Rules for reporting posts - please advise

Excellent questions Angel and I hope the mods reply soon.

I guess there could be a reason for slow reaction by the Moderators.  After all, they may still be going through all the deletes some of you made to the "Update" thread the other night.  Oh right, I know, that was justified but your friend was not.

I sure hope no one is going around reporting posts in retaliation for his/her friend's posts having been reported.  Not sayin' that's what's happening, of course.  After all, who knows who's reporting posts anymore, unless the reporter admits to it him/herself?

It was interesting that, earlier this afternoon, someone had a post reported in which she identified herself as having reported someone else's post.  What was that all about?

otter

[Edited to add:  OTOH, maybe identifying the people who report posts isn't a good idea if people are going to retaliate against them by reporting their posts. I'll bet the Mods get tired of all this.]

How about this, as a compromise?:

Eliminate the "Report this Post" function as it now works.  Specifically, disable the computer program that removes posts automatically (albeit "temporarily") based on 5 reports from the "Community".

Instead, continue to allow members to "Report" or "Flag" posts they interpret as being in violation of the Rules, but leave the decision about removing those posts up to the Moderators.  In other words, a post will stand unless and until a Moderator reviews it and takes action to delete it.  Once the Mods had determined the nature of the violation -- if, in fact, there really was a violation -- the person whose post had been reported would be given an opportunity to modify or delete the post herself.  If the offending post was not revised or removed by its author, the content would be deleted by the Mods and the post would be marked "This post was removed by the Moderators."  A follow-up message would be sent to the author, informing him/her of the deletion.

The Mods could use a threshold of "Reports", if they wish, to decide whether or not a post needs to be reviewed.  That will help them sort the posts that are hurtful or defamatory from those that merely irritate a few people.  IMHO, that threshold of "Reports" can be set pretty high, because a post that truly violates the Rules is likely to be reported by dozens of members.  That would also make it more difficult for a cabal of members (or one member operating under multiple names) to remove posts just because they didn't like the content or the person posting them.

It is impossible for the Mods to ride herd on all of us and monitor everything we post. That might work on a much smaller, less active forum, but I can't imagine how it could be done efficiently here.  But the present system is not working, either.  The present system allows a small group of users (or one member using multiple identities) to harass other members by "Reporting" their posts unjustifiably.  Despite the designation of a removal as "temporary", the post is still gone until the Mods have a chance to look at it.  For members with a history of posts having been removed (justifiably or not), removal of a single additional post results in automatic banning.  We have permanently lost valuable, long-time members because of that policy.  After continued harassment and intimidation, they gave up and went elsewhere.

A policy that permits that to happen is not supportive.

otter

I once had a post removed and it violated none of those things,  if the rules I linked to below are the right  ones.  It would be nice if we were given the rule we violated when that happened, because to this day I have no idea why my post was deleted.  I can't learn what's acceptable if I don't know what rule I violated.

I do understand the mods are very busy and I know that they help keep this place a great place to be.  They have a hard job.  So, I'm not complaining. 

 Are these the rules?  http://community.breastcancer.org/help/rules

Am I someone who is supposed to remain confined to a "lair"?  Just wondering.

I do think there are plenty of threads that get high numbers of hits for the simple reason that they are of interest and relevance to many.  Although I'm sure the Moderators are capable of seeing that. The idea of monitoring highly active threads seems reasonable -- but since the Board software already indicates active threads, it seems new software might not be needed. 

In my experience "unknown troublemakers" are a bigger problem than "known" (which I think is a subjective call), but maybe that's just me...

Hanging in my lair.

Looks like the gangs all here!

nurse-ann, seriously -- it's not nice to call people who get along with each and stick up for each other a "gang."  And despite what you may think, we aren't in lockstep, don't take marching orders from a leader, don't all think the same.  I'm hurt, because I haven't met you before, and yet you're passing judgment on me. 

People have friendships on this Board that could be illustrated with Venn diagrams -- you know, overlapping circles.

I've had only one comment reported/deleted in my 4 years on BCO -- when I told a homophobe who posted something nasty in the lesbian forum that her comment didn't belong there.  My comment was restored by the Mods.  Of comments I have reported (almost always for spam), I have only once been notified that it was inappropriate -- and that was because the Mods hadn't noticed a link to a commercial website within that comment, so then they realized I had correctly reported it as spam.

You are overstating this "known troublemakers" and "gang" thing, in my opinion, and I really wish you'd stop.  Please PM your thoughts to the Moderators instead.  Thank you.

We finally have a voice of reason!

I wondered where all the flowers had gone ...

Oh otter

I guess there are double secret rules and gangs and bullies.

Beam me up Scottie...

Maybe we don't just have a flower, but a whole garden! Again!

The reports make no sense. there are reports for saying why we are reporting. There are reports for disagrreeing (specifically against the rules) and there are apparently reports for even posting. Somebody is having fun and I pity the poor mods.

I still feel that the names of deleters should be public. That will stop the itchy clicking fingers.