# Reporting Posts **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [April 22, 2004, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reporting-posts/241362 "2004-04-22T03:46:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reporting-posts/241362/1 "2004-04-22T03:46:23Z")
So I tried to report a post and I got this: > [@](#): > > Note: This is ONLY to be used to report spam, advertising messages, and problematic (harassment, fighting, or rude) posts. I decided that the post I wanted to report didn’t fit the requirements (it’s a homework help question), so I did not report it. Is the note really that strict? I understand that this feature isn’t for, “Oh shit, I double-posted!!! Can you delete the second one?!”, or “Stupid smilies! That’s supposed to say, ‘:: pokes Hamadryad in the eye ::’!!” but if a thread or an individual post goes against board rules but does **not** fall within the above note’s guidelines, should we report them anyway? And it would have been my first reported post, too. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Berkut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e57/32.png) [@Berkut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Berkut)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reporting-posts/241362/2 "2004-04-22T05:32:34Z")
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=3139071&postcount=36](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=3139071&postcount=36) It used to say: > [@](#): > > “This is to be used to report spam, duplicate posts/threads, violations of the forum rules and any other such things requiring a moderator’s attention.” But it changed back to the default when the software was upgraded. I use it for everything. Trolls, socks, spammers, when I run out of tea, when my Mom yells at me for not cleaning my room, etc. ---
**Author:** ![mkl12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@mkl12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mkl12)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reporting-posts/241362/3 "2004-04-22T08:19:05Z")
This is what xash has to say about it: > [@xash](#): > > The “Report this post to a moderator” (now “Report bad post”) is a very useful feature. To clarify, the message you see currently, “Note: This is ONLY to be used to report spam, advertising messages, and problematic (harassment, fighting, or rude) posts.” is the default message of the new version of the board software. However, please feel free to use it for purposes of reporting posts as you have done in the past (e.g. typos, coding mess ups, title edits, incorrect forum, troll suspicions, etc.) > > It is the easiest and most efficient way to reach the moderators. Please do not hesitate to use it for legitimate purposes. A good part of the standard of moderation on these boards (and the moderator response times) is due to the vigilance of our members in reporting incorrect or inappropriate posts. > > Please feel free to continue to use the feature as you have done previously. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reporting-posts/241362/4 "2004-04-22T09:33:05Z")
I was just about to quote myself. But I see **mkl12** beat me to it 🙂 So I’ll just add: Since you can’t report your own post with the new software, please report a post immediately above or below yours and mention it in the report. Ofcourse, there’s one hitch. You can’t report a post if you’re the OP and no one else has replied to the thread. In which case, you already know that no one cares for your question and you shouldn’t be wasting mods’ time 😛