<P> The number of poorly formed questions and inaccurate answers has made the site a target of ridicule . </P> <P> Yahoo! Answers allows any questions that do not violate Yahoo! Answers community guidelines . To encourage good answers, helpful participants are occasionally featured on the Yahoo! Answers Blog . Though the service itself is free, the contents of the answers are owned by the respective users--while Yahoo! maintains a non-exclusive royalty - free worldwide right to publish the information . Chat is explicitly forbidden in the Community Guidelines, although categories like Politics and Religion & Spirituality are mostly opinion . Users may also choose to reveal their Yahoo! Messenger ID on their Answers profile page . </P> <P> Misuse of Yahoo! Answers is handled by a user moderation system, where users report posts that are in breach of guidelines or the Terms of Service . Posts are removed if they receive sufficient weight of trusted reports (reports from users with a reliable reporting history). Deletion may be appealed: an unsuccessful appeal receives a 10 - point penalty; a successful one reinstates the post and reduces the' trust rating' (reporting power) of the reporter . If a user receives a large number of violations in a relatively short amount of time or a very serious violation, it can cause the abuser's account to be suspended . In extreme, but rare cases (for a Terms of Service violation), the abuser's entire Yahoo! ID will be suddenly deactivated without warning . </P> <P> To open an account, a user needs a Yahoo! ID but can use any name as identification on Yahoo! Answers . A user can be represented by a picture from various internet avatar sites or a user - made graphic uploaded to replace their default Yahoo graphic . Yahoo! Avatars was discontinued in 2012 . When answering a question, a user can search Yahoo! or Wikipedia, or any source of information that the user wishes, as long as they mention their source . </P>

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