Yahoo! Is a Bunch of Liberals

I noticed a few years back that Yahoo! seemed to exhibit some left-leaning tendencies. For example, I mentioned in one blog how Yahoo! Movies seemed to conspicuously not print reviews to pro-Christian or conservative movies. Since then, I've seen a few other examples but I haven't made a big deal about it. Just recently, though. I've been a personal victim of their political correctness.

I occasionally post answers on Yahoo! Answers. Sometimes it gives me inspiration for an idea to write on my blog. Often, the questions are things I've already answered on my blog so I'll copy and paste what I've already written. That's exactly what I did a few weeks ago when someone asked the question, “What are the reasons that gay-marriage should be illegal?”

I have written on this subject a couple of times but when I replied to this question, I copied and pasted a post I'd written called, “Is there a 'Right' to be Gay?” I won't rehash my points here but I invite you to read it for yourself. Certainly, I'm opinionated but I ask you, was I mean? Did I use any gay slurs? Didn't the question directly ask for reasons that gay marriage should be illegal? Of course I addressed that but my answer was really more about the origin of rights than about gays. I just leveraged gay rights as an example.

Well, Yahoo! Answers seems to think the answer was in violation of their “community guidelines”. It seems someone “reported” my post and Yahoo! agreed so they promptly removed it – right after it had been voted as “Best Answer”! They weren't specific about how my answer was in violation of the policy. They merely said,“This answer has been removed. You may not have realized this, but all answers submitted on Yahoo! Answers must comply with the Answers Community Guidelines.”

Some of the “forbidden practices” include:

1) Venting, ranting or using hate speech
2) Chatting or otherwise violating the question-and-answer format
3) Being mean or obscene
4) Exploiting the community
5) Cheating
6) Violating the law
7) Behaving maliciously
8) Misusing Answers
9) Doing harm

Hmmm. Some of those are pretty subjective but I honestly can't see how my reply violated any of them. Someone asked why gay marriage should be illegal and I answered. I didn't vent, rant, chat, or use obscenities. I answered the question. It just looks like someone didn't like that I actually believed gay marriage should be illegal and so he reported me. Perhaps simply being conservative qualifies as “hate speech”?

It offered me the option to appeal which I did. It warned me that a failed appeal will cost me 10 “points” but the points don't really mean anything. What I was a little more concerned about was the warning they have posted:

Violating the Community Guidelines may result in the termination of your Answers account without warning. In extreme cases, violations may result in the termination of your Yahoo! ID, and consequently, access to all other Yahoo! services.

That seems somewhat severe, don't you think? If people don't like my opinion they can black-list me? I hope they don't find my blog! I guess it's a good thing it's hosted by Google, huh? I have a few Yahoo! email addresses that I use for various things. It would be a pain if I were blocked from them. On the other hand, given the direction that Yahoo! seems to be heading, maybe I should have been rid of them a long time ago.