, and the more intelligent people know and understand about why people are gay, lesbian, bi or transgendered, the more people will realize that this is not a choice and this is not a sin.

This is how some people are born, and if it IS a sin, then God has a lot to answer for.

Answer 3

LISTEN SERIOUSLY I KNOW ALL ABOUT THIS SORT OF THING ITS A TW*T i was actually BANNED from this sight i used to be a regular i was level 3 and a regular contributer to tattooing questions i have now had to start a fresh but what really sux is I HONESTLY DONT KNOW WHY I WAS BANNED i didnt abuse anyone i was knocked on by religous trolls i was gutted i came to sign in and it refused me access i have started a fresh now and im calm this time !!! i deffinatley think you should report them because they are not answering the question and they are offending people over things they have no idea about or they have just abused us because they will never understand the true meaning of tattooes i will provide an example of misunderstanding people with tattooes this is a question i have previously answered !!!

Answer 4

Yahoo does pull offensive posts...they're just SLOW about it.

Best actions, IMHO: silently RAMO (report abuse, move on), each and every time you see someone viciously, offensively violating __Yahoo's community guidelines or terms of service__ in a question OR answer....any area---LGBT, Religions & Spirituality, Immigration, wherever. Watchlist the question and see how long it takes for removal.

It's no use trying to talk rationally to trolls and bigots: they've got some kinda funky wiring defect between their ears/eyes and their brains, where sensible input just gets jumbled. Maybe the National Institutes of Health can study it.....but replying is a waste of time, and sets you up for possible retaliation (on point-gaming charges, if nothing else).

But if people of good intentions RAMO and RAMO on hate speech, maybe we can get on Yahoo's case to move faster. It's going to be hard to disregard 47 e-mails from separate users, all asking "what happened?---I flagged you about these watchlisted questions that are STILL ON BOARD." "Piling on" is lousy tactics in football, but it may be necessary here....

I don't even BOTHER telling Yahoo about "chatting", "not a q/a", or even trivial ads/minor spamming---I want the hate speech and grossly offensive obscenities cleaned up first!

Answer 5

I ended up reporting about 15 posts yesterday (many more needed reporting but laziness...).

I got a single email from yahoo today saying they're looking into it and it was one of the less offensive posts.

I think it's probably due to sheer volume since we do get a lot of homophobes in here spouting prejudice and misinformation. Still, it doesn't hurt if many people report a post.

Answer 6

Nope... Obviously they don't care. Everday I'm reporting. Especially *********** & all his other clones. He's not going away but neither are we.
Go to Y!A! message board & post comment about it. The Y!A!TEAM frequent this message board will end up taking REAL notice if we show it in numbers.
Stand up for yourselves people. Keep reporting & keep posting on the message boards.
I know it's tiresome but we shouldn't give up. They're going to have to take notice either way.

Answer 7

Lets not forget there are some straight bashers out there too. Some of the questions are not always worded in the best possible way and some people just take them the wrong way.

When in doubt, tie goes to ignorance

Answer 8

I know what you mean. By law they have to have a report abuse option. But they never take care of your problem. Don't stress yourself about it just visit another site.

Answer 9

Maybe they feel LGBTs are into the abuse thing. Sorta like fetishes. Or, maybe they are uncomfortable with the subjects and therefore don't really monitor. Or, perhaps, they just like to descriminate. Who knows, probably reading to much into it.

Answer 10

Yahoo! may be afraid of someone claiming that, because they were banned from posting hateful messages in the GLBT section, their religion freedoms were abrogated.