[double post]
You’re entitled to your opinion, though I doubt even Sapo and Carno and the other Snarx Brothers would agree that I’m belligerent “most of the time”. I’ve been here 5.5 years and my major arguments can be counted on one hand, and frankly my two Great Meltdowns of Summer Aught Six are the only ones for which I have serious remorse and take the lion’s share of responsibility, and as explanation [not excuse] there were extenuating circumstances for those. For the rest my regrets are mostly for the “damn this is getting old but I must keep posting as otherwise they can claim tactical victory” aspects. (Personally I don’t feel my flare-up with What Exit? is in the same category, and as mentioned it was resolved peaceably off-board.)
PS- Besides, as we’ve read dozens of times in recent threads, “It’s just a message board for Chrisssake!”
You have enough meltdowns that they need names and date stamps. Are you surprised that I feel that way?
I have a question.
If a poster does report a thread or a certain post does the mod always answer the report? or can we assume if you get no answer then they do not agree there is any need for mod action or it is not against forum rules.
I can answer that one, most of the time, the mods don’t answer. Occasionally they do. I have noticed some are more likely to reply than others. I have also noticed that they never reply to spam alerts. Now I am simply guessing, I believe they usually get too many spam reports to ever bother replying.
Jim
Anyone who even notices shit like this needs to get a fucking grip.
**Dex **always seems to reply to anything I report but I can’t recall any other mod or admin ever doing so.
As long as you brought him up, **Dex ** and **Tuba ** are the likeliest to reply in my experience. **Dex ** especially.
Usually, there is no real need. I think there was only one time where I sent a follow-up Email to inquire into more detail after using the report button.
Jim
Personally, I don’t usually reply, mainly because the volume of reports would make it pretty time consuming to give a personal response to each one. If at least one of the forum moderators agrees with the report, then some action will be taken. If no action is taken, then you can assume 1) none of the forum moderators agreed with the report; or 2) we were all too busy breaking in the new goat.
When I do reply, it’s usually because someone has made a particularly strong request for action, but I disagree with the assessment. I usually do try to explain why I don’t feel action is warranted in such cases.
If you want a personal response, I’d recommend PMing a specific mod if no action is taken in regards to a report. We get a lot of reported posts, particularly in the Pit, for unactionable stuff. I’m happy to clarify, and I’m sure most mods are, but we just don’t respond to every report. We do always read them.
Sure, it happens. I can’t speak for everyone but I do try to avoid it. However, at least in the Pit, the most contentious threads can span 10, 15, or more pages. I can’t read through the whole thread for every report, and I can’t read every post in my forum. If I’ve made an error in warning one person but not another without explaining it, it’s probably oversight. A PM or another reported post can fix this easily.
Because threads can move very quickly and mods aren’t always at their keyboards, reporting posts is truly helpful and I appreciate those who take the time to thoughtfully report problems. It really helps. There will always be a balance between responding quickly and responding with a thorough understanding of everything that’s happened. The more info we get in reports, the easier it is to get a gauge on the situation. Sometimes it’s tough if we get vague reports, or reports of the wrong post (generally reporting the OP in a multi-page thread is common), and so sometimes we’ll err. Fortunately, there’s no reason why we can’t reverse warnings, explain actions, or issue additional warnings when called for.
One additional point: we all strive to apply the rules fairly. But, in some cases, being fair isn’t being equal. A brand new poster will get more leeway in having a thread moved to a different forum rather than just closed, but less tolerance of commercial postings or spam, than a tenured user. A perpetual problem child may be warned for the same post another user may not, as moderators will often give “notes” or nudges in the right direction rather than slapping warnings right away. The rules are there, but you can’t simply codify moderation; it’s contextual. Yes, there are some things that are gross violations and even the best contributors would earn a banning, but separating the wheat from the chaff sometimes means looking at the whole picture. This is why we don’t have ‘three warnings equals suspension’ hard and fast rules. After all, there are warnings and then there are warnings.
Dex is the model to which we all should aspire. Unfortunately, life seems to get in the way.
I’m bad about responding to those who report posts. But I appreciate it, even if I don’t agree with the opinion of the person who reports it. It keeps me sharper, and brings my attention to something I may not have read.
Not in the Pit, but I have tried this in other fora. I was told that the mod isn’t going to back a page or two into the thread and warn everyone who broke the rules, just the one on the first page, even though there was pretty egregious shit leading up to it. I’ll name names if you want me to, but I really would rather not.
Then why have I been told this couldn’t happen?
All I can do is speak for myself. If a fight is breaking out, I will usually issue warnings immediately to stop things from escalating. When I have a chance, I will then go back and review the thread, and may modify (or occasionally reverse) warnings or issue new ones as the case requires. But few GQ threads go past a couple of pages, so it’s not that hard to backtrack. On the other hand, if several people are involved I may not address everyone who has broken a rule in some fashion, just the principals in the fight.
As someone who sometimes reports posts, I’ve gotten e-mails from various mods saying various forms of “Thanks” “Good eye” “I see why you were concerned, but I disagree about the appropriate response” and one “Yes, please report egregious stuff even in threads that look heavily moderated, we got your report of this particular egregious stuff before we read it in the thread”. The last (and most recent) was in response to a report this post message from me consisting of “Here’s a post from a probable returning sock which includes a link to a place where links are discouraged, but I’m not really sure why I’m bothering to report it because this thread seems to be heavily monitored by moderators”. I assumed I got the e-mail response in large part due to my tone–but I could be wrong. Not sure I’ve ever reported anything else in the Pit other than requests for mods to fix coding or zombie threads–neither of which do I expect or want mod thanks for.
(Stuff in quotes is generally paraphrased).
I really cannot begin to fathom reporting threads. I mean obviously you have to have that option available, but for me I would never even consider reporting something. I just seriously don’t get it. Someone would have to be posting naked pictures of me killing kittens for me to even begin to think about reporting it. Even then I still might be “meh” about it.
But variety is the spice of life and not everyone is like me. Some people are going to be neighborhood watch dogs. It’s just not my personality type. I would be mortified if I were responsible for getting someone in trouble with the grown ups. Even if I hated that person. I’ll either confront the person myself or just let it go. I’m not one of those “may I please speak to your manager” douchebags. I can’t just sit back smugly and watch as someone chews someone else out for doing something that offended ME.
street justice!
Reported.
I report posts because there are certain types of posts which interfere with my enjoyment of reading this message board and also happen to be against the rules.
And, the moderators have assured us frequently that the best way to make sure that they see problem posts to do something about them is to report the post.
Call me a tattletale if you want, but reporting problem posts makes me feel better–even in cases where no action is taken, and no e-mail shows up to explain why not. In fact sometimes, in borderline cases, just typing up two or three sentences explaining why the post is a problem makes me feel so much better that I then don’t bother reporting the post. In more egregious cases, I don’t usually worry about being the 23rd person to report the same post.
I used to feel how LobMob did about reporting posts, but now I feel more like Eureka. If reporting a post ends a hijack, squashes inappropriate nastiness, ends trolling, or prevents a thread from being beshitted, it’s worth doing. It’s also better to report someone fucking with me than taking matters into my own hands, where of course my post will get reported and receive mod action, but the posts that led up to it in previous pages will not be reviewed nor sanctioned. Fuck it. Let the mods handle that shit, it’s not my job.
I suspect that both the sentiment and the expression of the sentiment have as much to do with the time available to the Mod as anything else.
When I get a reported post, I do try to read back to see why the offending poster stepped outside the lines. If that poster is reacting to a post that occurred days and pages earlier and I am short of time, I may not go back far enough. If I am really short of time and someone sends a second report asking why I did not admonish a leading post from days or pages earlier, I just might note that life is too short to watch every single little thing among a group of purported adults.
And there is no question that we can miss stuff. If someone uses a stock phrase in a way that is particularly offensive (when it is not normally so) or a typically offensive phrase modified just enough to remove some of its venom, trying to wedge the reading (or re-reading) of several dense pages of not-quite-overt insults while getting dinner ready, getting to work, disciplining one’s kids, paying attention to one’s spouse, and reading the comics, we are liable to miss (or overreact to) the nuance that sent a particular post over the line (or should have saved it from condemnation).
A similar factor of time often determines whether I will privately respond to a reported post. If I lay down the Mod hammer, one can infer I am responding (although it may be that i rersponded from my own reading even before I saw the report). If no action is taken, that is a pretty good indication that I did not discern the same violation–and it may mean that I received more than one report to which I do not have time to compose multiple thoughtful replies.
(And, of course, there are the cases where two posters each report the other–either while both violate the rules or while each decides that the other has been offensive while they have merely been forceful. Since I have no way to lock them together for a steel cage death match, if neither reported post actually went over the line, I am likely to ignore both of them to avoid making an intemperate observation of my own.