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Hello IDW,

The mod team has seen a lot of wasteful reports in the past few weeks after Fifth Stage began and activity ramped up. I'd like to take a moment of your time to explain what that means and what you can do to help.

The report system is meant to be used for members to report other members' guideline violations. That is, if you see somebody breaking one of the forum rules, send a report. We'll get right on it. With five moderators currently active, the turnaround time is very short, and justice is typically doled out pretty quickly.

The report system is not meant to be used for members to let the mod team know that they find another member personally annoying. If somebody is posting what you feel is worthless drivel (but is not legitimate spam), you're better off letting them know yourself. If you think a thread should be closed because the topic is stupid in your opinion, that's not something to report to us. You can PM that to the team.

We've included some very easy instructions in the report screen: "This form is to be used ONLY for reporting objectional content, etc and is not to be used as a method of communicating with moderators for other reasons." If you want to speak to a moderator or admin about concerns that aren't related to warnable/bannable offenses, just drop us a PM. We're all more than happy to help, just please use the correct method of communication.

You're making our jobs easier by reading this stuff, guys. Thanks.
///TESSOU///

Roger that. I'll do my best to make sure the people responsible for this injustice are punished to the fullest extent of my freedom as a member unrestricted by the responsibilities of the mod team.

This post has been edited by Nomake Wan on Nov 17 2012, 06:45 AM

Vigilance is key!

Your fullest abilities while restricted by the forum guidelines, you mean. Leave the moderating to the moderators. If you have an issue with something on the forum, let those responsible know about it via the proper channel.

Simple stuff, but the rash of odd reports in the past few weeks has warranted a clarification that the report feature is not a comment box for the mod team to grumble through.

I'm not gonna make a report that's frivolous. If I report something or someone that's only mildly irritating on its own, it's because I'm reporting it based on a pattern of behavior that I've been observing. That said I recommend if you have a member that seems not to understand what the report function is for, that you PM them. Otherwise I can't tell if this refers to me; really no one can tell if this refers to them- no concrete examples were presented as to what was appropriate or inappropriate to report. It's all quite ambiguous. Otherwise I'm not going to change my pattern of reporting behavior just based on this thread because this thread tells me nothing other than what I already know.

At the end of the day is it really that much of a hassle to skim through a few frivolous reports to realize it's a dud and move on?

Oh, absolutely. I would think that the forum guidelines and such would apply across the board, so what I do will of course only be limited by what everyone else can do. That's how guidelines and precedent work, after all.