Yahoo! Message Boards Safety Guide

What is Yahoo! Message Boards?

Yahoo! Message Boards is an online community where you can find and participate in discussions on thousands of topics. The message boards are also integrated into many other Yahoo! services, such as Yahoo! Music and Yahoo! Movies.

Yahoo!’s younger members might use Yahoo! Message Boards to discuss schoolwork, PlayStation tricks, or the Chicago Bulls’ playoff prospects.

To learn more, please read through Yahoo! Message Boards Help.

What are some risks to my child on Yahoo! Message Boards?

Yahoo! Message Boards users are expected to behave in ways that foster community and must abide by the Yahoo! Terms of Service.

Just as there may be risks in the community where you live, the Yahoo! Message Boards community may pose certain risks to children. Yahoo! Message Boards provides a number of safety features, but as a parent or caregiver, you are expected to take an active role in protecting your child online.

We suggest that you start by reviewing some general practices for online safety. In addition, please keep the following in mind when your child is using Yahoo! Message Boards:

• Protecting personal information. Yahoo! Message Boards is a public forum. Any personal information posted online could be used by strangers to identify and contact your child, potentially exposing him or her to unpleasant, sexually suggestive, or abusive language.
• Mature content. Yahoo! Message Boards forbids obscene or objectionable content. However, since it is a public forum, your child might come across inappropriate messages while browsing. If this happens, please report the abuse to Yahoo!.

What can be done to limit these risks? Review Yahoo! Message Board’s safety features, learn how to report abuse, and read what parents and caregivers can do to help kids be safe on Yahoo! Message Boards.

What safety features should I know about to help protect my child on Yahoo! Message Boards?

Yahoo! Message Boards provide a number of safety features. Your child should know how to do the following:

• Use an alias. An alias can be used in place of your child’s real Yahoo! ID when he or she posts a message. An alias without any personally identifiable information is best. For example, instead of "tedjones1992dallas," try something more generic like "bluesky50." Learn more about choosing an online ID.
• Delete messages. If your child posts a message containing too much personal information, discuss it with him or her and use the Deletion Request Form to request that the message is removed. If another user posts an inappropriate or offensive message, your child can ignore or report that person (see below).
• Ignore. To suppress all messages from a specific Message Boards user, click the Ignore User link to the right of any of that person's messages. You can also manage your child's list of ignored users on the Ignore Settings page.
• Hide online status. This setting can be used to prevent other users from knowing when your child is online.
• Use an avatar. An avatar is a custom cartoon character that can be used to represent your child on Yahoo! Answers and other Yahoo! services. Using Yahoo! Avatars, your child can create a personalized avatar to use in place of a real, identifiable photo.
• Report abuse to Yahoo!. To report offensive content or inappropriate contact with other users, click the Report Abuse link to the right of every message in Yahoo! Message Boards.

Yahoo! Message Boards is also integrated into many other Yahoo! products, such as Yahoo! Music and Yahoo! Movies. The safety features described above can be used from these pages as well.

How can I report problems that my child encounters on Yahoo! Message Boards?

Yahoo! Message Boards provides a Report Abuse link to the right of every message. Please click this link and complete the form if your child is exposed to obscene language, mature content, threats of physical violence, harassment, or anything else that violates the Yahoo! Terms of Service. Make sure to provide specific information about the location of the offending content and the identity of the user in question.

Yahoo!’s customer care team receives abuse reports and takes appropriate action as necessary, which may include deactivating an abuser’s account. Reports that indicate activity involving child pornography or solicitation of a minor are dealt with promptly by Yahoo!’s legal team and, when appropriate, reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).

What can I do to help my child use Yahoo! Message Boards in a safe manner?

Yahoo! is committed to providing a safe online experience for all users and, accordingly, complies with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Yahoo! Message Boards provides a number of safety features to limit potential risks to users. However, protecting children online is a responsibility shared with parents, teachers, and other caregivers.

We suggest that you start by reviewing some general practices for online safety. These include safeguarding identity online, keeping passwords secret, being cautious about contact with strangers, and creating a pledge for online safety.

You can also use Advanced Search on Yahoo! Message Boards to see the messages your child has posted and replied to. To access this feature, click Advanced Search to the right of the search box and enter your child’s Yahoo! ID into the This User field.

If your child is exposed to obscene language, mature content, threats of physical violence, harassment, or anything else that violates the Yahoo! Terms of Service, please report the abuse.

And remember, Yahoo! Kids offers all kinds of age-appropriate content and activities for children under 13.