Even Furries need love

So we all (for the most part) have heard the US Gov saying that it's accessed data from facebook, yahoo, google, apple and microsoft (Skype is owned my MS so it stands to reason that all MS products were affected) (if not, check the news). Got news today that Google published a letter to the US Gov asking to release Gov data to clear it's name from what the US Gov said about them.

So... US Gov won't release what data they have, Google can't because the laws say they can't and I doubt very much that they will get authorization so it begs the question:

Is Google trying to clear it's name in good faith or bluffing, knowing that the US Gov won't allow them to do this anyways, hoping to give it's users a false sense of security?

ps: this of course isn't limited to Google but should be asked about all companies listed in the news about this.

I first found the letter from google here: http://gizmodo.com/google-to-government-let-us-pub...

here is Google's official blogged letter mentioned above: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/asking-us-g...

Had a fun time logging in today. an unresponsive plug-in make it so that I was typing 6~7 letters ahead of what was posted as my username and password.

Up-to-Date Firefox with no extra add-ons, Win7.

Really I've complained before about interactive/multimedia ads crashing the log-in page before, that it would be a real reason why I would change email provider. Twas fine for a while and then today... not so.

Y! Mail Staff, is an ad worth it if people can't check their emails? I mean you must realize that you lose business over it and that it hurts your reputation as a "reliable" email provider, right?

Also, when I select a category for this question, why is it that after I make my selection and click for the next screen it claims a different category? annoyances, annoyances....

To be honest, it crashes about 80% of the time and I have to reload it for it to work.

I'm talking about: mail.yahoo.com

It used to be my homepage but I had to stop using it because it would crash my web-browser. This happens on just about any computer I use. I dual boot my main desktop with Win7 and Ubuntu 12.04, my laptop's running Lbuntu 12.04 (Ubuntu with LXDE) and the school computers are running Win7 and Debian. The Yahoo! mail sign-in page has the habit of crashing on all of them. Doesn't matter if I use Firefox, Chrome, Opera or even occasionally IE. At best the page "hangs" and finally finishes loading and at worse, the usual, it crashes and either reloads itself or I have to manually do it.

I've established that it isn't my OS, after all, it's not supporting either my Win7 Ultimate or the school's supported version of Win7 or Linux. I suppose if it crashed on one computer but not the others that it would be an issue with plug-ins in one computer but this tells me it isn't.

I did research it real fast, both on here and on the web but nothings been posted about this recently (>1 month) but I might end up having to use the mobile portals to Yahoo! Mail as described on this thread: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AqhDD...

Is there a reason why Yahoo! Mail can't get their act together. This has been happening since longer than I can remember and I've always been hoping that it was either just my home computer or that Yahoo! would eventually fix the system. I don't care about the new trailer for what ever movie advertising you want to sell me but I do care about logging into my email account, if I can't then I'll have to start looking elsewhere for an email provider that actually delivers a product I can have access too.

This may sound like a rant but really i'm just curious as to why I'm seeing this message so often.

I see this message too often when I do the following.

- add details to a previous question or answer

- vote for an answer

- chose an best answer and give feedback

- give an answer (to a non-deleted question)

Then there's the issue of deleted questions that still show up 2 mins later when I refresh the question list.

It's particularly annoying when I spend the time to write a well documented and factual answer and the question's deleted, not much Y! A can do but it's still annoying.

Are the Yahoo! Answers servers not as reliable as the rest of the Yahoo! Products?

PS: I hit the back button, hit refresh, my comment's still there (good) and click "submit" but for the last 3 minutes I get the same error message. I'm talking about adding a detail to my question, it's not deleted or reported, the question is available but I cannot add details.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AhbVM...

What's the difference, I mean how will I be able to tell which is which? (the details may or may not have anything to do with this question), Sadly enough I'm playing the Y!A game by not looking for an actual answer that makes sense but one that fits with what i'm looking for... can you guess what that answer is?

A one word, usually a yes or no answer doesn't apparently get reported for point gaming, yet it brings very little to the community.

A non-related answer does.

An answer that just paraphrases the ones above it, posted hours before hand, not just minutes as that could be coincidence, doesn't get reported for point gaming even though it doesn't bring anything new to the Question.

If you answer a yes/no question by rewording it to match my answer and add "thank you for the 2 pts", you get reported.

What kind of community is this were you cannot thank people for the points they earn you? Isn't that just good manners?

Of course there are plenty of examples where some of these get, or not, reported. I'm just stating my observations and experiences.

Oh and if you think this is a rant, ignore the details and just answer the title question as I believe it meets both TOS and CG for question format. The details are just there to give context, you know, like they are suppose to...

So on previous violations I get a message from Y! A stating that they have found that my answer is a violation of the CG or the TOS, never giving out specifics, which is why people post so many questions like "why was my question/answer reported?". If they bothered to answer that in the fist place, it would alleviate the boards.

A few days ago, I appealed one such violations, it got denied and said I could contact Y! Customer Care should want disagree with the decisions. I got a nice form e-mail that was probably auto generated because it gives possible reasons why my answer was deleted that don't apply. The kicker: it now list that I may have violated the TOS, Y! CG & Y!A's CG. Their blanket statement of my violation has been expanded, this only serves to confuse the issue even more not define the reason I got reported.

Today, get a "Violation Notice Email" that classically states that I've posted something that was found against the CG or the TOS. I'm thinking great, another blanket violation but I was wrong they did actually give me a reason further down in the email:

Violation Reason: Misuse of the question and answer format

So it's as violation of the CG, not the TOS. Why didn't it just say that in the first place? And that's not the confusing part, the email links to the CG, the TOS and Customer Care but it doesn't at any point link to appealing the decision or give a transcript of any part of the question or my answer to it so I have no idea what comment I made that was in violation.

Giving actual reasons why I got reported is a step forward by why can't I tell what Answer was offensive? One step forward two steps back Yahoo!?

Why do I have to spend 30+ pts to get an auto-generated email with wide blanket statements? It's obviously not because I'm wasting their time.

Please don't reply with plain links to the TOS or either CGs or tell me I don't understand them. I read all three and this question is more about the quality of service offered by Yahoo! than any of the above. ei-stay on topic.

So I'm getting fed up with Pandora.

I'm an occasional user, some months it's all I listen to, other I totally ignore it. So some changes are not immediately noticed by me, like the increase in adds per hour seemed very sharp to me.

A few night ago, I got a craving for Michael Jackson and plugged in a new station. First song wasn't MJ but I guess similar in style, I skipped, Add, 2nd one same, I skipped, Add, 3rd one was folk/country so I skipped (WTF Pandora), finally it played MJ and I left it on, afterwards I got another Add. I basically listen to 4 adds for one song, even traditional radio isn't that bad (4 adds for a set of 3 songs minimum).

Tonight, I start up a new station, Battlestar Galactica, and for the last 2 hours I have heard similar soundtracks but none from what I asked, in fact it's currently playing a video-game soundtrack. I'm done expecting Pandora to have what I asked it to play but why won't it just tell me it doesn't have it instead of edging my on like this? Bad business plan.

I totally understand that adds pay for the music I want to stream, but when I don't get what I want to stream and still have to put up with adds, I lose interest in the product.

I've played a bit with Last.FM and Grooveshark over the years, neither has tickled my fancy. Any suggestions out there?

It is LE's job to enforce the laws either by ticking people or arresting them. All three branches of government work together to create, apply and enforce laws and regulations. There is no power given to LE to terminate anyone's life without first consulting with the Judicial branch to make sure it conforms with the Legislative branch (ie death penalty and that is legally done within a prison).

Yes I believe LE should be armed, but the average LE officer should not be carrying lethal weapons, there is no reason for LE to carry a gun while patrolling or responding to a call, any call. Having a lethal weapon presents LE with the possibility of using deadly force in any situation.

Thank you for those of you who use non-lethals such as tazers and bean bag guns and many others I don't know about.

Killing a criminal, armed or not, shows a failure of the Executive branch to bring a criminal to justice and I don't see how any self-respecting citizen can stand for that. Half the gun crazies are up in arms against gun control yet no one bats an eye about the lack of justice happening every-time someone get's shot by LE. You must know that just by pointing a gun at someone you can shoot them, if you shoot them you are taking a risk of killing them.

No one can lawfully kill anyone else except in the case for death penalty, anything else is a failure of Justice.

Now reasonably, there needs to be armed personnel to make someone do something against their own free will, I'm talking about SWAT teams and the like. I accept that offence to Justice as it clearly is an attempt to maintain said Justice.

So I ask, since shooting someone is an affront to the Justice system, why is it OK for LE to carry guns?

BTW killing someone prevents you from understanding why they did the things they did and prevent future occurrences by others so really it's not doing anyone any favors.

Thanks for reading my point of view, now tell me why I'm wrong and why I should change my views, or PM me to tell me you agree, I will of course report any insults and threats as they are against the CG.

Q: "is mentally handicapped people allowed to drive in Alberta?" in the details it talked about a handicapped person having a DL from another Canadian state, can't remember which one.

A: "I am not familiar with driving laws in Canada, only in the US and my knowledge is limited. In the US, and I assume in Canada too, States have agreed to accept each other's driving licences. So as long as a person has a valid driver's licence from one state they can drive in another. There are limitations for special driver's licences such as provisional licenses and learner's permits so I would get acquainted with how that person's DL is regulated in your State first."

This is the first time I've gotten reported in a month or so and the previous times have been similar yet my appeals have been denied every time. Technically only once, the other two I never heard back from Yahoo! Answers Staff.

From reading the posts about appealing, I understand that this is my best option to get an actual answer - ie posting the original question and your answer within 7 days.

It looks to me that 90% of the problems with Yahoo! Answers come from a misunderstanding of the TOS. This is not a rant, I'm just curious to see what ideas people would have to improve both the quality of the questions asked and the quality of the answers.

Would requiring that users complete the currently optional Quiz found on their website (Home>About Yahoo! Answers>Yahoo! Answers Community Guidelines>Quiz) here: http://answers.yahoo.com/info/community_guidelines...

help raise awareness?

I am not a Yahoo! employee, just a curious user.