Are you allowed to use usernames on Yahoo! Answers?

It is not allowed to call out other users by name in a question; it's considered chatting.

(edit) Yes, you can report it any time a username is mentioned in a question, or a question is asked about a particular user (that is if they can be identified by the question, not just by naming, but also it could be by linking to q&a).

From Yahoo's help page "Posting a question or answer to call out another community member for any reason is not allowed.". So while mentioning by name in an answer might be okay under some circumstances, virtually any question about another user is a violation.

There seems to be a grey area when making critical comments about someone else's answer, which I do from time to time. The important thing is always to criticise the answer, and the name merely identifies the answer. Never criticise the user personally, and you should be fine.

Some people still consider this 'chatting' and will not tolerate any discussion or debate on a Q&A format. I disagree - most questions worth answering do not have simple out-of-the-box answers, and it is by looking down the conflicting responses that one can get closer to the truth. Due weight can be given to these using the thumbs, which usually mean "I agree" or "I disagree". The one clicking the thumbs may not be right of course. It is the equivalent of "hear hear!" or "rubbish!"

For example, Ray G above me gave quite a good answer (so I won't thumbs-down it), but I disagree with him that the dividing line is whether I can be entirely positive about his answer, for reasons I gave just now.

It is quite tricky formulating a question referring to a username. Again, any personal challenge is a violation, so the question would almost certainly have to contain a reference to something this person has written, and the question asking for verification or elaboration. Then you are questioning a piece of knowledge, rather than a user, which is fine.

It would, even then, read better by omitting the username in the question, since it is a distraction, and only refer to it under 'Additional Details' after the reference.

As far as reporting a question for violation, I would rather not do this if there are any thoughtful answers that add to the fount of wisdom. Some troll questions are resurrected with good answers, some of which put the Asker in its place as well as providing information. If I am really offended here, I would answer the question, providing a riposte to the insult (or it might even be more effective not to!). If there is no merit in either question or any answers it has attracted, then I would report.

If you posted a question like this: "Whizz! Why did you block me?" then no, that is definitely chatting and calling out other users. This site is not a chat room or social site like Facebook where we post messages on each other's walls.

But adding additional details to clarify your question (such as if someone asked you a question in their answer) or thanking another user is usually allowed. It is a violation to insult, call others derogatory names or curse at other users, be rude, threaten, etc. As long as you are polite Yahoo will usually look the other way.

You are allowed to and it is NOT a violation if the question is not otherwise a violation.

I personally tested this, was reported, lost the appeal, send the whole mess in to Y!AT and was reinstated.

Edit: You CAN use the name Mickey Mouse - you just cannot pretend to BE Mickey Mouse ..that's impersonation.

Addressing another user by name is NOT a violation according to Y!A team Staff.

This is what Staff has to say about this most misunderstood guideline.

by Yahoo! Answers employee Y!A SB |

"In itself, it is not against the CG to call another member by name.

Talking to or about a member in an insulting or hostile way will usually be considered "calling out".

Talking to or about a member regarding personal matters not relevant to the question would usually be considered "chatting". Questions about personal matters that are not knowledge seeking would also be regarded as chat, eg "Hi Michael what are you eating right now?".

A friendly greeting by name, on an answer that answers the question, is not chat. Even "Hi Michael, long time no see..... the answer is....." would not be chatting, if the question is a knowledge seeking one."

http://suggestions.yahoo.com/detail/?prop=answers&...

Another Staff answer about this....

by Yahoo! Answers employee Yahoo! Answers Melissa ......Yep, it's fine to say hello to the person you're addressing. Over the past few days there has been a lot of debate over "calling out" users. As we've said before in other posts, it's not ok to call out users if its for malicious purposes.

Jay gave a good example of an acceptable situation: "Hi John. Yes I find John Steinbeck to be a far superior writer than Barbara Cartland, so you made a good choice!"

Be sure to keep salutations at a minimum to prevent other users from seeing your friendly hello as chat. -Melissa

http://suggestions.yahoo.com/detail/?prop=answers&...

Another one ............ by Yahoo! Answers employee Katie

You can include things like "hello (nickname)" and even a farewell. Are major requirement is that people answer the question, but if they would like to be more conversational about it and include salutations it is permitted.

http://suggestions.yahoo.com/detail/?prop=answers&...

It is also NOT a violation to use the name or avatar photo of a Famous person as your

Y!A nickname as long as you do not answer as if you were that person.

As others have said in more detail, you are allowed - as long as it's not hostile, irrelevant chat, solicitation, or some other violation.

"Hi, X" / "I agree with X" / "As X says ..." / "Thanks, X" etc ... are fine as far as I can tell.

"X, you're wrong" / "X is talking garbage" / "X, e-mail me about that" ... are not.

In particular, you're not allowed to ask questions inviting discussion of named users ("Where has user X gone?"), and using Additional Details for a long list of personalised commentary to every answerer is another rapid way of getting a deletion for chat.

Usernames here do not need to be unique like your yahoo ID does. That's why you'll see so many "?"s or "."s as usernames.

You do need to use one, however.

You may not use the real name of someone else, and you may not use the name of a famous person as your username.

You can't call yourself "Mickey Mouse" for example, but you can call yourself "Mickey Mouse Fan" or some such thing. You may also not deliberately pretend to be another user here, which is called cloning.