Blatant violations of TOS go unchecked?

Question

I'm posting this question to vent a little frustration and hopefully, get some help on resolving the issue. 

Over the past few months I have seen one of the Top Contributors in one section of Yahoo Answers blatantly "thumb his nose" at the TOS by using multiple user names to fraudulently acquire "best answers" and give themselves thumbs up. In discussing the situation with other posters in that section I have discovered that this has been going on for approximately a whole year!

Me and another poster (and possibly others) have reported multiple answers where this has taken place and even emailed the Yahoo Answers about this issue, but to date none of the answers have been removed and the YA team never even acknowledged our complaints. 

Our proof is as follows: This poster consistently receives 4 to 6 votes for best answer as well as 4-6 thumbs up. This happens anytime the poster is active in the community and answering questions. If at anytime the poster is not active, he will NOT receive many, if any at all, votes or thumbs up. Another trick this poster will use is going back in questions that are minutes away from voting, putting his answer in and within no time he has 5/6 thumbs up and 5/6 votes for best answer within an hour of the question going to vote. Obviously there is simply not enough traffic to those older questions to legitimately receive that number of votes and thumbs up, much less within a couple hours time.

I find it nothing short of appalling that this activity is allowed to continue without any form of repercussion. I'm sure that there is someway for the YA team to see that these votes/thumbs up are being made from the same IP as the poster's initial answer. To top it off, this action has allowed this poster to "steal" the #1 spot in our section from someone whose answers are far more informative and researched. 

While this situation certainly upsets me and other posters in our section, it upsets me more that Yahoo Answers has not taken any action or even acknowledged our complaints. 

So my question is, what can be done to get this situation the attention it deserves? Is there another group that we can contact that may be better equipped to handle this? Or is it all a lost cause?

Thanks in advance!

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

as someone who is a user of the cricket section, i think calling him a troll is far to nice, maggot seems to be the word i have for him at the moment, i never got a reply from yahoo but i did send them an email regarding blocking the users ISP, i presume it would be invasion of privacy or something like that, but what about the crap the rest of us have to put up with? some of the rubbish that this maggot has posted defies reason

i think blocking the ISP is the best solution, failing that, unfortunately i think that this is a lost cause, hopefully yahoo can prove me wrong

Ange!! · Answer

You have'nt ben in the cricket section have you?..We have a .lovely 'troll' in there.He has over 20 accounts(i know because each and every one is blocked)..Each day he goes in ther with yet another account just to abuse and slag off the Aussie supporters,he sound so very much like your troll..

I always post the information when he gives himself best answer but yahoo do not do a thing about this user..Let me tell you he also gives the people in R&S a hard time too..
They are useless.It dosnt matter how many of us in there report him his things never seems to get deleted(no matter how many report)..

I and my contacts have been reporting this user to yahoo for nearly 12 months now..All that happens is an accont will get suspended-Whoopee dooo,all it takes is 5 minutes and he has another account ready to go..Peop;e like these people should have their I.P addresses traced and they should be blocked from using yahoo..

Adios · Answer

Afraid I can't point you more in the right direction.  But, I wanted to offer my support -- it must be extremely frustrating  to see this happening right before your very eyes!!  I have been a member for  about 2 years or  so ... but I have had 2 violations that were unfair, I think. I won't bother to explain them, but I was frustrated (on a much lower level).  Hope this situation is soon addressed by "management" and corrected. Good luck.

Dad · Answer

Good evening, crazyjester9.

I understand your concern perfectly well, and note I have encountered the same issue in the past.  Don't give up. There is a solution to this issue.  

The point gamer does not necessarily need to use multiple accounts to vote for his/her answers as best.  The point gamer probably has setup a group, a group that votes for each other from different IP address, which makes it harder for the Staff to take action against this activity.   However, there is a solution to this issue, which I will introduce to you in a moment. 

Conversely, it is not a violation of the CG to search for un-answered questions to answer them to possible your chances of being chosen as best answer.  

Now, if you suspect a User keeps getting the same amount of votes every single time, copy the URL(s) of the questions and send them to:

y_answrs_team@yahoo.com

Notice the "E" in answers is missing. This is done deliberately.  Then explain to the Staff what you have explained to us here, and rest assured the matter will be taken care of. 

Take care.

dakins · Answer

while the question gets deleted with the aid of a bot and the solutions team gets an e mail that asserts "Your question has been pronounced with the aid of the solutions community" they're going to see what every person else bargains with... in the event that they additionally be conscious the e mail and that the question have been given deleted in any respect..

Trending News

Blatant violations of TOS go unchecked?

5 Answers