Making Reports

[Deffpony]

Is there a thread somewhere that outlines the criteria for reports. If not I have a few questions.

 

I often times decide not to report something merely because I feel like im just bothering staff. When I do decide to make a report I can feel the eyes of the mods rolling as they read it. I hate to sound like a whiny kid, telling mom and dad everytime something bothers me.

 

My biggest question is in regard to reporting threads. In the past I have reported threads with topics that have threads already or just topics that seem completely ridiculous.

 

Also there are times when 3 or more members are arguing in a thread and derailing any form of discussion. More often than not obscenities are being thrown out and it does nothing but ruin the thread for others and promote a negative standard of discussion. I dont want to send 3 reports all for the same reason.

 

I spend most of my time in the V section and we all know how colorful that place can get. I genuinely care about the discussions that take place there, and merely want to help. But I dont want to do more harm than help.

 

Thanks in advance

[Icarus]

Also there are times when 3 or more members are arguing in a thread and derailing any form of discussion. More often than not obscenities are being thrown out and it does nothing but ruin the thread for others and promote a negative standard of discussion. I dont want to send 3 reports all for the same reason.

I know this is something Ryan has talked to me about before. Basically, you'll have an argument going on in a thread and someone will report every single post of the argument; it might be a few posts and it might be a dozen. Of course, this leads to a stack of reports, which makes it a bit more difficult trying to find the one that is actually important.

 

Then again, that's just what I've heard. Someone on staff can clear this up.

[FAH-Q]

I often times decide not to report something merely because I feel like im just bothering staff. When I do decide to make a report I can feel the eyes of the mods rolling as they read it.

I feel that way too, but on the other hand they are the ones that volunteer to do this stuff, so they really can't complain.

[Kirsty]

There isn't a criteria that I know of, but it's down to common sense really. Here's what I personally find most helpful, other staff might be different:

 

Short description, simple and to the point, of what exactly you are reporting works well. e.g. spam, trolling, flaming, porn etc.

 

If there are several people involved in an argument or similar, there's no point reporting every post; it's more beneficial to report one member and say X and X are fighting / derailing the topic, because we have to comment on every report made to show they have been dealt with. However, if it's happening across multiple topics, making us aware of each different one is also helpful so we can clean it up or post if necessary. If you're reporting because there's already a topic, a link to the existing one is always helpful.

 

If you see something that you feel should be dealt with, it's always better to report it than ignore, as there can be times where we aren't reading every single topic. I definitely don't feel bothered by them. Sure we get our fair share of silly/pointless/unnecessary ones, and it's at the discretion of the staff member who reads it first whether it's actually worth acting up on. At the end of the day though, you're alerting us to something, so we'd be spending more time clicking into the topic and taking a look at what's going on, rather than reading the description of the report.

 

That's just my perspective, I hope it helps

 

 

 

 

[GTASAddict]

I have a question that's related to this topic and I don't want to make a new topic, so I'll post here. I have 2 reminders & 1 verbal warning; could this ruin my credibility when making reports? Will staff disregard my reports because of this?

[Master of San Andreas]

 

I have a question that's related to this topic and I don't want to make a new topic, so I'll post here. I have 2 reminders & 1 verbal warning; could this ruin my credibility when making reports? Will staff disregard my reports because of this?

No. They won't, If your report is based on a personal issue you have with the member however the staff will ignore it.

 

Your member logs doesn't really have anything to do with reporting a spam post.

[Shoumaker]

@GTASAddict

 

Staff will not disregard your reports since you have entries in your log. The log is more like a rap sheet and the entries in it don't matter as long as you learn from your mistakes. You should also know that a lot of staff members have negative entries in their log as well so it isn't really a big deal.

[Ryan]

 

I have a question that's related to this topic and I don't want to make a new topic, so I'll post here. I have 2 reminders & 1 verbal warning; could this ruin my credibility when making reports? Will staff disregard my reports because of this?

Regardless of how many warnings you have, all reports are treated equally.

[GTASAddict]

I ask because in the GTA V section, there are countless duplicated topics and when I report a duplicate topic, it doesn't get locked even after several days.

 

Also, some users have dozens of reportable posts and when I report them all, those reports seem to be ignored too.

[Ryan]

The problem with reporting duplicate topics is that practically every topic is a duplicate topic. There's no sense is locking a topic and linking the topic start to a topic about the same thing from 8 months ago. If there's a topic about the same thing on the same page, maybe we'll lock it, but otherwise, there's really no sense is reporting duplicate topics expecting us to lock them and link to an existing topic that is weeks or months old.

[Andreas]

@GTASAddict: Not all duplicate topics are going to get locked. If you report a topic like this, then it's the best to put the link of an already existing topic of the same subject into the report, obviously the most recent one after the one you report. If the duplicate topic doesn't get locked then the staff has a reason for it. It could be for example because the last topic of that certain subject is several weeks or months old. As for the "ignored reports", that is because someone else has already reported that certain post and it makes only sense that an individual post can't be reported multiple times.

[Master of San Andreas]

The problem with reporting duplicate topics is that practically every topic is a duplicate topic. There's no sense is locking a topic and linking the topic start to a topic about the same thing from 8 months ago. If there's a topic about the same thing on the same page, maybe we'll lock it, but otherwise, there's really no sense is reporting duplicate topics expecting us to lock them and link to an existing topic that is weeks or months old.

Add to the fact that most Topic Starters are spam bots.

[Deffpony]

Yea I stopped reporting duplicates for the reasons Ryan presented.

[GTASAddict]

It is (of course) no surprise at all how my request locks (on my own topics) get serviced within 60 seconds.

 

Another question: Instead of duplicate topics being locked, wouldn't it be better just to conjoin them?

[Ryan]

 

Another question: Instead of duplicate topics being locked, wouldn't it be better just to conjoin them?

It's an option we have, but I generally prefer not to do so as it can cause confusion since the one topic disappears without a trace.

[Deffpony]

Thanks for clearing some of that up Kirsty and Ryan. I will try to be more constructive with my reports

[Vanzant]

Basically, you'll have an argument going on in a thread and someone will report every single post of the argument; it might be a few posts and it might be a dozen. Of course, this leads to a stack of reports, which makes it a bit more difficult trying to find the one that is actually important.

I did that one night to Knife when he was online back before I was led-by.

[GTASAddict]

If you report a moderator, will that particular moderator see the report?

[Mitsuha]

^I was also thinking about that awhile ago, but I think yes, since they're mods after all.

[Prometheus]

Yeah, if you're talking about global mods, then they should be able to see it. Though I'm not sure why would you want to do that in the first place.

[Shoumaker]

 

If you report a moderator, will that particular moderator see the report?

Yes, I'm guessing the moderator will be able to see the report (Only Global Mods and Admins can see profile reports). I don't know why you'd want to do that though since members have been warned for reporting staff members before.

Edited April 17, 2013 by shoumic

[Spotted Hyena]

Well even mods have to follow the rules so if a mod does abuse their power, perfect example is Demarest then it is wise to report them (even if they are on the staff ladder)

[Original Light]

Well even mods have to follow the rules so if a mod does abuse their power, perfect example is Demarest then it is wise to report them (even if they are on the staff ladder)

I would say yes, but you would need valid evidence. Even then, you may not be believed.

[Ryan]

Staff can see any reports that come in about them. Usually they're just someone who it's butthurt about their topic being locked.

[Adriaan]

 

Well even mods have to follow the rules so if a mod does abuse their power, perfect example is Demarest then it is wise to report them (even if they are on the staff ladder)

If you see any on-going issues with members of staff - be it a certain kind of behavior towards a member or members, definitely bring it up with an admin would be my suggestion. I don't speak for them, or any members of staff, but that's just my opinion on the matter as a member of the forum. If there's a pattern that is causing upset, an admin should start to notice any on-going trends - so it's always useful to report it I would think.

 

But definitely not of the nature "He locked my topic, it wasn't fair" etc.

 

I say the above because I have received such reports via PMs, and I realize now more appropriate protocol would be if an Admin receives them directly. Someone such as Andrew, Waddy or Adam as they are more active around here.

 

 

Another question: Instead of duplicate topics being locked, wouldn't it be better just to conjoin them?

Over the last few months, on the occasions that I have done this (or noticed it being done by other members of staff) was for more recent duplicates (not topics with vast gaps in date, e.g. 8 months [as Ryan had mentioned]).

 

So, for example, one of the most common topics we've had over the last few months (at least two per month) were people creating topics to list the things you want in a special edition of GTAV. As new members join, they tend to essentially create a carbon copy unwittingly anew - not being aware of the existing one that have been bumped down. So a couple of weeks ago or so we joined up a new one (with replies) to a larger existing thread that was published a couple of months prior.

 

Given the nature of that topic, it made sense to join it - and, in the future, merge new topics with the new one (and give the topic starter a little PM to let him know).

 

As you can see, these things are few and far in between - and mostly only work with large repetitive trends such as those Zombie topics, first person view topics etc.

 

 

 

There's definitely room for new threads on the same topic - especially when we received new information or visuals. For instance, and this is just a rough random hypothetical example, IF we see images of the military base - it would make sense to have new ones for various reasons (be it to speculate about a feature or whatever) - versus wanting to join it up with an older topic that was created prior to receiving new details or images of the military base.