Rules for reporting posts - please advise

Athena, I noticed that as well. Sheesh. I still feel (for the dozenth time) that publishing the deleters names will stop frivolous/vindictive deleting, thus freeing the mods up to do important stuff rather than referee a bunch of immature posters.

Texas .. sorry you took a hit too.  Our club is growing by leaps and bounds!

Sure wish they would put that feature back on that shows who's hitting the report button.

Bren

Same post reported again? Well sorry if I crossed a line but I did not know giving my reason for reporting even if I did misinterpret something broke a rule. I guess from now on I say I reported but not why.

BinVA, I may be missing some subtlety here, but suggesting someone has a psychological disorder such as "histrionic personality disorder" would probably be considered cruel and defamatory by the BCO terms of service.

"Attributing psychological problems to anyone in an email or social media context" falls into the bullying guidelines enforced by my school district.

July:

I just went back and read the post, as well.  I have a couple of theories about these reports and whose doing them.  One of my theories was touched on by someone else yesterday when they said it was almost as if a lawyer was ferreting out things that could be defamatory.  That fits with going back four pages in a Forum to delete something. 

Speculating on someone's mental health and quoting information from manuals (someone actually did that yesterday and had it deleted) would fall into that category. I think that many people forget that although BCO is a non-profit business - it is still a business.  If I were a business looking for sponsors, I would be embarrassed by some of the things that go on here.

I'll keep the other theory to myself, for now. 

The bully is the one who is doing  the reporting. Of that, I am confident.

Well now that's interesting. So the original post wasn't deleted. The whole thing has me stumped as to why they are being reported. It does seem it's those of us who have been around for a while though!

July .. once again, I did not break any rules of BCO.  I did not defame, bully or harrass another member.

You can read my post 100 times and it will still say the same thing.  I said I found Axis II diagnoses interesting (which I do, I work for a psychiatrist), and I related a story about a friend of mine.

I agree with you, the "report" function has failed.

Bren

July:

I actually went back to read the link a third time.  If you move up several more posts above the one you mention, you will see that the Moderators had visited the thread and suggested that they tone it down.  They didn't.

I haven't been posting on BCO, except for Konakat's thread, for several months now.  I miss the friendships and interaction, but the repeated deletions and bannings really got to me.  So it's sad to see history repeating itself this weekend.

I hope the moderators will step up to the plate.  For what it's worth, here are three specific suggestions, none of them original (seeing as how we've been down this path many times before):

1. Restore the function that identified the last person who reported a post.  This was demonstrably effective in stopping vindictive deletions.  Then, for reasons I don't understand, it was undone (with no announcement or word of explanation as far as I can tell) - and, not surprisingly, the abuses returned.

2. Do not allow "newbies" to report posts.  I believe this used to be the policy, but was reversed in the last round of changes.  Returning to the old policy isn't a cure-all, but would make it harder to create sock puppets to use against other posters.  (This is a necessity if suggestion #1, which relies on posters' concern for their community reputation, is adopted.)

3. Establish and enforce a rule prohibiting multiple identities on this board.  I don't think one can overstate just how destructive it is to the community - to our ability to trust and support one another and grow friendships - when sock puppets and false ids are allowed to proliferate.

Sorry if this seems like "swooping in."  It's just that what's been going on makes me very, very sad - all the more so in the wake of Konakat's death, since she really exemplified all that's best about this board, and the connections it allows us to make with women (and a few wonderful men) all over the world.

Peace,

L

Very well said, Lewing.

 Especially in the week of Konakat's death, this is all bringing to mind a horrific example of the abuse of "report this post" -- back at the beginning of March, when someone(s) reported and deleted posts of Konakat's, and she was automatically, temporarily banned.  Many of the same suggestions to the Moderators about how to address such abuse can be found in the 4-page thread (which received "lots of hits in a short time," but all in agreement) from March 2, 2011 entitled "Free Konakat from the Time-Out Room":
http://community.breastcancer.org/forum/8/topic/765649?page=1

Please note that Konakat was a dear friend of all on the "You say yes..." thread -- in fact, that's where her non-offending comments were deleted from.  So maybe we're all a little touchy right now about similar deletions happening again.  It really is time to work something out here.

Thanks, and peace,

Ann

Lewing wrote:

"3. Establish and enforce a rule prohibiting multiple identities on this board.  I don't think one can overstate just how destructive it is to the community - to our ability to trust and support one another and grow friendships - when sock puppets and false ids are allowed to proliferate"

THIS IS AN ABSOLUTE PRIORITY MODERATORS IF YOU ARE LOOKING IN

If you don't want your posts reported, there is a more gracious way of expressing one self, it's called Civility

I would add that, in order to become a member, one would have to provide proof of actually having breast cancer.  Too many phonies on BCO in my opinion.

I'd go with a pathology report with disclaimer for private and confidential info