Forum Report suggestion

njeppero

I didn't come up with this idea, I've just seen it working very great in other forum platforms.
I was a forum moderator and even temp. lead forum moderator in Wurm Online game.
The forums there are quite wide spread and many people discuss many variety of things.
Since the forum staff wasn't too large, it wasn't a problem since there was a Report Function on every post.
And then the moderators would comment on the report whether its bad or not (some are obvious and dont need commenting not really making the job harder than it is right now)

This way moderators can keep an eye on each other allowing less bias and power abuse, aswell as maintain the forums cleaner and more fair for all.

False reports of posts would result in penalties for the person who has made X amount of false reports.

This was the forum platform - Community Forum Software by IP.Board -
And I would think making a report system in here would be very easy aswell and it'd be only visible for mods + GMs.

edit:
Also this way the community can contribute and GMs get to see who would be great new MOD candidates.

Give a thought.
Regards,
njeppero

its_meeeh

and how to avoid spamming reports ?

Danah

its_meeeh wrote: »

and how to avoid spamming reports ?

Why don't you read his whole post?



I like the idea.

DualRainbows

I think this is a great feature to have. There are times when someone will post something rather explicit and none of the mods will be available at the time to get rid of the post.

What you could also do is make it so that once a post gets flagged X amount of times, it automatically becomes invisible until a moderator approves that it is allowed to be shown again. Simple yet effective way to get rid of trolls.

+1

njeppero

Good additional idea dualrainbow, this way we dont need to depend on MODs

Danah

njeppero wrote: »

Good additional idea dualrainbow, this way we dont need to depend on MODs

Rather bad idea, since this option gives you (along with others) another chance to troll someone.

DualRainbows

Danah wrote: »

Rather bad idea, since this option gives you (along with others) another chance to troll someone.

Yes, of course there would need to be restrictions as to who can use that feature. For example, account must be older than X amount of years, account must have 0 infractions, account must have deposited at least X amount of ZP, each account has a maximum of 2 report per day, anyone who misuses that feature will get infracted, etc.

I know of many other forums that already have this feature and they don't seem to have much problems dealing with abuse.

In reply to OP: phpBB also has this feature (just thought I'd add that in).

its_meeeh

@dualrainbow ,
0 infractions = new accounts
To get new accs = make altS
Make alts = may = spam this feature.
Spam this feature = it become useless and will abuse some players.
Abuse players = more support tickets to complain
More tickets = more time to get a reply from GM

More , more and more.
results won't end.

Fizzeq_

We have our own procedure in handling moderation. In reality we don't really require this because all of us have learned the ropes. The experience comes as natural and dealing with violations becomes far easier than expected.

My general policy is; if you respect these forums, I respect you. I don't encourage drama, I don't tolerate violation; I'm generally open and flexible with certain things. These rules are VERY simple to follow. There's no need to complicate with any sort of report system. Like I said, we do already have our own internal system and process with moderating these forums (not privy to regular users). The most of communication comes through our pm inbox, or possibly an external way, or even a support ticket if you feel necessary.

njeppero

u are missing the point a little fizz

PMing mods that we dont even know when they are online is not very good system.
A simple report button would send it to all MODs + GMs which ensures it gets handled even easier and quicker.
MODs dont even need to look at forums when every single community member can report a comment.
It worked very well on that IPB board software or whatever the name was.

I know what the inside system here is and it doesnt have an easy way to report posts by normal users

Fizzeq_

Well now I'd have to disagree with you. Moderators are here to be met and known. You don't have to be super close with us; all you really need to know is that we got your back if you ever need us. Also, I'm not saying pm'ing us is part of our system of way-doing. I do my fair share of patrolling and moderation with my own time, and I get a lot done if there's a lot needed to be done. I see almost every post here, I check back on threads after being afk for games, sleep, etc.

Nowadays there are few moderators and certainly a significantly shrunken forum community. Complications with any sort of system implementation only breaks up the tradition of work we've established. I don't know about the other guys, but I learn a lot from moderating and being on these forums, especially psychological and social effect. I like to personally deal with things and not have to let a system take care of spotting. A system doesn't really underline our strengths but our dependence on needing community support. Well let's just say we don't.

I think some have already noted the spam. I don't think it matters if there's a limit; if people wanted to troll, would they care if one of their forum accounts can't spam anymore? Course not, they hop on another one.

The way I would hope and prefer people to do when it comes to reporting posts is to alert a moderator or GM through his/her pm inbox. That's our system of communication with most users. In fact it helps us out a lot as opposed to worsen for example, an already heated argument within a thread, etc etc.

tl'dr: We've come a loooong way. Learning the ropes through the environment of this community, identifying the likes and about of most of our users, and of course identifying the patterns of social behavior - were key to our understanding of the forums, and thus our real support in the moderation work. I know a lot of people don't think the same way as I do, as we do. But you have to come to realize that it's all about comfort and perseverance when it comes to this type of 'duty'. I don't know what the others think, but I must say that I don't need a 'report system' to be able to help me with moderating these forums.

njeppero

So ur reasoning is tradition and the fact u got more power as individual.

I think this would support teamwork in staff team and also add community helping aspect to it.
I dont see a minus in this and dont see you listing any negatives for this either.
Not really sure what here is to defend against a report system. It might not be used that much in the end, but atleast there is a way for the members to report a rule breaking post easily.

Fizzeq_

njeppero wrote: »

So ur reasoning is tradition and the fact u got more power as individual.

I think this would support teamwork in staff team and also add community helping aspect to it.
I dont see a minus in this and dont see you listing any negatives for this either.
Not really sure what here is to defend against a report system. It might not be used that much in the end, but atleast there is a way for the members to report a rule breaking post easily.

We don't really get power if we've been in power these while.

I realize you haven't been around here in awhile. Things have changed; Saidin is no longer our know-it-all boss. Our current GMs practically had no influence on these forums for over half a year until recently, due to their big switch from G4Box to SG-West. If moderators were to suddenly disappear, these forums would be out of control. So yes, our power is our influence, our form of control.

I find it kind of baffling that over half of our GMs don't know how these forums work and have never tried to moderate either. There's around 10 of them, maybe even less, at Z8Games. There's no specialized staff team. How do you suppose they would be able to dedicate valuable time on a business day to take care of these reports? Sure, hand it over to us. But another question I have to ask is: how many of us do you think are currently on active duty?

You don't need to answer that. The answer is not many, not at all. Also I would like you to keep in mind that we're merely volunteers. It kind of defeats the purpose of volunteer work if there's a system that's unneeded in the way of moderation. Like I said, the things that push me on to working here is the passion and comfort. If those things weren't there anymore, how would I enjoy my time here? There would be no purpose, no?

Our current team of GMs/moderators are doing fine. We're trying to get closer in communication, we've been doing a lot to try and push for things to be done for the better. I'm afraid that something like this would never make our charts.

GhostModee

DualRainbows wrote: »

I think this is a great feature to have. There are times when someone will post something rather explicit and none of the mods will be available at the time to get rid of the post.

What you could also do is make it so that once a post gets flagged X amount of times, it automatically becomes invisible until a moderator approves that it is allowed to be shown again. Simple yet effective way to get rid of trolls.

+1

True, Also 124Ahmed124's Accounts would eventually all end up banned (: +21