Does this reflect the current state of higher education in the bay area of california...?

It may not reflect the current state of higher education in the bay area of California but it does reflect the Yahoo guidelines that if a question is asked there must be answer posted that answers it and if it doesn't it is considered a non answer and can be reported.

If you only answered with asking for clarification that is a non answer violation.

If you could not answer the question as asked then you should have ignored it.

By your statement saying "When, an answer (yes, an answer) was posted asking an asker to clarify or repost a question that did not ask what it was maybe trying to ask" that was a violation if that was all you posted.

No, it reflects exactly how the site is meant to work. You accept FULL responsibility for anything posted from your account, whether or not YOU posted it. On this site, the rules state that any answer must actually attempt to answer the question being asked. You cannot ask the person who posted the question to clarify or repost their question. That is, in fact, a violation. If a question makes no sense, either report it - or ignore it.

If you yourself did not post that answer, it is still your responsibility that it was posted from your account. So you are the one who is subject to point loss when something posted from your account is deemed to be a violation.

Any appeal on such a non-answer will fail, and yes, result in an additional loss of points, sorry. Again, that is how the site is set up to work, that is what you agreed to when you joined. Points aren't in short supply, of course - but the point loss is there to get people to (a) learn the rules, (b) follow the rules and (c) not bother wasting staff time by appealing things that actually DO break the rules.

I know this will sound really picky, but there’s a rule here that all answers must make a good-faith effort to actually address the question being asked. It’s OK to request clarification provided that you ALSO include an answer to the question. For example, the other day someone wanted to know his final grade in a class, but did not include sufficient information to calculate it.

In order to make my answer “report-proof,” I replied that he got 80 percent and went on to explain that without knowing how much the final counted towards the overall course grade, all anyone could do is guess. A few minutes later, he added some additional details to the question, which allowed me to edit my answer and provide the correct calculation.

If all I had done was write “Sorry. No one can answer this question unless you….,” then my answer could have been reported.

Hey fvk wit, come back to your answers and receive your punishment.