Way to see the progress/result of posts you've reported

Hey folks

Possibly I'm missing it due to using touch site on phone but it strikes me that it would be very good indeed to be able to see the posts you've reported and any action taken

We're pretty much constantly beseeched to report posts rather than engage with undesirable behaviour or backseat mod, but I think there's a major inconsistency in expecting posters to do that when there's no feedback or discernible result in doing so.

firstly, one isnt motivated to bother when it just flies off into some ethereal system never to be visibly actioned nor acknowledged (and I think the mods have been consistently clear that they do want this function utilised)

secondly, one never really gets any steer as to whether their reporting of a post is....to choose an imperfect term, 'correct', which im pretty sure is useful learning information that the site is missing out on

yours in consternation,

etc

osarusan

It's a discussion that has been had many times, and there is no such system.

Unless there is something visible on thread, you will never know.

s3rtvdbwfj81ch

it's none of your business after you report it, it's between the hierarchy and the user reported from that point on, and not even the user reported of there's no action deemed necessary by the hierarchy

Korbin Uneven Numerator

Korbin Uneven Numerator wrote: »

it's none of your business after you report it, it's between the hierarchy and the user reported from that point on, and not even the user reported of there's no action deemed necessary by the hierarchy

ive set out the practical reasons it is probably needed.

"its none of your business" is not what id call a comprehensive reply but there you are.

if mods are making these decisions then they should be seen to be making them, it would in the medium term cut down on a lot of the noise imo.

osarusan

Deleted User wrote: »

ive set out the practical reasons it is probably needed.

"its none of your business" is not what id call a comprehensive reply but there you are.

if mods are making these decisions then they should be seen to be making them, it would in the medium term cut down on a lot of the noise imo.

It would create an endless storm of people asking why post X wasn't moderated but post Y was.


That said, I'd be in favour of more visible moderation in general, as we can't see what's going on behind the scenes, so even though a disruptive poster may be picking up infraction after infraction on their way to a ban, the average poster just thinks no action is being taken at all, which doesn't help the mood of the place.

osarusan

osarusan wrote: »

It would create an endless storm of people asking why post X wasn't moderated but post Y was.

it would certainly highlight if this was happening.

is that not possibly a ....... good thing?

osarusan

Deleted User wrote: »

it would certainly highlight if this was happening.

is that not possibly a ....... good thing?

I would guess that from a mod perspective, not much on boards could be worse.

Boards.ie: Niamh

I can appreciate that people would like to see if action was taken on their report and know if their report was helpful in moderating a thread or not.

Users can see most mod actions though, albeit on the desktop site but not touch which you mention you use.

- If the post is deleted, you will notice it is gone;
- If the post is edited you can see that on the post (Last edited by [Mod's name]);
- If the user receives a warning or infraction, the yellow or red card will appear on their post;
- If they are thread-banned the mod will usually (though not always) post that in the thread.

The things you won't see or know about are a forum ban or a warning PM to the user. As above though, cards and 'Last edited by' are only visible on the desktop site.

Out of interest I had a look at Reported Posts there. Taking After Hours for an example, in the past seven days they have had 197 Reported Posts.
It is unfeasible to ask Mods to not only deal with these reports, decide if action is necessary, take the action, deal with the fallout of it if any (PMs from a disgruntled user, a DRP) but then to also to get back to the reporting user to tell them what action was taken or not taken and possibly have to engage with this user as well if they are unhappy with the outcome.

By all means if you have reported something that you think really requires mod intervention and nothing appears to be happening, you can PM a Mod to ask about it but this should be the exception rather than the rule. If it's an emergency and none of the forum mods are online, contact any online Admin or Cmod (an emergency might be a suicidal poster or an inappropriate image posted). It's not an ideal process, it'd be great to be able to give feedback to people on their reports or even to say thank you but with the resources we have, reporting a post and then leaving it to the mods is the best way to operate.

.......

Boards.ie: Niamh wrote: »

By all means if you have reported something that you think really requires mod intervention and nothing appears to be happening, you can PM a Mod to ask about it but this should be the exception rather than the rule.

The problem with this is that you are told (a) its not your business and (b) dont be flooding the mods with messages looking for updates.

Boards.ie: Niamh

Boards.ie: Niamh wrote: »

It is unfeasible to ask Mods to not only deal with these reports, decide if action is necessary, take the action, deal with the fallout of it if any (PMs from a disgruntled user, a DRP) but then to also to get back to the reporting user to tell them what action was taken or not taken and possibly have to engage with this user as well if they are unhappy with the outcome.

thanks niamh, thats comprehensive!

i figured touch site might be a limiter alright.

the only thing id say there is that there's no extra work in the list of things a mod has to do to insert a comment on the action taken once a decision has been made

i suppose what im asking is wouldnt it be very useful for all concerned if a user had access to their reports and could see the decision taken?

maybe its different for a desktop user but theres about twenty reasons that a touch user wouldnt feasibly be going back over posts theyve reported to see what (if any) action resulted

and, to bring it back to whats hopefully the constructive point: i do think this is a major gap in moderation that causes frustration for users and makes life more difficult for mods

Boards.ie: Niamh

....... wrote: »

The problem with this is that you are told (a) its not your business and (b) dont be flooding the mods with messages looking for updates.

What action is taken is between the mod and user but as above some of the actions taken are publicly visible anyway. There is no harm in PMing to say hey I reported a post earlier/yesterday/last week and I wanted to check if anyone had a chance to look at it yet. One message, no flood and I'd say only in a case where you were sure that something was seriously amiss and it appears that nothing has happened.

.......

Boards.ie: Niamh wrote: »

What action is taken is between the mod and user but as above some of the actions taken are publicly visible anyway. There is no harm in PMing to say hey I reported a post earlier/yesterday/last week and I wanted to check if anyone had a chance to look at it yet. One message, no flood and I'd say only in a case where you were sure that something was seriously amiss and it appears that nothing has happened.

Im just speaking from experience.

Actually the more common response is no response.

But I have had both (a) and (b) happen too.

Dravokivich

Reporting posts allows us to see what direction the population of a forum is taking. Without going into too much details.

Your reported post creates a thread. Multiple reports get attached to the thread. It's a very effective means for us to understand what you (as a set of members) want us to address.

But please consider that these arent support tickets you are submitting. In some cases reports could just need a small discussion with someone who's lost the run of themselves.

Dravokivich

Dravokivich wrote: »

Reporting posts allows us to see what direction the population of a forum is taking. Without going into too much details.

Your reported post creates a thread. Multiple reports get attached to the thread. It's a very effective means for us to understand what you (as a set of members) want us to address.

But please consider that these arent support tickets you are submitting. In some cases reports could just need a small discussion with someone who's lost the run of themselves.

I understand that thread/board management is a factor when making decisions on individual reported posts.

But if I'm picking you up correctly you're saying that (for instance) the amount of reported posts on a collective level are informing how you moderate in individual cases.

While it's tangential to what I'm suggesting (easy clarity on what decision is made on any given reported post) and I know the line is shifting and personal between what mods should be deciding is acceptable vs what the mods are observing that the forum entire finds acceptable, the above response is a little concerning in that it is a decent step towards "report more to win".

Now, the comments from the mods who contributed to the "can we talk about AH" are reassuring on that score, but in a culture of "report if you want it actioned" it becomes a race to be the quickest to the button.

The most common refrain in the dispute forum is "everyone/the other poster was at is as bad as me". A lot of the time this is on the face of it, pretty valid. If the standard mod response is "report it" then I think it's vital to see consideration and outcome of each report out in the open.

If mods find themselves needing to justify decisions that seem on the face of it imbalanced between individuals or arguments or sides then imo so be it?

That's somewhat of an aside tho, prompted by your post, which I may be misreading.

I still submit that knowing "no action deemed necessary" or "discussed with poster and resolved without further action" lets the reporting poster know that the report was actioned- they neither have to agree with the action nor be privy to the fine detail of what occurs, but they know that their report got consideration and they will see quickly enough whether they are or are not in alignment with the values of the moderation on that board or the site as a whole.

i take it this is as far as it goes, so?

genuinely thought it worth more of a chat than that, possibly i should dig into historical discussions on the topic.

Tokyo

Deleted User wrote: »

I still submit that knowing "no action deemed necessary" or "discussed with poster and resolved without further action" lets the reporting poster know that the report was actioned- they neither have to agree with the action nor be privy to the fine detail of what occurs, but they know that their report got consideration and they will see quickly enough whether they are or are not in alignment with the values of the moderation on that board or the site as a whole.

In theory, that all sounds fine. But the reported posts function is not a ticket management system. Take for example, After Hours, which between June 1st and now, has received 418 reported posts. It's not realistic to expect moderators to keep the forum ticking over, deal with the issues behind the reported posts to begin with, and then ensure to follow up with the reporters of those 418 posts for reasons that provide no discernible difference to the content of the site.

I get that it's nice to know that your efforts have been acknowledged, but I just don't think it's a practical possibility here.

Kimsang

mike_ie wrote: »

In theory, that all sounds fine. But the reported posts function is not a ticket management system. Take for example, After Hours, which between June 1st and now, has received 418 reported posts. It's not realistic to expect moderators to keep the forum ticking over, deal with the issues behind the reported posts to begin with, and then ensure to follow up with the reporters of those 418 posts for reasons that provide no discernible difference to the content of the site.

I get that it's nice to know that your efforts have been acknowledged, but I just don't think it's a practical possibility here.

With respect, I think you're missing the point here.
I believe he is more alluding to the fact that AH is becoming 'cliquey', in pointing out that it is a 'race to the report button' and as an earlier mod pointed out, the amount of reports is what is noticed the most.

As the OP suggested in the last post, I would also happily research threads, and highlight exactly what is being spoken about if a cmod/admin were to agree to look at it.

thanks to you both for perspective, i did feel (and probably was) a bit pushy for bumping

i know that a report isnt a ticket (tho im sure it feels it to a mod!)

but the current black hole gives the reporter (can we agree to use this term) absolutely no sense of outcome.

edit, having read mike's answer again- it provides little (not 'no') difference to the contents of the site but it would be a huge (imo) leap in quality in one of the major elements of the site.

and it's not merely about acknowledgement (in fact that's not a main strand of my argumenylt really) it's about that qualitative feedback and its very much about demonstrating action taken, because the visibility gap here is i think a major driver in user frustration and leads to behavioural issues in threads and heightened activity in disputes/appeals. essentially, i think the visibility gap gives trolls a lot of room in which to manoeuvre and erodes trust in mods.

if the way its currently set up makes it impossible for - and hey theres nothing more irritating than a user setting out an ideal user-solution so let's do that- say another link from your profile that only you could access showing the posts youve reported, i dont think that the mod need go back to the reporter.

but id have thought it would neither be sensitive nor onerous to note the action deemed suitable

and i think the argument that it would be useful for the site makes itself, along the lines stated above.

end of the road

as it stands currently, posts already show if an infraction or warning has been received. so if it is possible to modify that feature, it could show received forum bann, received thread bann, or no action required etc. i accept that might require developer time and if so it will be way way down the priority list, but it might be enough to fit what the op is looking to achieve if it could be delivered.

.......

end of the road wrote: »

as it stands currently, posts already show if an infraction or warning has been received. so if it is possible to modify that feature, it could show received forum bann, received thread bann, or no action required etc. i accept that might require developer time and if so it will be way way down the priority list, but it might be enough to fit what the op is looking to achieve if it could be delivered.

^^ This.

.......

....... wrote: »

^^ This.

yeah but

im a phone user

the site already functions in quite a different way for me, one that strikes me as fundamental at times (the expectation, for instance, that threads presented as all of a piece under "latest posts" are subject to radically different moderation rules due to association with different fora, for instance)

going back to each individual post is very (very) onerous and destroys any ability to follow where you were in the conversation.

the main thrust of the idea is to have a record of what you reported and a result of that report independent of having to do the above.


tbh, the fact that you sometimes by chance see an action (whether based on your own report or not) doesnt address the problem.

"report it" is a very common mod refrain when people claim that they have been singled out or that they have reacted to a post/posting style that didnt seem to be subject to action.

if this is to work at all, then every report needs a visible response imo. otherwise "report it" hasnt solved the problem.

im not saying any fix would be simple. im saying that its a big gap in the flow/optics that seems to be the way "it should be done", and that the optics matter from a user perspective.

Discodog

Would the system allow an automated acknowledgement that a report has been noted ?

I reported a post that I considered potentially dangerous to Boards involving defamation. I have no idea if it was even received.

dudara

FYI - All reported posts result in a thread being created in a private forum where the forum mods can can review the report. All reported posts are logged in this way.

Discodog

dudara wrote: »

FYI - All reported posts result in a thread being created in a private forum where the forum mods can can review the report. All reported posts are logged in this way.

I understand that but it might be nice if there was an automated way for the poster to know. I rarely report posts but I started to as that what was asked for.

Beasty

Discodog wrote: »

I understand that but it might be nice if there was an automated way for the poster to know. I rarely report posts but I started to as that what was asked for.

You receive an automated acknowledgement after entering your reasoning and pressing the "send" button, do you not?

EDIT: Forget that - I've just tested it and you simply get returned to the post, but that in itself confirms the report has been sent

acknowledgment that the report has been considered is, i think, the request

Cabaal

Deleted User wrote: »

ive set out the practical reasons it is probably needed.

"its none of your business" is not what id call a comprehensive reply but there you are.

if mods are making these decisions then they should be seen to be making them, it would in the medium term cut down on a lot of the noise imo.

Do you hold HR in company's to the same account?

If you reported a fellow employee to HR for breach of employment would you honestly expect HR to keep you updated on their handling of the report and outcome?

Because if you expect this you live in a make believe world.

Deleted User wrote: »

acknowledgment that the report has been considered is, i think, the request

Again, would you expect your employer's HR department to do the same?
I certainly wouldn't.

wait

you wouldn't?

absolutely i would.

but its not a valid comparison in any case.

edit:

in fact, "users" are neither employees nor in the strictest sense customers, so it might be instructive to define what a valid comparator group would be, but tbh the idea that a closed mod group is a HR function is imo a bad one.

i dunno if the mission is set out cleanly or whatever but "to facilitate discussion in line with the rules" would seem reasonable, what part of that aligns with HR complaints? flip all id say

Steve

I can see pros and cons to this.. both on a technical and 'user experience' level.


Imagine a "new button" in the reported post thread.
Mod comes along, has a look, decides if action is needed, and then presses the button.

Pros:
1. The reporter(s) get a message saying a mod has seen your report.
2. Any other mod that comes to view the report can see it has already been looked at and so doesn't need to waste time on it. To qualify this, in busy forums, I always encourage mods to post on the report thread with the action or inaction taken so to streamline things.
3. If a reporter sees that a few days or a week pass and no mod has acknowledged it, they can pm a cmod or admin. (Useful for us to flag inactive mods but also could just mean the mod is off on hols or busy with work).

Cons:
1. It doesn't really change anything in terms of the reporter knowing what action was taken - that will always be between the mods and the author of the reported post.
2. In busy forums, when something "dodgy" is posted, there may be 5, 10, or 20 reports of the same post. Even then it has been actioned, reports still flow in (user may have been banned and a mod says that 2 pages later but those catching up will still add to the report thread).
3. In the case of 2 above, reporters after the mod ack was pressed will not get a notification.
4. 3 above will lead to unnecessary escalations to CMod / Admin.
5. Given what I know about the site, coding it all would be a nightmare and as boards is a business, I really don't think the user experience gain would be worth the cost of diverting developers from maintaining the existing code.