What happens when I report a post? (how to deal with questionable material)

[Birched]

When one finds questionable material or spam on the site, the recommended action if you can't easily deal with it locally (ie with your fellow players and GM) is to report the post. The report button is located in the top right of every post and looks like this: . It may also be a text link stating 'report post' in certain non-default Styles.

Originally Posted by Site FAQ

You will find 'Report' links in many places throughout the board. These links allow you to alert the board staff to anything which you find to be offensive, objectionable or illegal.

Originally Posted by Site Rules

Dealing with problems: If you do have a problem, you have several options at your disposal. You should avail yourself of them in the following order, skipping those that you deem will not be productive or appropriate in your particular situation:

1. make a respectful and appropriately located post where you express the problem and seek to solve it through reasonable discussion with those involved,
2. report a post using the card symbol at the top right of every post, which will make sure it gets the attention of the moderation staff,

... [see Site Rules for the full list.]

What happens when a post is reported?

A report is simply that: it's words. It's a flag of concern. Being reported is not in and of itself "bad". No penalty or mark on your account comes from being reported. All a report does is spur consideration and often a conversation. That conversation may lead to moderator actions, and it may not. Those moderator actions can result in consequences to an account. But a report, by itself, does not.

When a report is made, a post is created in a staff-only forum that includes the identity of the reporter, the stated reason for the report, a link to the post and some information about its location in the boards, the identify of the poster, and the content of the post in its current form.

The reported posts forum is surveyed regularly by the moderator and admin staff. When a report is encountered, one or more moderators addresses the report. Simple issues, like outside spam, can be resolved very quickly by a single moderator. More complex issues, for example those involving conflicts between community members, tend to require more time and receive the input of multiple moderators before a fair resolution is decided upon.

The goal of the site staff is to find a fair resolution and support the standards and purpose of the community. The staff works hard to find good resolutions, and there can be considerable open discussion amongst them as they try to figure out the best way forward.

Almost always, post reports end in resolutions that are satisfactory to all concerned. Rarely, the fair resolution is not one that the reporter of the post is happy with. In those cases, there are additional steps available, but the reporter should consider the fact that, for a complex issue, it is likely that a half dozen experienced moderators investigated the situation and did their best to resolve it well. Unfortunately, sometimes the fair resolution that supports the standards and purpose of the community can not be the same as the one that the reporter feels suits their personal needs.

Recently, we reviewed this system and determined that, while most moderators made it a habit to send a private message to reporting individuals letting them know when their issue had been handled and the outcome and reasoning, this was not always happening. We have made it a policy to do so. If you haven't heard back after a week, and you'd like to know what's going on, please feel free to pm a moderator. Note that some issues can take more than a week to resolve, but the vast majority are dealt with in minutes to days. Most spam-related reports are handled in minutes to hours; community member conflicts tends to involve longer discussions amongst more moderators and usually take hours to days to resolve. No report is ever ignored; in a recent short audit of reports, I found that all reports received their first moderator response in the attached moderator discussion thread within 2 hours.

Sometimes, escalation is warranted, and new information or discussion can result in revised decisions. If, after carefully considering the outcome of a report, you wish to escalate it, then please follow the prescription in the site rules. That said, private messages are fine when there is some reason the report function won't do, but in almost every situation the fastest and best response when people can't figure out their problems on their own in their game with their GM (always the best first step) is to report a post, where it gets seen quickly and discussed by many if it's not a clear issue, and where it becomes part of an easily accessible record available to moderators in the future.

No matter the issue, please go out of your way to treat your fellow gamers and who are also your fellow gamersour site staff with respect and courtesy. Our site community is made up of all your fellow players who combine to play with their shared imaginations, and the staff that volunteer here are truly a careful, attentive, and considerate bunch who care deeply about the community and community members.

Thank you for helping to keep our community working well!

I will monitor this thread for questions about how the report system works, and constructive suggestions about how we might improve it. This is not the right place for discussion of past decisions you did not like; there are other mechanisms for that, mentioned above.

[orcbane]

A helpful and considerate guide. Thank you, Birched.

 

My thanks to Birched for responding kindly to the below text, even though I went way off-topic. This is, after all, a thread about the use of the Report button, not my own morbid curiosity about interpersonal controversies.

Some of the recent complaints seem to indicate grievances and worries that are not isolated to a single member, but rather are shared among several members.

For concerned community members that wish to learn more about the issues at hand, is there a path to greater transparency surrounding the events that may have caused controversy? (Other than relying on inference, hearsay, gossip, and the self-reported descriptions of those dissatisfied with the outcomes)

It's obvious that there's more complexity to the issue than a=bad/b=good, and it would be impossible for the volunteer staff to make completely satisfying judgements on matters that confound society as a whole, but I get the impression that the events at the heart of these complaints might reflect back on needs to address troubles among community behavioral norms and how that may interact with the forum rules.

This is not a complaint. I think the staff is doing a great job!

However, given how troubling the complaints sound to me, someone who lacks clarity or context on what has occurred, I wonder if providing more public transparency on the matter may promote greater community inclusivity.

It might not. It could be silly things blown way out of proportion or assumptions being reported as fact.

This may also just be my own troubled mind slowing down so I can get a better look at the textual car wreck I know must be somewhere.

Again, thank you. The time and effort you and the staff have put into upkeep on RPGx is greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,
orcstopher mcbanolds

[Birched]

Originally Posted by orcbane

For concerned community members that wish to learn more about the issues at hand, is there a path to greater transparency surrounding the events that may have caused controversy? (Other than relying on inference, hearsay, gossip, and the self-reported descriptions of those dissatisfied with the outcomes)

Making a policy to send a pm to people who report posts when action is taken on the report is our attempt to be more transparent.

As far as I'm concerned, I see no way to do so in the wider community without contravening our own efforts to respect community members and creating a circus. I urge you not to indulge in "inference, hearsay, gossip, and the self-reported descriptions of those dissatisfied with the outcomes". I assure you that "issues at hand" get an incredible amount of personal attention, and many many hours of conversation, investigation, and discussion.

I will be also be sending you a pm to ask about specific concerns, in case I am missing the point here.

We have site policies. We go to great efforts to uphold them. If you feel that they are lacking, or that they are not being upheld, please let me know with specific examples and I guarantee you I will look into it thoroughly.

I will say that we cannot and do not police events that happen away from RPG Crossing. We also cannot help with vague accusations, and we will always ask for the other side of the story when there is not a clear line that has been crossed. The moderators are qualitatively (i.e. in my opinion) and quantitatively (e.g. response times) excellent. We are not 'out to get' people. We do occasionally make mistakes, and when that happens, we try to take corrective action and improve.

Reporting a post is excellent: it calls a specific and concrete event into the spotlight. I just checked, and you can also report private messages; the same reasoning applies to these.

[GodRosen]

Okay since your announcement and your PM to me happened in the same day (and I was at work when both happened) I of course read the PM first. I think it's safe to say that some of what I say in that PM maybe covered by this thread/initiative you are taking. I hope this helps clears things up for everyone.

Though imma take a quote from you here and send it back to you via that PM conversation I mentioned we were having. More things to say. Maybe not best to say them here. I'll let you repost/reword what you think must be based off of that here.

[Talissen70]

All sounds very reasonable