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Proper use of the Report Button


mycuccismells

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Throughout your time browsing these forums you may encounter posts or threads that disrupt the flow of the site and go against forum standards. There are only a few of us mods that work to clean these instances up so we are asking all of you for your help in addressing these issues. As some of you may have noticed there is a report button to the left of every post (below the poster's site trophies) that looks like this report.gif. This button allows all of you to instantly bring something to the staff's attention so that we can manage it. We would like to ensure that everyone knows and uses this function, so here is a little information that should clarify what it is and when to use it.

 

What it does: When the report button is clicked it redirects to a screen that prompts the user to enter in the reason for reporting the post. After the report is submitted it sends an email to everyone on the staff notifying them of the reported post and reason

http://i.imgur.com/l7HqfGK.png

 

When to use: Anything the staff needs to address in one way or another should be reported. This includes but is not limited to: flaming, insults, game sharing, account sharing, improper use of spoiler tags, posting in the wrong forum, not using a boosting thread, spam, etc. NOTE: The report button can be used on PMs and visitor messages as well as regular posts

 

Who it benefits: Everyone on the forum! Not only does it make our jobs as staff easier, but it ensures that all of our members will have a much more organized and civil place to browse. It will also deter users from posting unacceptable things because they know it will soon be removed, which again benefits us all.

 

By reporting an action it allows us as staff to instantly address an issue and act accordingly. We are able to get around to everything but this would help us to address things in a much more efficient manner. We appreciate all of your help and proper use of this feature should make the overall experience much more enjoyable for all.

Edited by ShadowAFC
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Reporting Comments on the Homepage

 

While browsing the news articles, you may have come across some questionable content. A user drawing attention to themselves with a 'fiiiirrrsssttt!' comment, a heated argument or as has been the case more recently, a spambot flooding every article trying to sell their junk.

 

The report button on articles functions slightly different to the one on the forum. Here's how it works:

 

To report a comment, click on the explanation mark button(which is located to the right of the thumbs down button) on the comment as pointed out(quite literally) in the image below:

 

http://i.imgur.com/jZp7GFL.png

 

This will take you to the report page:

 

http://i.imgur.com/qrOKZo7.png

 

Type in a short reason why you are reporting this comment and click the submit button. This will send a notification to our control panel, not an email like the forum report button does.

 

Unlike on the forum, if the comment has already been reported you will be presented with a message 'This comment has already been reported. Redirecting back to comment...' Note: It will be worded slightly different. I just wrote that off the top of the head :o

Edited by ShadowAFC
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One thing I'm still unsure about; If we find someone who has an oversized sig, should we just report a users post and say something like "his sig is too big" or what? I've seen every way possible done and all result in a message to the user but I'm not sure which is preffered. I remember I tried to report just a user once but I couldn't find a button on the page that just sends a report about a specific user and not a single post or thread or whatnot.

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Agreed, sadly there will always be people out there trying to score brownie points...

 

In some ways, yes it is. But in other ways it's a nice way to help out the staff whenever you see a spam bot, or someone has a sig that's too large, or something rather mundane and that everyone agrees needs to be changed.

 

That being said it's easy to abuse it as well..

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The report button is, and always will be, the "teacher, Jimmy called me stupid" button.

True, if used improperly and excessively......

Agreed, sadly there will always be people out there trying to score brownie points...

I think this pretty much answers that:

 

In some ways, yes it is. But in other ways it's a nice way to help out the staff whenever you see a spam bot, or someone has a sig that's too large, or something rather mundane and that everyone agrees needs to be changed.

 

That being said it's easy to abuse it as well..

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I have a question for the kind souls that make up the staff here at PS3T.org:

 

In my Fly The Co-Op thread, I get a lot of people using it as a boosting thread. Trying to partner up individually. This causes a nightmare for me because it's hard enough to keep up with all the posts and improper sign-ups without having to sift through the posts that don't even have anything to do with the purpose of the thread. At this point, I just tell them to move it to a boosting thread, but I'm not a mod or a member of staff, so I'm sure I seem "out of line" when I do this.

 

So my question is, "Can I report these posts and have a mod move/delete the post for me?"

 

The reason I ask is because it seems that this would fall under the category of "not using the boosting threads" but doesn't cause the immediate problem of thread clutter in the forum. However, it certainly does clutter that singular thread.

 

No one reads the first page before posting anyways so making an announcement would be useless. Also, with over 800 replies, there's no way that people are going to see each reply I give to the offending posts. So that means EVERY TIME someone starts boosting in there, I've got to try and redirect them so that they may actually find a partner and so that I can continue to make progress on the list (which is really hard right now with all the great games my friends and I have been playing).

 

Just curious.

Edited by RedEye420
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RedEye- I would say that would be ok to report as they are not following the rules of the thread. Your thread has helped a lot of people and therefore I think the rules should be followed( as in my LBP create thread). If the rest of the staff feels differently feel free to PM me the post #s and I will delete them when I come on

 

Moose- Yes, reporting an oversized sig is fine with me. We have cracked down on that lately but every now and again one slips by. If you see one that is blatantly oversized feel free to let the staff know

 

Aiden- That is not what it is at all. It is a way for you to keep your forum as clean as possible and help out us as staff. We are going to find it one way or another, this just makes our job easier and more efficient. I feel as if we have pretty loose rules around here, and if someone is breaking those it is probably best it is brought to our attention

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As far as I'm concerned, absolutely RedEye. If it's an ongoing problem, and I received the report before anyone else, I would treat it the same way I'd treat any boosting post in the wrong thread.

 

 

RedEye- I would say that would be ok to report as they are not following the rules of the thread. Your thread has helped a lot of people and therefore I think the rules should be followed( as in my LBP create thread). If the rest of the staff feels differently feel free to PM me the post #s and I will delete them when I come on

 

Moose- Yes, reporting an oversized sig is fine with me. We have cracked down on that lately but every now and again one slips by. If you see one that is blatantly oversized feel free to let the staff know

 

Agreed and spot on...

 

If you have anything for the staff's attention report it. Anything that is reported will be judged fairly with no bias to the user who made the report.

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I'm sorry, I don't think I worded that quite right... I know it's ok to report them, but exactly how should we. As far as I know there is no "report user" button that reports a user in general and not a certain post. Also, I've noticed that the 275 is more of guideline and it's ok to go a wee bit over. How much fudge room is there? It really isn't a huge issue but I'm curious.

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Either PM a mod or just report it. When you report the post it will have you type in the reason, and you can just say "post is fine, but user has oversized sig". Reporting a post doesnt go against someone's profile or lead to infractions over time or anything so no worries there. ANYTHING that needs to be brought to our attention feel free to report it.

 

As far as the size, we go on a case to case basis. Usually if your sig is large enough for us to notice it is well over the allocated size. We dont go around and match up the image to every sig, but it is more of just a guideline we use. That way when someone has a large sig and we ask them to fix it, we can give them a set size to make it acceptible. Any questionable ones feel free to PM me and Ill take a look at it

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When to use: Anything the staff needs to address in one way or another should be reported. This includes but is not limited to: flaming, insults, game sharing, account sharing, improper use of spoiler tags, posting in the wrong forum, not using a boosting thread, spam, etc. NOTE: The report button can be used on PMs and visitor messages as well as regular posts

 

Could you elaborate on this list of offenses? I've marked at least 5 different posts with very bad derogatory terms (which I would classify as 'insults') in the past month or so, but re-visiting them just now, I see that none of them have been deleted, edited, etc.

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Could you elaborate on this list of offenses? I've marked at least 5 different posts with very bad derogatory terms (which I would classify as 'insults') in the past month or so, but re-visiting them just now, I see that none of them have been deleted, edited, etc.

 

Well derogatory terms would be classified as a reportable offense. Maybe the staff either overlooked your report or has a different definition of derogatory, could you provide links to the posts so that I could take a look? Feel free to PM me some links and I will take a look when I get a chance.

 

The list of offenses includes everything that you think the staff needs to address. From the announcement "This includes but is not limited to: flaming, insults, game sharing, account sharing, improper use of spoiler tags, posting in the wrong forum, not using a boosting thread, spam, etc". As said in the announcement this isnt a complete list (as is evident by oversized sigs being brough up), but rather a guide to show you what types of actions you can report. I hope this clarifies a little

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Agreed, sadly there will always be people out there trying to score brownie points...

 

Not really, It's a way to clear up the site of all the crooks. Mods are like police, we are like community support officer. We have no enforcement and have to wait for the police to arrive. Saying that, the community support officers are very helpful and pressing their walkie talkie giving HQ the problem in the area they are, they wait patiently to see if any action will be taken and it generally does.

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Not really, It's a way to clear up the site of all the crooks. Mods are like police, we are like community support officer. We have no enforcement and have to wait for the police to arrive. Saying that, the community support officers are very helpful and pressing their walkie talkie giving HQ the problem in the area they are, they wait patiently to see if any action will be taken and it generally does.

 

I'm not against the idea, I just think they'll always be people using it as a medium to rat out people for minor infringements, just for their own benefit and to try and get into staffs good books..

 

I think its safe to say the mods do a great job on here and i've never seen such disruptive enough activity to warrant a full report feature. Touch wood and everything, but as long as people dont start taking it for granted and as a personal swaying tool, then i'm cool with it.

Edited by SimplySupreme
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Way to sum it up Dagger. We dont keep a tally of who is reporting posts so no one is earning brownie points

Damn :(

 

:rolleyes:

I'm not against the idea, I just think they'll always be people using it as a medium to rat out people for minor infringements, just for their own benefit and to try and get into staffs good books..

 

I think its safe to say the mods do a great job on here and i've never seen such disruptive enough activity to warrant a full report feature. Touch wood and everything, but as long as people dont start taking it for granted and as a personal swaying tool, then i'm cool with it.

But couldn't you say that for almost anything? That guy only posts guides because he just wants the recognition or that guy only answers people's questions because he wants MotM or even that guy only posts because he wants the site award(ok bad example :whistle:).

 

But the main point is, don't let a few bad apples obscure your view on everyone. It's not like everyone here is racing to be on top of the food chain. Most members here aren't like that. Just give people the benefit of the doubt every once in awhile.....

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Damn :(

 

:rolleyes:

 

But couldn't you say that for almost anything? That guy only posts guides because he just wants the recognition or that guy only answers people's questions because he wants MotM or even that guy only posts because he wants the site award(ok bad example :whistle:).

 

But the main point is, don't let a few bad apples obscure your view on everyone. It's not like everyone here is racing to be on top of the food chain. Most members here aren't like that. Just give people the benefit of the doubt every once in awhile.....

 

Its important to distinguish the difference here......writing guides and road maps is helpful to the site....reporting people for next to nothing and generally being sly is quite the contrast....I've got nothing against people doing excessive amounts of certain things......but as long as they benefit the community, your comparison is flawed in that regard.

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I'm not against the idea, I just think they'll always be people using it as a medium to rat out people for minor infringements, just for their own benefit and to try and get into staffs good books..

 

I think its safe to say the mods do a great job on here and i've never seen such disruptive enough activity to warrant a full report feature. Touch wood and everything, but as long as people dont start taking it for granted and as a personal swaying tool, then i'm cool with it.

 

Well this "idea" has always been available, it just hasnt been used much so here is our way of pointing it out to you all. Either way the staff will decide if something is worthy of an infraction, and I think we are fairly lenient about that. By reporting a post it doesnt make us more likely to take action against the user, it just allows all of the staff to see the same posts and make collective decisions easier and quicker.

 

I would just like to reinforce that this can in no way be used as a "personal swaying tool". Most of the time I dont even look at the user that sent the report unless I have to follow up with them on the subject. I got 4 reported posts today and I probably couldnt tell you one of the people that reported them, so in no way does this have any influence on the person that reports a post.

 

I do, however disagree that reporting posts doesnt help the community. It does 2 things actually:

 

1. Frees the staff up to do other things for the site with their time, rather than skimming through every thread for questionable content. There is a small amount of us in comparison to the amount of users, so it takes a lot of effort to make sure no one is stepping out of line

 

2. It keeps the boards as clean as possible. Clean boards void of hate and spam makes for happy members. Happy members make contributing members, and this is how the site grows. Not to mention that many people visiting the site for the first time would be turned off by certain comments that people feel are free to post here

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