Poll: Why report???

[OrenjiJusu]

why am i only just now noticing the report button?

 

[Woodsey]

When a thread is funny but "inappropriate" why does everyone report?
I don't mean useless thread with no discussion i mean threads like http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.138561#3114220
if its funny why does it matter???

If its against the rules, then it matters. It also wasnt that funny, unless youre 15, then i can understand.

Well, I'm 15 and the OP made me chuckle - couldn't be arsed to read the rest though. It's only a bit of a laugh, I don't see the problem.

Almost anything you say can be interpreted as offensive by someone else - if you find a thread offensive, just don't read it.

Mind you the point about the rules (I can't say I know what any of them are apart from 'don't be a twat') is a fair one I suppose. Although I still think people need to lighten up.

EDIT: Just want to make it clear I'm not talking about blatant racism and things akin to that when I say about things that can be interpreted as offensive - obviously that needs to be reported because it's just ridiculous.

 

[Zombie_Fish]

funny but "inappropriate"

That's why. If it's innappropriate, then it needs to be reported, regardless of whether or not it's funny.

EDIT2: If it's funny, it's even worse because it means that it isn't being taken as a serious topic.

Although the amount of reports those threads actually get is pathetically small compared to the posts saying it.

EDIT:

I'd say that people aren't reporting enough threads/posts, it's either that or the mods aren't paying attention. Because I've seen a lot of ban-worthy posts in the past few weeks...

Trust me, it's the reports. Because of the new Red Guards we have pretty much at least one mod online all the time. Some rule breaking posts have actually only gotten one report, in spite of the amount of posters reporting it.

 

[Player 2]

The Internet is Serious Business. What happens if you report yourself?

 

[Aedrial]

why am i only just now noticing the report button?

Cause it's not big and red enough yet! XD It should also flash!

 

[Aedrial]

The Internet is Serious Business. What happens if you report yourself?

I accidentally did once >_< Thankfully, they ignored it.

 

[lenin_117]

I report hate threads.

I hate report threads.

 

[Agrael]

a) People want to be politically correct
b) People get offended WAY too easily
c) People are attention whores.

And I will most likely get reported.

But seriously, take it easy .

If the thread is stupid, as in the context is so messed up (THE CAKE IS A LIE, WHY SO SERIOUS etc.) then I would personally ban hammer that goddamn yolker.

Good day now.

 

[Rascarin]

If it's innapropriate, then I'll report it. This isn't 4chan or Youtube, and I like to do my bit to keep it that way.

 

[curty129]

When a thread is funny but "inappropriate" why does everyone report?
I don't mean useless thread with no discussion i mean threads like http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.138561#3114220
if its funny why does it matter???

If its against the rules, then it matters. It also wasnt that funny, unless youre 15, then i can understand.

Excuse me, 15 years old? ;P Aim a little lower please.

o_o Oh god no, That.. that isn't funny at all. I feel quite sick.. That's.. Why?

 

[Samurai Goomba]

It wasn't immature or childish, though--it was an interesting question that can be used to think more critically about the relationship between gender and sex and sexual orientation.

I know what you mean there, but the way it was worded was pretty silly. A little bit of clever wording and it probably wouldn't have been reported...as much.

Drat, beaten to it.

Anyway, how somebody says something can be more important than what they say, especially on Internet forums where intent can't be determined easily.

Maybe the topic was intended to stir up intelligent discussion where people were forced out of their comfort zones and confronted deep-rooted sexual issues, but it could just as easily have been a cheap laugh at the expense of others. Depravity for its own sake is extremely common on the Internet. And it shouldn't be allowed on The Escapist.

If the OP on that topic had been as detailed (and thus the intent much easier to see) as the articles you linked to, Cheese, it probably wouldn't have been locked.

I agree with both of you: but why was it simply locked then? Why wasn't the OP asked to make it look less ambiguous?

And more importantly, when did the posters on The Escapist become people who *don't* assume something controversial is "intended to stir up intelligent discussion where people were forced out of their comfort zones and confronted deep-rooted sexual issues."

Hmm... Dare I say it? Alright, I will.

Since people like thunderhitler started posting here. There has also been somewhat of a move in recent months away from serious discussions on original subjects and perhaps more towards topic derailing and jokes in poor taste. So it's reasonable to mistake a serious question for such a failed humor attempt.

Besides which, if a mod isn't sure about the initial intent with which someone created a topic, what's the point in the mod asking them to put more effort into it? If it is just a person wallowing in filth and depravity, an exhortation isn't going to help much.

The burden of proof, (so to speak) is on the person making the topic, rather than the moderator reviewing it. If someone wants to challenge sexual norms, for example, they need to make it clear they can do so in a sensitive and intelligent fashion.

While topics which are more controversial or outside the norm can be more interesting, I feel they are also more dangerous. Allow too much to get through the filter and we risk more exposure to Internet horribleness. But if there's not enough freedom to branch out, it feels limiting.

 

[Swaki]

because this is a sophisticated forum (lol poo) and not 4chan, and extremely evil jokes about the weak and the minorities are not funny, this a forum where we each day discuss halflife and other 5+ year old games and have some discussion about homosexuals, and everything else is unwelcome.

 

[Labyrinth]

Definitely, I agree. I guess I'd say that I hope that it doesn't go from a feeling that 'mods are human and aren't immune to peer-pressure' to 'mods are there to enforce the will of the community, even when that community is in the wrong'.

We are human, but we're not very susceptible to peer pressure. Having an ear to the ground in the community is not the same as being bullied into something. Each mod brings their own approach to moderation but we all function off the same guidelines and by the same restraints.

If you have a thread which you think was lock improperly let us know, state exactly why you think it wasn't locked and we'll have a second look.

 

[Pimppeter2]

That thread isn't funny at all.

Its just fucked up.

No one wants to talk about that ever.

 

[Pimppeter2]

99,99% the time people report, vote down or ban other people because it's easier than coming up with a counter-argument.

I think you're talking about yourself here. The reason your on prob for 3 days isn't because we couldn't come up with a counter argument, its becasue you were being a sexist asshole who couldn't come up with a valid argument and started being a jackass

What a great excuse. Just go back to the kitchen if you can't handle your responsibilities as a free and equal citizen

 

[Fire Daemon]

Otherwise people could just, I don't know: co-ordinate over Twitter to hit the report button on a poster they didn't like: do we want that? Do we want the report button to become a popularity contest?

I believe that is why the ignore feature was put in place. Unless a particular group really, really hates someone else or is strongly apposed to the ignore function I don't think they are going to gang up and get rid of people. It could happen, though. I really hope that it doesn't.

What I think this community has to realise is that when a person posts that they have reported someone they are not doing that so they can bring evil doers to justice, they are doing it to make themselves look better than the thread creator and everyone similar to that person. The Escapist has become such a popularity centered community in which to have a guarantee that people will respond to your posts you have to be well known. The more posts you make, the more you are known by the community. Make a fuck load of posts and you're king of the forum. Get a post in the start of a thread that is going to cause a large amount of controversy (hence attention) and people are going to see you. You can't make/detailed a long post, obviously, because it will drop down and then people might not notice you. You can't always make a short post, some topics require more than a paragraph. You can say reported when there is the slightest part of controversy, no one calls you out on it, and your name gets seen. I've noticed that the one line threads, threads that are against the guidelines, do not get reported. I figure that this is because people can get their name up the top without having to report. Also notice that you rarely seen any 'Reported' posts on the second page, or even at the end of the first?

I would like for the community to not confuse actual reporting and someone trying to make themselves look better.

I do report posts when I see something that I know a mod wont like. I think that everyone should only report things that they know a mod wont like, rather than just someone disagreeing with them or a thread that makes them uncomfortable, confused etc. That way when you report something you're only showing them something that they would lock/ban but missed, rather than bitching about something you personally have problems with, not the rest of the community. To do this people need to know what the mods don't like which can be known through reading the guidelines, reading mod's posts (like the couple Labyrinth made earlier on) and looking at the threads that get locked or the people that get banned. If you see a post that was similar to another one which resulted in a ban, report it.