With recent events hilighting the value of quality moderation, it got me to consider: How can we help you out?
What steps, considerations, encouragements or warnings would you give the userbase regarding best practices for using the report feature (or other interraction with mods)? Reporting less, reporting more, putting more detail in the form, or just leaving it blank?
I was thinking of maybe putting together a psa-style infographic (a la think before you post) if the answers you give are poignant or significantly unknown to the average user.
If you’re in doubt if some content violates the rules, report it, and let the mods decide if it’s okay or not okay. That is not abuse of the report function.
Include a short description on why you’re reporting some piece of content. Specially in larger comms, the mod queue can get really large. If reasonable mention the rule being violated; a simple “r1 off topic” goes a long way.
Context is everything. If what a user said only sounds bad in a certain context, say it. If the user is clearly problematic due to their profile, say it.
You’re probably better off not interacting with the content that you’re reporting.
Stop giving shitty mods a free pass. Honest mistakes happen; but if the mod in question is assumptive, disingenuous, trigger-happy, or eager to enable certain shitty types of user, spread the word about their comm being poorly moderated. And don’t interact directly with the comm.
I’ve done that before and had mods threaten to ban me if I reported anyone again. Ironically, it was someone that was harassing and being uncivil that I was reporting. Like WAY worse than most comments I’ve seen removed. And this was on a fairly popular community here that is still around.
It’s not always so easy to assume that mods are going to be fair. Reporting people comes with a risk.
I’d add and don’t be butt hurt if the Mod does not agree.
I’ll second this. Responding to the problematic content usually just leads to a lot more problematic content that the mods need to sort through.
Also depending on what it is responding can just make you into a target for harassment when/if that person comes back on a different account. Best to just avoid it and not make yourself known to them.
Okay already glad I made this post as I have definitely erred in this regard several times!
For sure. Responding is the natural thing to do. But, for me at least, I end up reading every response and deciding if I’m safe to just remove the first reported comment, or every child comment, or a mix.
Maybe some mods just delete the parent comment and all children to keep it simple, but I try to weigh each response fairly.
I think that everyone did this at least once, so don’t worry too much. Still, it’s less work for the mods if you don’t do it.