Would You Please Explain Community Guideline 1b to Me?

I wanted to respond to the user who posted definitions of the key terms, as well as try to clarify the point of the guideline.

Most words have more than one meaning, so you have to use context to figure out what meaning applies. For example, incendiary said of bombs is not the appropriate meaning of that term in this context -- obviously, as text on a computer screen does not cause flames to literally burst out of people's computers.

In other words, one has to use one's head if one wants to understand what is meant by that, admittedly broad, prohibition.

You can't advocate or try to incite violence (I've seen "questions" reading "What's the best way to kill [insert one of several common ethnic slurs]?" -- such posts violate the guidelines and should be reported.

You can't post race/ethnicity-based hate (implying those of some ancestries or ethnic backgrounds are less than human).

You can't post stuff the purpose of which is to inflame racial hatred, including slurs and epithets that the targets consider offensive. (Yes, that means The N- Word, as well as other terms, such as the one about people who wear cloth on their heads for religious reasons, or the one about consumers of legumes. They offend users of this site and should be banned.)

Yes, phrases such as "violent ... or otherwise objectionable" means you can't advocate rape (which I've seen done on this site, as well).

It means that if you are going to use this site, you must come to it with the assumption that all humans are human, deserving of that basic level of respect -- no humans are to be maimed or killed because of where their ancestors came from, or for where their genitals are placed, or what they do with them in the privacy of their own homes, or who, where, and how they worship.

Advocating that some groups of people are properly owned by others would also fall into "otherwise objectionable."

It wouldn't make sense for yahoo to make a huge list of all possible offensive things that might be said -- no such list could possibly be complete, and would only inspire people to come us with new, creative ways of insulting groups of people, or advocating violence towards them.

Thus, Yahoo must rely on some core of human decency and some sense from their users as to the boundaries of civilized discourse.

Those who repeatedly prove themselves incapable of grasping these principles are rightly banned from this site.

There are plenty of websites on the net that are devoted to hate (not to mention porn). If that's what you're into, go there. Neither Yahoo, nor all of the people who want to use this site for its intended purposes, want that garbage here. Yahoo has every right to remove and ban such posts.

Doing so is necessary to yahoo's intended purposes for this site.

Is this really impossible to understand?

I will try to explain it, but you may not like the answer.

Definition of violent:

adjective. of great force; marked by, due to, extreme force, passion or fierceness; intense.

adjective 1 involving great force, strength, or intensity. 2 involving the unlawful use of force, <i>violent crime; a violent death,</i> caused by physical violence, not natural.

Definition of racist:

noun someone who believes that other races are not as good as their own and therefore treats them unfairly: [1]

Definition of incendiary:

adjective of malicious setting on fire of property; being guilty of this; inflammatory.

adjective 1 (of a bomb etc.) designed to cause a fire, containing chemicals that ignite. 2 of arson; guilty of arson. 3 tending to stir up strife, inflammatory.

Definition of objectionable:

adjective causing ibjections or disapproval, unpleasant.

One thing to remember, the definition of violent, racist, incendiary, and objectionable are all different for different people. what one person may thikn is violent, another person may not think it is violent, etc.

The best answer you could get is from a lawyer, but then lawyers differ in opinion as well.

Basically, it means you cannot advocate or imply that it would be a good idea to kill (there's the violence) certain people (the racism slips into that one) because of pernicious character flaws (the incendiary portion, to inflame your passions) and as quickly as possible (otherwise stuff).

Nor can you send along pictures or other things to emphasize that desire.

this guideline means to me that you shouldn't be asking questions that could lead to answers being given that may cause controversy. this could also lead to abusive and violent answers or even racist remarks.

think carefully about what you should put in your question before you post it is the way to go.

it can mean whatever the heck thay want it to mean, free speach does not apply on Yahoo answers.

Nobody actually follows those things.