Can you help me to better understand what constitutes "chatting" and what doesn't?

[Neurotic Nerd]

I've been trying to familiarize myself with the rules of the site, but unfortunately there seem to be a lot of areas where the guidelines are very vague and ambiguous.

As I understand it, all questions must follow a question and answer format. Questions should also be either knowledge or advice-seeking to not be considered a "chat" violation. However, while reading the guidelines I came across a page about polling where it said:

"Polling questions, such as “Who do you think will win the election?â€￾ or “What snacks do you buy for a football party?â€￾ are OK on Answers."

I can understand maybe asking what are some ideas for snacks at a party, because it's seeking advice, but under what rule or guideline is it okay to ask something like who do you think will win an election? That question isn't seeking advice or knowledge, it's asking people's personal opinions which I thought was a violation under "chatting," but obviously not since the rules state the question is okay.

How is asking that question fine, but asking something like "What do you think of my new haircut?" isn't. Can anyone help me better understand the distinction here, because I don't get it.
I've already read every page of the guidelines, and it does not answer my question. In fact, that's where my question comes from, as the example question I pasted from the guidelines does NOT seem to be advice-seeking or knowledge-worthy, yet it's somehow okay. Did you even read my question or just see the title and paste the text from the chatting section of the guidelines? Not helpful at all.

 

[echinopsis .]

These are a few examples of what YA calls chatting:

#1:How (are you, old are you, was your day, is everyone today)?
#2: What are you/What am I (doing, thinking of, wearing, etc.)?
#3: Guess my/Can you guess my/What's your (name, age, sex, weight, birthday, location, etc.)?
#4: Am I pretty?
#5: Do you like my (avatar, web site, poem, etc.)?

However, there are exceptions. If you were seeking advise and if the question is knowledge-worthy also, you may for example ask about how to improve a website, your avatar or your poem...

http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/answers/abuse/guidelines-14.html

 

[Someone]

Rule is a question must seek knowledge or advice beneficial to all.
Asking What do you think is neither Knowledge or advice.

Take the pop quiz

 

[brian 2010]

Here's what the Answers Team defines chatting:
•How (are you, old are you, was your day, is everyone today)?
•What are you/What am I (doing, thinking of, wearing, etc.)?
•Guess my/Can you guess my/What's your (name, age, sex, weight, birthday, location, etc.)?
•Who is from…/Who plays …here/Who wants to chat
•Do you like my (avatar, web site, poem, etc.)?*
•Who wants to celebrate my birthday, drivers license, first 100 points, level 7?
•Where is user (nickname) gone?
•Avatar games and games of any nature

We also consider questions that call out other users by name to be chatting. If the intent is to ask a follow-up question in response to someone else’s question and that person is not available via email or IM, post a new question that’s open to everyone in the community to answer – there might be someone else who’s better equipped to answer it.

* Please note that exceptions to this rule would have to satisfy two criteria: The question would have to be 1) advice-seeking and 2) knowledge-worthy. For example, it would be OK to ask, "How can I improve my poem?" or "How do I make my avatar look more attractive?"

 

[?4???4?4??]

Being fair I think @Echinopsis gave a clear outline of the "chatting" violation. But I agree that the guidelines can be ambiguous and are a minefield at times! It's ok to ask for "opinions" in Poll & Surveys, but then again not the type "how pretty do you think I am", "do I have a big nose". "Who do you think will win the election?" in Polls & Surveys is in fact seeking knowledge.

You have a good grasp of the guidelines from what you say here, so try not to let it all get to you, but I agree that at times copying and pasting doesn't answer a question, but it's the best we can do sometimes, when it comes to the dreaded guideline's questions on here.

 

[SUE]

I agree with you that the guidelines can be unclear, see my question posted in last few minutes. My understanding is that chatting involves members using the forum to chat between each other rather than ask general questions. Presumably they will only pick each others answers as best? I will be interested in answers to your question.