Power to the People: Help clean up Answers!
Yahoo! Answers actually launched a system called Community Moderation a year or so ago. This allows trusted Answers users to work together to report and remove content that goes against the Community Guidelines and the Yahoo! Terms of Service. If you’re new to this, do read on. 
What is Community Moderation?
All along on Answers, if a question or answer went against the Community Guidelines or Yahoo! Terms of Service, an Answers user could report it. This is then reviewed by Customer Care and a decision is made whether to keep it or delete it. This is still in place, and Community Moderation works in parallel to the old system. Once a report has been submitted, Community Moderation automatically measures the contributions and reporting history of both the reporter and the person being reported. It then determines whether it can remove the reported question or answer directly from the site based on community input or whether further review is needed.
(Photo thanks to the waving cat)
Don’t risk it. Report it!
So how do I build a good reputation?
Well, first of all, do make sure you are very familiar with the Community Guidelines! 
If you’re interested in reporting bad content on Answers, it’s very important that you’re accurate. When you feel you have a good idea about what’s acceptable on Answers as you begin to report content, you will build a good reputation and gain influence. BUT! If you misuse the system, your reputation will be lowered. A low reputation means that the power to report and remove potential abuse is diminished, and may even risk suspension.
How accurate is Community Moderation?
According to the analysis in US, 94% of reports removed by Community Moderation were correct. Of course it does make mistakes sometimes, so do appeal if you feel that yours was removed by mistake. But your efforts in reporting are really making a big and accurate difference to the site.
What should I do if my content is mistakenly removed by the community?
Mistakes happen. If your question or answer is reported, we’re send you an email stating that it has been removed. If you feel that the system’s decision was wrong, check first with the Community Guidelines. And if you think there’s a strong case against the decision, click on the “Appeal” link in the email to submit an appeal. This will then be reviewed by a Yahoo! employee, and if agreed that it was mistakenly reported, your question or answer will reappear on Answers, and the user(s) who reported you will have less influence when they report potential abuse in the future. Do appeal if you’re very sure that your content has been removed in error. That’s because if your appeal is successful, not only will your content be reinstated but your reputation will be boosted and those that reported you will lose their reputation.
So now that you know how it works, do exercise your power as a member of the community and help to clean up our site! 
(Photo thanks to beggs)
Cleaning up together!
p/s if you have any further queries about community moderation, feel free to contact me!
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Well, this is good news however, it still doesn’t solve the problem of abusive reporting by some users. Although those reported are given a chance to appeal Yahoo’s decision, most of us find it tiresome to do so and just leave the report as is. Anyway, thanks for this information. I just wish contributors will exercise prudence in reporting and not do solely for other personal vendetta or agenda.
thats must….communitiy sapoort
Community Moderation is a good way to keep ‘Yahoo Answer’ clean. Few user may try to abuse their power but still the full ‘Yahoo Answer Community’ is there to protect such kind of abuse. Let’s keep Yahoo Answer Clean and Helpful for People.
i whan ask, whit who i chat now?………..
Well, strictly speaking a forum should have minimal guidelines. What we want is for people to speak UP. Not restrict them on what they can say or cannot say. It is after a FREE forum unless you intend to run it in a bias fashion where only people who agrees with your opinion gets to leave their posts behind. In which case, it would be better that this forum be removed because if you remove factual posts (which you may not agree or conveniently classify as violating guidelines), what you are left with is basically nonsensical gibberish.
Whoever is in this team, please bear in mind that sometimes truth can hurt like hell, but if it is truth we MUST let it remain even if it hurts readers because by stopping it, we are indirectly encouraging LIES.
Again, that would defeat the entire purpose of running a forum. Might as well run a club for exclusive members to mingle and talk only about things their hearts can accept and let everyone continue in their delusions.
Lovely in theory but if you answer or ask something controversial people with opposite views will report you.
Hi all, thanks for your comments and feedback!
@ YA User1 – hiya, erm, first of all, Y!A is not a forum
And secondly, if you read the community guidelines carefully, you will see that what we at Y!A frown upon are not the “truths” as you say (if you feel that they are facts, then please include your source). What gets removed are illegal materials, offensive insults to people & religion, harmful spam etc.
If you guys have any other feedback or comments about this, feel free to leave a note on the suggestions forum: http://suggestions.yahoo.com/?prop=answers (this is reviewed constantly by the Answers team). Thanks a lot!