Before I became a moderator (also known colloquially as “the all-seeing eye”) I had reported posts as spam etc, but I had only a vague idea of what actually happens at the other end once a post is reported. So I thought it might be informative if there was a thread describing the procedure for others. Many of you would have reported posts before so you can skip over the first part explaining how to do it.
Reporting a post: step one
Every post on the forum can be reported, whether it is a post on a thread, a photo, or even a private message (pm). The procedure is the same for both posts and photos (but not for private messages). At the top of the post is the member's information bar with the user's avatar and name (e.g. for me it is a photo of an otter – not a beaver! – and then it says Chlidonias). Under that bar is a highlighted blue “Report Post” – click that and you're away!
For private messages (pms) it is not so obvious: when the message is open, have a look at the top right of the message and there is a little exclamation mark inside a red triangle. This is the Report Private Message button.
Reporting a post: step two
Once you've clicked “Report Post” a new screen will come up with a message box to type your message into. You can be as blunt or as detailed as you like – there's lots of room! You can just write “spam” or “inappropriate”, or you can write a long paragraph about why the post is offensive or problematic. Then hit the “Send Report” button underneath. Done.
What happens next?
This is the bit where you might not know how it works. The administration team (i.e. Sim, jobalba, and the moderators) have a special “Administration” section of the forum which only we can access. There is a part of this section which is dedicated to reported posts. Crucially, every single post which gets reported becomes a new thread in that forum (if the same item is reported more than once, every following report is added to the thread for that item). Additionally, every moderator gets an automatic email telling us there is a reported post. We aren't all online all the time of course, but the reported posts can usually be dealt with very soon.
When a thread is thus created in the “reported posts” forum, the content will be roughly as follows. Firstly the name of the member who reported the post, then what they typed into the “report post” text box (e.g. “spam”), then a link to the actual post, and then the content of the post itself: hence the moderators can see at a glance what the complaint is, plus the text of the original post which is being reported. The moderators and admin can also use the thread to discuss the reported post if it is not something straightforward. Spam, for example, is straightforward – Delete! (or Exterminate!, depending on whether we are feeling like Cybermen or Daleks on the day). We can also ban spammers and mass-delete all their posts rather than just deleting their posts individually, so rather than reporting every post by the same spammer you can report one post and write something like “multiple spam posts by this user”.
Reporting a post: step one
Every post on the forum can be reported, whether it is a post on a thread, a photo, or even a private message (pm). The procedure is the same for both posts and photos (but not for private messages). At the top of the post is the member's information bar with the user's avatar and name (e.g. for me it is a photo of an otter – not a beaver! – and then it says Chlidonias). Under that bar is a highlighted blue “Report Post” – click that and you're away!
For private messages (pms) it is not so obvious: when the message is open, have a look at the top right of the message and there is a little exclamation mark inside a red triangle. This is the Report Private Message button.
Reporting a post: step two
Once you've clicked “Report Post” a new screen will come up with a message box to type your message into. You can be as blunt or as detailed as you like – there's lots of room! You can just write “spam” or “inappropriate”, or you can write a long paragraph about why the post is offensive or problematic. Then hit the “Send Report” button underneath. Done.
What happens next?
This is the bit where you might not know how it works. The administration team (i.e. Sim, jobalba, and the moderators) have a special “Administration” section of the forum which only we can access. There is a part of this section which is dedicated to reported posts. Crucially, every single post which gets reported becomes a new thread in that forum (if the same item is reported more than once, every following report is added to the thread for that item). Additionally, every moderator gets an automatic email telling us there is a reported post. We aren't all online all the time of course, but the reported posts can usually be dealt with very soon.
When a thread is thus created in the “reported posts” forum, the content will be roughly as follows. Firstly the name of the member who reported the post, then what they typed into the “report post” text box (e.g. “spam”), then a link to the actual post, and then the content of the post itself: hence the moderators can see at a glance what the complaint is, plus the text of the original post which is being reported. The moderators and admin can also use the thread to discuss the reported post if it is not something straightforward. Spam, for example, is straightforward – Delete! (or Exterminate!, depending on whether we are feeling like Cybermen or Daleks on the day). We can also ban spammers and mass-delete all their posts rather than just deleting their posts individually, so rather than reporting every post by the same spammer you can report one post and write something like “multiple spam posts by this user”.
