[Jonathan Brewer]

Forgive me if this has been addressed elsewhere, but I didn't see anything directly related to it.

I was curious as to whether individuals who report posts ever receive feedback when a decision is made not to moderate. Recently, I have reported a couple of posts that I felt were either off topic or personal attacks. In both cases I saw no action taken. To be fair, one of the reports was made less than an hour ago. Understand, I'm not posting this to suggest moderation be speedier, nor am I implying that a mod is wrong to not side with my particular viewpoint on a reported post. I'm no expert on adjudicating the rules and would be the last to advise on moderating so many controversial topics. I'm just wondering if there is a way to know when the report was viewed and a decision is made?

The mods certainly don't owe me an explanation for every report I make, but in both cases I intentionally refrained from replying to the specific posts because I imagined they would be deleted anyhow, thus rendering my own post obsolete and in need of deletion.

Just curious...

[stasis]

As far as I know this sort of feedback is rare, beyond the reported post itself being edited or deleted and whatnot. But there has been talk as of late amongst the mods about offering some, so that users feel that their reports have been received.

Do you think an automated 'report received' message would do the trick, or is it closure on the issue itself you're looking for?

[RedOrange823]

	Originally Posted by stasis
	Do you think an automated 'report received' message would do

This would work for me. But I would also like to see the latter if possible.

[Rudy]

I know the issue was discussed here a bit.

I'll often send people a comment or some such to thank them for the report; I'm fairly certain I gave one such rep comment to you after a report a number of weeks ago, for example. Further, if it's a new user, and they report something that isn't a violation, I'll usually send them a brief message as to why it's not.

If the report is acted upon, I usually do not follow up telling the person, however.

This is just my methodology, and is not reflective of all moderators, of course.

[HackerX]

	Originally Posted by stasis
	Do you think an automated 'report received' message would do the trick

This is certainly something that I think most moderators would be capable of. A:
"thanks for your report, we've looked into it, and though we can't tell you the outcome it has been actioned".

and even perhaps:
"Thanks for your report, we've looked into it but decided no action was necessary".

It would probably help on our side as well to better reflect a report as being complete. To reflect the way we handle bug reports in software development, there's often a closing comment that flags the report/bug as being finished. The ability for a mod to select a closing reason from a list when making a closing comment in the report section that automatically responded to the report OP seems feasible.

As for giving further detail, well, that's an awful lot of extra work. Most mods are willing to explain some things further, to a certain extent. But the amount of information some people want, and the amount of time a moderator can invest in given it are two different things.

[Jonathan Brewer]

	Originally Posted by stasis
	As far as I know this sort of feedback is rare, beyond the reported post itself being edited or deleted and whatnot. But there has been talk as of late amongst the mods about offering some, so that users feel that their reports have been received. Do you think an automated 'report received' message would do the trick, or is it closure on the issue itself you're looking for?

I'm not looking specifically to hear the reasoning as to why the decision was to act or not, but closure in terms of knowing the report has been reviewed and whether action was deemed necessary or not would be nice. An automated response that simply states the report was reviewed is not going to really address the user's concerns, in my opinion.

For me, I'd just like to get some feedback so that, if the post isn't interpreted as violating the rules, I could respond to its content directly. As it is, I try to avoid commenting on posts that I think are already on the edge.

Hack's post reflects the general idea. The bottom line is to make the user aware of the mods attention, even if they don't specifically agree with the outcome.

And, yes, Rudy, I do recall that rep comment. It was very much appreciated... though the issue was far from pressing.

[The Maelstrom]

Originally Posted by HackerX

It would probably help on our side as well to better reflect a report as being complete. To reflect the way we handle bug reports in software development, there's often a closing comment that flags the report/bug as being finished. The ability for a mod to select a closing reason from a list when making a closing comment in the report section that automatically responded to the report OP seems feasible.

It can be a big help, particularly with mixed forums or unclear issues. Another plus is you could track numbers and types of infractions (before giving infractions, if you wanted to show leniency or snip a repeat offender in the bud) and assign demerits accordingly.

[JulietCapulet]

I have received some pretty random abusive private messages from female members of this forum. I guess the only way to avoid these people is to put them on your ignore list.

[nacht]

	Originally Posted by JulietCapulet
	I have received some pretty random abusive private messages from female members of this forum. I guess the only way to avoid these people is to put them on your ignore list.

You can also report PMs that you believe are abusive for moderator review.

[Rudy]

	Originally Posted by nacht
	You can also report PMs that you believe are abusive for moderator review.

I want to clarify this a bit further, because I think there may be a lack of understanding for some.

We do not look at PMs that are not reported; period. In fact, we cannot look at them. In this sense, PMs are very different than threads and VMs and such, which may be moderated whether or not someone reports them. For threads and VMs, reporting is a great aid to us, but it is not a prerequisite to moderation.

For PMs, if you do not report them, we cannot, and thus will not, do anything about them. If a PM is reported, it allows us to see the text reported, and thus determine whether the PMer is using this venue to make personal attacks, violate terms of service, etc.

[HackerX]

	Originally Posted by The Maelstrom
	It can be a big help, particularly with mixed forums or unclear issues. Another plus is you could track numbers and types of infractions (before giving infractions, if you wanted to show leniency or snip a repeat offender in the bud) and assign demerits accordingly.

Infractions are separate to reports so there's no real benefit here.

The benefit I see is that some mods (see - myself) tend to just fix things without replying to the report, which means some other mod might come along and spend the time investigating when somebody else has already done the fixing. The point was more for our (moderators) benefit. The effort involved should be say, no greater than selecting an additional option when responding to a report and is really just supposed to be advisary, not locking the thread or preventing futher response but instead just show that somebody has attempted to resolve it.

What we don't want to get into though is a "system" where the reporter gets told there report wasn't handled the way they wanted and we then have to spend even more time explaining why that was the case. If I (or other mods) have to debate every "no action taken" response with the reporter, then it's not going to work. And there are some who will debate which way we mods tie our shoe laces up each morning.

[Jonathan Brewer]

Originally Posted by HackerX

What we don't want to get into though is a "system" where the reporter gets told there report wasn't handled the way they wanted and we then have to spend even more time explaining why that was the case. If I (or other mods) have to debate every "no action taken" response with the reporter, then it's not going to work. And there are some who will debate which way we mods tie our shoe laces up each morning.

I agree that any system that allows users to continually challenge moderator decisions regarding reports is only asking for trouble. On the other hand, a system that simply informs the user that their report was processed, and the post was either deleted, edited, or left intact would be sufficient. Of course, any form of feedback would be better than simply not knowing whether it was even reviewed. The admin will have to make the call as to whether system X will present more problems than solutions. I was just throwing an idea out there hoping for clarity.

For those who are curious, the aforementioned post was removed. So, the reports are certainly being read.

[NewPhoenix]

Yeah as far as I know content that "does not follow the rules" gets deleted immediately without prior notice. Same goes for the avatar. Like mine! Why did my avatar get removed? Maybe it broke one of the Ten Commandments, but which one? No one will ever know...

[Synamon]

	Originally Posted by NewPhoenix
	Why did my avatar get removed? Maybe it broke one of the Ten Commandments, but which one? No one will ever know...

You should know since you were sent a PM by one of the forum administrators explaining the reason your avatar was removed. For more information you can refer to the Avatar Guidelines which are stickied right at the top of the Avatar Design subforum.

[JTG]

I think the most common grounds for avatar removal is having text in the image

[Jonathan Brewer]

	Originally Posted by NewPhoenix
	Yeah as far as I know content that "does not follow the rules" gets deleted immediately without prior notice. Same goes for the avatar. Like mine! Why did my avatar get removed? Maybe it broke one of the Ten Commandments, but which one? No one will ever know...

I am looking for feedback about reports members make when they feel content breaks a forum rule. My request for information has nothing to do with new members who have failed to familiarize themselves with forum rules. Though what I'm asking for would benefit the individual who reported the offending avatar.

[The Maelstrom]

	Originally Posted by HackerX
	Infractions are separate to reports so there's no real benefit here.

I was speaking with regards to explanations on the deletions or edits. If someone is starting to show or already has a history of making certain types of posts that break the rules, then having a log of the number and kinds, (aka with explanations about the deletions/edits) could allow a moderater (specifically one who hasn't dealt with this user's posts often, or isn't in charge of other areas where they commit similar infractions: I assume reported posts in a forum only alert the mod/s in charge of it) to decide when enough is enough and warn them directly.

---------- Post added 10-21-2010 at 12:10 AM ----------

It would also facilitate other moderators' responses to "Why was my post/thread deleted" threads if they can just check the user's deletion/edit record and see 1.Spam 2. Spam 3. Spam etc... And then if further explanation is needed actually pull up the specific posts.