Hello everyone,

I hope I have posted this in the right topic.

I have searched and searched for an email or snail mail address, or even telephone number in order to get a HUMAN response from Yahoo.

Is there actually such a thing?

I want to contact them in regard to my email address and Yahoo Answers but so far I have only found a 'Did this answer your question?' response in their immense Q&A service and when saying no! I was shunted off to an on-line form which when completed and sent resulted in nothing more than an infuriating automated reply which of course did not answer my question.

If anyone knows of an actual email address, etc where I can send, AND receive a human response from Yahoo, I would be eternally grateful.

If there is none, it will only confirm my suspicion that Yahoo is nothing more than some sort of automated or robot run organisation.

Thanks very much in advance.

Poseidon

morgaine300

I can't give you an answer because I've never found a way. I can only commiserate. Their help system s***s, and most of the canned auto answers are worthless. I've never seen anything anywhere of a way to call them or anything. I can even remember a time when you couldn't send in a generic question, but rather only one related to a specific answer in their help files. (That has since been changed -- I guess I'm not the only one who hated it.)

One thing I have found that sometimes works, is to reply (or write again) and complain about the auto canned answer and try to get their attention. Getting their attention usually consists of not being particularly nice about it. Sometimes if you do that several times, someone finally sends a more personal response. (Of course that's still by email.)

But as an added note, it's a free site that provides a lot of stuff. You really can't expect a lot of personal support, as annoying as it might be.

Curlyben

How's this: Yahoo! UK & Ireland - Information Centre
Also: http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/codeofpractise.html

poseidon

Hello Morgaine,

I think all users of all parts of Yahoo have the same problem as we.

I have also sent complaints in as you suggest, again no response.

I did found one 'Email' link when I looked at the Yahoo Group security section dealing with the safety of minors and wrote to Yahoo via that, but very soon after sending it I received a Mailer Daemon saying the email could not be delivered as the address was inactive.

In my view that is disgusting because this section was telling us how much they value the security of everyone using Yahoo, especially minors, but still there is no email contact address or for that matter no way of contacting Yahoo at all.

With no real human interface or moderation at Yahoo Answers, there is already serious abuse of the site, trawling and harassment of some subscribers. There is always the distinct probability that minors could, if not already, be targeted by the more unsavoury element.

Other Q&A sites have tried running without human moderators and very little, if any human administration keeping an eye of their sites and none of them have ever worked. They have all ended up being abused and most if not all have ended up coming off-line.

An excellent example of a Q&A being run is AMHD. I can't remember ever seeing a post which could be construed as abusive or inappropriate. This show that moderation works.

Another thing I love about AMHD is that there does not to appear to be a points system or 'league table', only an 'agree' or 'disagree' option. This stops those elements for using the site simply to accrue points in an attempt to get to the
top of the league.

Poseidon

poseidon

Hello Curlyben,

Thanks for your reply.

The links you gave me appear to be excellent. I have not tried to contact Yahoo yet via any of them but if successful I will be the first to let you know.

Unfortunately I do not appear to have enough reputation to rate your reply at present so please accept this reply as my an 'Agrees'.

Poseidon

Curlyben

So are we, but I suppose we value our members input more.


Thanks we work hard to make everyones' visits as pleasurable as possible.

There is a reputation system of sorts, but just the standard vB one as indicated by the greenies
Other than that we don't go in for leagues and things like that. After all it's not a competition, we are here to offer the best possible answers to members questions.

poseidon

Hello again Curlyben,

I cannot agree more with the system adopted at AMDH. The 'Agree' or 'Disagree' option is just fine, together with the ability to post a short comment. Unfortunately, not everyone asking a question will even bother to rate or comment on others answers. This is very sad because quite often a lot of time and effort goes into answering questions and the rating by the Asker give the person(s) answering an idea of how that answer was received.

We all know that a Q&A site is provided for the help of those who need answers to questions or personal dilemmas, not to see how many points subscribers can accrue.

For my part, the knowledge of being able to help someone who needs it, whether a question answered or advice on a personal problem given, is reward enough for me. and I don't need to see my name 'up in lights' as having the highest star or points rating.

Poseidon

morgaine300

True, but this is not the norm. Even some of the places I pay for have really lousy support.

I'm a list owner of a yahoo group. Problems abound and it's difficult getting help on much of anything. I generally have to go into "annoy the heck out of them" mode to get anywhere. I only put up with it cause of the people who join the group.

poseidon

Hello again Morgaine,

My question is beginning to turn into a discussion (LoL).

You are right of course, there are still a few Q&A sites and for that matter others which are either very slow to react to an email or the help you get from them is very limited to say the least.

I too am a Yahoo Group owner and of course the same applies regarding support for them also.

Thankfully when in control of a group we as the owner can administer it and delete/suspend/contact the members should the need arise.

With regard to Q&A sites. My personal feeling is that anyone deciding to open a website dedicated to the help of others in the form of a Q&A site, has a duty to protect both those who ask questions and those who answer them.

When a site is being abused because of lack of support or moderation, it does very little good to subscribers, because many of the genuine subscribers who simply want to help decide to leave and eventually that site is likely to be taken over by the more unsavoury elements.

Whether that service is provided free or not, subscribers have a right to be able to use that site without the fear of being abused by other mindless subscribers and those providing that service must accept the responsibility of ensuring that their subscribers are protected as far as possible.

Although I am a great believer in free speech, I also maintain that we have to be accountable for what we display on sites which can be read by people worldwide, and simply harassing or abusing others is just not acceptable.

Yahoo, like AMHD and other Q&A sites have their fair share of young people and minors using them and as such those people deserve and should have protection from the provider of the site.

We did not ask Yahoo Answers, or any Q&A site to open its doors, and although I for one am glad that these sites are here, the decision was made by the owners and because of this it must be their responsibility to administer it properly and nip abuse of those sites in the bud. Whether it be a free service or not.

All sites have rules and conditions which they display and those subscribing to the site have to agree to abide by those. Yahoo Answers is no different. However, if these rules are breached by a subscriber the onus is on the site owners to ensure that action is taken.

I believe the majority of sites who use moderators recruited from their tried and trusted subscribers (this is how I became a moderator on the Q&A sites I have and do subscribe to), those moderators keep a watchful eye on the site and will investigate abuse reports fairly and properly.

This makes for a much friendlier and happier atmosphere and although a few problems inevitably still arise, they can be dealt with quickly.

The last thing I am saying is that the moderators should act as 'Big Brother' and try to rule a site, a happy medium needs to be struck between the site owners, subscribers and moderators to allow the site to run smoothly. Any moderator found to be too heavy handed or acts unfairly should be removed from that position.

In the years I have been a moderator I have only found it necessary to suspend a handful of subscribers. I normally find that a personal quiet and diplomatic word with a problem subscriber normally does the trick. In fact everytime I had to make a decision to suspend someone I felt that I was failing in some way.

These are of course only my personal feelings and thoughts, gleaned from many years of Q&A site membership and moderating on some of these site, together with administering groups.

Take care.

Cy
(Poseidon)