I Did Nothing Wrong...

For the past month I have been hanging around Yahoo Answers. I was having fun, answering questions and leveling up. I mainly hang around the Books and Authors sections helping other writers with their stories to the best of my ability. By the time I reached level two I was already a top contributor to Books and Authors. I thought that was awesome. People liked my answers or whatever. Sometime time last week - Tuesday, I think - I got a violation notice, apparently I wasn't following their guidelines like I thought I was. If you know me, I try to follow the guidelines to any site I sign up for. I don't like being banned or suspended.

Anyway, I was confused and thought maybe someone had reported me for whatever reason. Maybe they thought one of my answers wasn't helpful. Not even thirty minutes later, I got a suspension notice. I thought: Okay, well, I'm suspended. I'll just wait it out and go back to answering questions when the suspension has been lifted, and forget about the whole thing.

That's not how it works on Yahoo Answers apparently. When you get suspended from Yahoo Answers, it's permanent. I thought it was temporary, but nope. When has suspended ever meant permanent? Last I checked suspended meant officially prohibited someone from holding their usual post or carrying out their usual role for a particular length of time. It does not mean permanent. I got mad. I'm still upset. I really didn't know why I was being suspended. I didn't do anything wrong. I didn't even get a warning. Other sites give you a warning if you do something like violate their guidelines. Yahoo Answers does not. If you violate the guidelines, you get permanently suspended. Not temporary, permanently. I can't use my account again. I have to create a new one, which seems bothersome.

Just recently I actually read the violation notice. My violation reason: I was posing as a minor. I was not posing as a minor. They assumed this because I had answered someone's question where they asked if they were a good writer. I simply copied and pasted the first paragraph of their story for my answer and told them it did not capture my attention like the second paragraph did. The story happened to be in first person. In that first paragraph, the writer had started out by giving the character's name and a few short sentences later they gave the character's age. The character's age was twelve. So, I'm thinking whoever saw my answer assumed I was posing as a minor. It's a misunderstanding, and I don't think I should have to appeal. You have to appeal your case within the first week or your account is gone forever. They should have given me a warning, not basically banning me from the site. I'm not even going to create a new account. I did nothing wrong. I am done with Yahoo Answer. Don't go there. It's not worth it. It was fun while it lasted.

Sorry, I just had to get this off my chest. It's been on my mind all week. I'm not sure if I'm even allowed to rant about another site on here. Will I get in trouble for this? I hope not. I'm going to go spend sometime with Tobi and listen to Declan Galbraith. Thanks for reading.