Hi! I'm the report button. You've probably noticed me under the posts you see on this forum. Since it seems like some of you aren't really sure what I'm here for, I think it's time for a little tutorial.
When you report a post, what you're doing is sending out a beacon to the staff members who moderate the forum. The people who see the reports are the ones with the power to move, edit, and delete posts or threads, among other things. These people are called forum moderators, and will be referred to as moderators from here on out.
What's been happening so far is that these moderators have had to search for the threads and posts they need to moderate on their own. This small group of people has to trawl the entire forum to find these problem spots.
But the worst part is that by the time they get there, a number of users have generally already replied to the thread or post in need of moderation, which generally only compounds the issue. The worst part of this worst part is that often the people who make simple mistakes like necroposting and misplacing threads are new users - and these simple mistakes can often cause some of the harshest criticism.
You may be wondering now about what sorts of things warrant reporting. Don't worry - that's what we're about to talk about!
Obviously, anything that breaks the forum rules, like pornography, racism, etc., is a big no-no, and should be reported immediately. But there are a number of other things, and ways to handle them, that might not be as obvious right off the bat.
Necroposts.
So someone's posted in a thread that's been dead for quite a while. Don't respond - report the post! If you respond, others are more likely to as well. This only makes the necropost worse, as in almost every case the ensuing responses are always about the necropost itself, and rarely revive the thread, which most likely died out for a good reason and can't be brought back to life very easily.
Misplaced threads.
Whoops! That thread should've gone there instead, it seems. Don't bother telling the poster off; they don't have the power to move the thread, and they might just go and make a duplicate, which frankly just makes everyone's life more difficult. Report the post, and a forum moderator will pop in, move the thread whilst explaining to where and why, and everyone continues on their merry little way.
Duplicate posts.
Whoah, déjà vu. No, your eyes do not deceive you, and it's not just a glitch in the Matrix - they really did just post that twice, or maybe even three times or more! Don't comment on these extra posts unless the fact that they were made is relevant to the discussion at hand, which should rarely, if ever, be the case; simply report them. Since duplicate posts and threads are nearly always deleted when found, any comments you make about them end up referring to something that doesn't exist after the moderators get there.
Extreme argument.
Criminy, those two are really going at it. They sure are hogging the whole thread to argue about that one pointless thing everyone else stopped caring about two pages ago! If only there was a way to get them to stop that worked better than telling them to shut up. But wait, there is! If you report their posts and request moderator interference, a moderator will swoop down like the harbinger of doom and tell them to shut up for you, or by god there will be consequences. And since a moderator can more than back this claim up, it will either make them shut up - or the moderator will shut them up manually.
Now, a few final notes:
Walk the middle path.
Contrary to popular belief, it is not better to under report than to over report. And contrary to unpopular belief, it is not better to over report than to under report either. If you don't report trouble posts, they will take longer to go away, because moderators will have to find them. If you end up reporting a lot of posts that aren't actually violating any rules, the moderators are going to start getting fed up with you. Report a post if you're at least almost certain it is breaking the rules, but if you're teetering back and forth between yes and no then it's probably better not to. With any luck, it will either progress and point you in one direction or the other, or a moderator will find the post and take care of it, either through someone else's report or just through their own trawling.
Don't be Batman.
Worst advice, right? Wrong. Batman is a vigilante, or one who takes the law into his own hands. As cool as it may be to think of yourself as some kind of caped crusader, remember that in this superhero metaphor, the moderators are the ones with the superpowers - and just as importantly, they have the law on their side, unlike you. Moderators are moderators for a reason - they know when, where, and how to enforce the rules, and because of their position they have the ability to do so. Taking matters into your own hands is also known as backseat moderating. Do not do this. The moderators like doing their jobs and tend to get a bit testy when people who can't do them try to.
Don't grab the spotlight.
When a moderator swoops in like a dark angel of death and visits vengeance upon the wicked, it can be very tempting to pipe up and say, "Hey, I brought that guy here!" Try to avoid doing this. The moderators already know you were the one who reported the post - no one else needs to. This can only come off as attention whoring, which is not something you want to be known for. And depending on the moderator, they may take offense at having their role belittled so you can claim the credit. Remember - the report button is the beacon. The moderator will still end up doing most of the real work whether or not it is used; it just makes their job easier, and gives them a much better impression of you.
The good, the bad, and the unhandled.
Remember that reports are for alerting moderators to posts that need immediate treatment - not things that are already in the system and are assuredly going to be processed, like ban appeals or staff applications that have been decided. The moderators who are prepared to deal with this are going to see it anyway; it will just end up sitting in the moderator queue until they get around to it, and that's irritating to all the other moderators.
Finally, keep in mind that the moderators will know who files a report. Yes, this does mean that if you file a bad report, they will know - but it's also noteworthy that if they notice you consistently filing good, solid reports and helping to make their job easier, you're going to get on their good side. And being on the good side of the moderators is always a good thing.
