Yahoo! censoring open source to buddy up to Microsoft? Not likely

Slated is suggesting that Yahoo! is censoring out open source on its Answers service. Apparently some suggestions that people try Ubuntu, among other things, have been marked as a "violation of...Community Guidelines or Terms of Service."

This has, as you'd expect, kicked up a small furor of conspiracy theory (Yahoo! is playing nice to Microsoft in anticipation of a merger) and silliness.

Could it be instead that someone made a mistake?

[PACSferret]

An interesting distinction which has only become relevant with the recent (well, last couple of years anyway) growth in commercial open source - on one hand, Ubuntu is a free as it gets - on the another - its a commercial service. I've had my own fingers warmed promoting the 'free' aspect of a project which also has a commercial face, on a board which has a no-commercial policy. I thought it was a little harsh at the time but I can see the argument.

[seo2seo]

I'm not convinced. Open Sourcers tend to be excitable, like most Zealots, and they seem to glow red whenever Microsoft is mentioned. Could it conceivably be that some comments needed to be censored on 'good taste' grounds?

I never complain when my views on Micro$haft get censored!

[nothing_in_one]

Interesting, but I find that strange knowing that Yahoo Answers uses open source Symfony as is question and answer engine.

[[H]omer]

If, as Matt suggests, this censorship was just a "mistake", then it's one Yahoo! has made repeatedly.

As to the assertion that, because Yahoo! uses Open Source software, that somehow makes them immune to acting against the better interests of GNU/Linux ... well how about Novell, Xandros, TurboLinux and Linspire?

Is Yahoo!'s anti-Linux behaviour a matter of corporate policy, or merely the act of a few Microsoft fanboys working as moderators on their Answers service?

I don't know; only Yahoo! can answer that question.

It doesn't alter the results for those who are censored though, does it?

[beelinebill]

Yahoo recently bought Zimbra, the open source collaboration suite! Maybe the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing! Otherwise, some people may be just misinformed at Yahoo.