why was this answer deleted?

Question

Question: What did you observe about the organization of the solar system in terms of distances?

Deleted Answer: This is an astronomy lab question. I have no idea what YOU observed. You may try to impress someone by quoting Bodes Law.

Violation Reason:Not a Question or Answer

The question asked what the student observed. How is my response WRONG.?

Bodes Law is a seldom used description of planetary distances that while not really a law, does seem to work. Any teacher should be impressed by someone knowing about Bodes Law. How is this an invalid answer?

Answer 1

Hey, one time some UFO nut came on here wanting to know how to hack into secret government computers so he could steal all the (non-existent) alien/UFO data. I told him there is no secret UFO data, and that attempting it could land him a few years in federal prison. I pointed out that just asking the question is probably a violation of Y!A regulations.



I guess he and one other UFO fan didn't like my answer, as it was deleted. I appealed. I've never heard back. That was a couple months ago.



Yours was deleted because two people reported you. That's the key: two reports. It seems that two complaints will prevail if they have even the flimsiest of justification. In my case, I suppose I was expected to tell him how to do it, report him, or not answer. If all the answers of similar "non-conformity" to community standards were deleted, that would be about 40% of them.



Boo hoo, not only can Richard read, (for strict literal content, like you), but he and others are also able to *infer*. That's a little higher reading skill. The question is obviously taken from a homework assignment, from the teacher to "you", who happens to be the asker, here.

Answer 2

Someone probably took it personally.



Not too long ago I made a polls/survey question that asked, "Survey Says?!" All the responses were positive and I got some wacky ones. I chose the most random answer (someone said red and I thought it was funny because her name is violet).



Anyway, someone must have been miffed that I didn't choose their answer so my question was reported. I asked tons of times how my question was in violation and I did not get a response. I appealed it and all I received was a notice that upon closer review it violated community guidelines- but it lacked an explanation as to how.



In other words: bogus. If someone's having a bad day or if it's an immature person who takes everything personally you may unfortunately end up in their cross-hairs and have everything reported.



I guess some people aren't familiar with taking things "with a grain of salt."



Ah well, in the words of Mr. T. "I pity the foo'." Smile, nod and move along. :)

Answer 3

Welcome to the robot. If you appeal, you will get a robot answer too. I got one the other day for a perfectly valid answer which was given best answer by the asker. I appealed, got an obvious robot reply, I have deliberately left it a few days and I will appeal again. And I'm going to keep at it until I get a real answer.



I actually don't really care any more, I spend too much time here as it is, seen too many moronic questions and worse, seen too many moronic answers given best, and I passed level 7 a few weeks ago.



Someone who answers Australian travel questions writes she gets several violations a week, her answers are always good, usually with URLs to valid, worthwhile sites. I sort of gather that some of the more experienced people just don't bother answering violation notices any more because they are usually nonsensical.

Answer 4

Yeah, you have to be careful about peeveing anyone too much. It's easy for someone to look up all your questions and report them. YAnswers will pull a question or an answer that ANYONE flags.



I answered one question where the guy was completely vague and there was no way to answer. Rather than flagging the question (because I thought that would be rude), I politely pointed out that he left out the question. Later, he saw my reply and edited his question to include an actual details. Someone came along and flagged me for not answering.



So the takeaway lesson is; If a question is un-answerable, either report it or ignore it. But replying is kinda pointless and will just get you violations!

Answer 5

good question. Yahoo easily has a rule that an answer is had to adress the question. occasion: What shade is the sky? answer: i admire airplaines. in spite of if "i admire airplanes." isn't, for sure, offensive, it fails to adress the question in a mildly adequate way. If readers flag it, yahoo has a mechanism which will get rid of your answer or question (now and back with out any authorized person easily checking it and pulling the plug on it, I convey mutually). Flags are a device and additionally you are able to't flag in case you abuse it and flag inappropriately, menacingly. (i think of it downgrades the fee of a flag whilst it comes from somebody who flags inappropriately). Yahoo's mechanism has a vogue of checking your trend of flagging human beings too. long answer, yet, "i don't." is virtually comparable to easily answering somebody's question by using typing "hi." for sure, it probable attracted an excellent form of flags. i don't understand the two, the call of the music, yet whilst i needed to respond to, i might have contributed "i'm thinking of elvis and a on line casino for some reason." in spite of is composed of innovations is now and back powerful. And it quite is not going i could have been flagged, even however i did not truly understand the respond the two.

Answer 6

when they e-mail you telling you what a horrible, terrible person you are for posting such an obscene answer, they give you the opportunity to ask. They'll usually send you the reason in the Yahoo terms (sorry, still bitter they deleted one of my questions). it's getting a little ridiculous around here, but Yahoo is better than the copy cat Q&A on other sites right now.

Answer 7

Same thing happened to me once, simply because I asked a kid how many times he was going to post the same question... I wasn't rude or insulting at all, I was just sick of cutting and pasting my original answer so the little brat would be sure to see it... :) :)



Shrug it off dude. Trolls abound here. It's a shame and only hurts the people who have legitimate interest or need of help...



See ya'...

Answer 8

Could be something as stupid as someone not liking your icon pic . I guess YA reflects life but it's a shame that it's set up so well for offensive tactics and so poorly for defensive ones. I dunno but it sucks. Sorry you got zapped.

But I am encouraged to look up Bodes law now. Thanks.



EDIT: I have read that people who consistently flag inappropriately will lose credibility, if that's any consolation.

Answer 9

That is ridiculous.

But, as expressed in some of the other answers, people do not stick to the rules/guidelines anyway. And there are many people who seem to give thumbs down for no apparent reason.



I don't see any realistic solution to this problem, except to make an effort to be positive and give people thumbs up for good answers, and ONLY give thumbs down when an answer is truly bad (incorrect). If enough of us do this - we can at least make the "thumbs" count for something.

Answer 10

I guess it was the way you worded it. Somebody probably took it as if you were being rude. "I have no idea what YOU observed." YOU IN CAPS= a little to much emphasis. " You may try to impress someone..." Whats the law? They didn't know. Obviously they mistook you knowledge for ignorance.

Answer 11

How does he expect a person who didn't even see or do the lab what they observed?

Answer 12

There are malicious people on Y!A reporting valid answers all the time. I once had six of my answers, all of which were valid, reported within a half hour period, resulting in my being banned from Y!A. I appealed and was reinstated, but it was a pain in the butt!

Answer 13

Perhaps because, instead of offering an answer to the question, you flamed the asker with an impolite observation about his intelligence?

Answer 14

HE should've gotten deleted for asking a stupid question that was obviously hinging on his personal experience during a lab

Answer 15

I wonder if YA! has trolls working at the administrative level.

Answer 16

Because the stuipd person was offended because you called them stuipd.

Answer 17

Can anyone here read? The question says "what did you...", it does'nt say "what did I....." And you did'nt answer the question !