Mods reading reported posts in fora they don't moderate

P. Breathnach

Sad Professor wrote: »

I really don't understand what the big deal is. If you are reporting a mod outside of their forum and you are concerned about confidentiality, just PM the mods of the forum....

A good and helpful suggestion. But many posters do not know that mods can see all reported posts, so it's probably a good thing that threads like this be created.

darced

This post has been deleted.

MugMugs

darced wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Why?

If you've done nothing wrong and don't intend to do anything wrong, then what's the problem?

Sad Professor

P. Breathnach wrote: »

A good and helpful suggestion. But many posters do not know that mods can see all reported posts, so it's probably a good thing that threads like this be created.

Does it make any difference if the reported mod sees it or not? What are they going to do about it?

And remember, they aren't the only ones who can see it. Admins and CMods can as well.

KERSPLAT!

darced wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

As was said above, the alternative is to PM a Mod or CMod if you don't want to use the report function to report a Mod.

Pawwed Rig

Sad Professor wrote: »

Does it make any difference if the reported mod sees it or not? What are they going to do about it?

Various things really. Hold a grudge, infract you for the smallest breaches of charter in their own fora. E-mail their colleagues and highlight you as a troublemaker putting everything you write under more scrutiny, discredit your points in their own fora by using mod actions etc etc

MugMugs wrote: »

If you've done nothing wrong and don't intend to do anything wrong, then what's the problem?

This is such a cliche I am assuming it is a joke? Have you read 1984?

Dav: I will have to dig for it but will have a look this evening or tomorrow.

MugMugs

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

This is such a cliche I am assuming it is a joke? Have you read 1984?

This reeks of "The world is out to get me because I told tales" frankly.

There's processes in place to protect all users, mods or users in the event of disciplinary.

It's not difficult to prove that you're being victimised as a result of a reported post(s) if you feel that you are. There's processes in place to oversee this and provide protection.

I would really hope that doesn't happen Pawwed Rig

Just to say, and I don't know if it will make any difference to how ye feel about it, but mods are not allowed to post or comment on reported posts from outside their forums. If they do - they will be pulled up on it fairly swiftly by both the mods of the forum, and by admin.

I've genuinely never experienced a mod contacting me because their post was reported within my forums.

Larianne

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

I have reported moderators posts on at least 2 occasions in the past. I was under the impression that only the mods of the forum where the posts were reported have access here. However it seems that the mod whose post I have reported can actually see that I have reported the post?

Ok I will definitely think twice before I do that in future

What you could do if you fear a mod may see your reported post is to use PM and report them to other mods of the forum or cat mods, with a link to their post in the PM.

I've had to do that for a certain forum, where there is a likelihood (in my opinion) that mods (not necessarily of that forum) who are friends with posters would give them a heads up on the reported post. Of course, I have no proof of this, but I am not stupid either.

No system is perfect. But I wouldn't let that stop you from reporting posts.
Having the reported posts forum is a help to new mods or to gain imput from others when dealing with tricky situations.

P. Breathnach wrote: »

A good and helpful suggestion. But many posters do not know that mods can see all reported posts, so it's probably a good thing that threads like this be created.

In one way yes, but I think it will stop posters from reporting. Hard to get some posters to report in the first place!

MugMugs wrote: »

Why?

If you've done nothing wrong and don't intend to do anything wrong, then what's the problem?

The whole point of the reported post function is to allow for relatively anonymous reporting. I guess PP thinks that's somewhat taken away.

Sad Professor

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

Various things really. Hold a grudge, infract you for the smallest breaches of charter in their own fora.

Then you follow the DRP and have the infractions/bans removed. If the Admins/Cmods come to the conclusion that the Mod has a personal grievance with you due to you reporting their posts (which they have a record of), then that's pretty serious.

E-mail their colleagues and highlight you as a troublemaker putting everything you write under more scrutiny, discredit your points in their own fora by using mod actions etc etc

Unless their "colleagues" are idiots, they will check your posting history and form their own conclusions.

darced

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Pawwed Rig

Sad Professor wrote: »

Then you follow the DRP and have the infractions/bans removed. If the Admins/Cmods come to the conclusion that the Mod has a personal grievance with you due to you reporting their posts (which they have a record of), then that's pretty serious.

Who needs that kind of hassle?

MugMugs

darced wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Yet, I've never seen an example of this nor has anybody actually provided one.

P. Breathnach

Sad Professor wrote: »

Does it make any difference if the reported mod sees it or not? ...

Not to me.

But I am sure it does to some people.

Dav

To answer an earlier question, the Reported Posts forum is searchable - it's too important a tool to all Mods, CMods and Admins to not let people search through it for previous instances of whatever they're currently investigating (although ModUtils 3 has much better record keeping than ModUtils 2 used to, so we're seeing slightly less of a need for that).

This is always how the reporting has worked folks. Emphasis on Work - it does. If you're now going to assume that moderators are going to hold some sort of grudge then you're not really showing any faith in a system that you once had no issue with. Like I said, we have de-modded people who have acted in the manner you're suggesting is going to happen to you if you report a post and so the reality is that it simply doesn't happen. If we look at the number of reported posts versus the number of incidents where this has cropped up, it's statistically irrelevant (I'd guess 0.001% if even that).

Contrary to popular belief, the mods of this site don't act as some sort of hive mind and don't spend any spare time keeping an eye out for stress in each other's forums whilst plotting the downfall of the members of the site I'm being somewhat tongue in cheek because the reported post functionality has worked brilliantly for so many years at this stage, there shouldn't be any sort of issue with it all of a sudden. People need to understand that this is a volunteer driven and staffed site - there are those of us here in the office to support the platform that the various communities are built on, but by and large, the site is self policing which is how we want it to be.

Myrddin

If people feel the need to report a post, they shouldn't second guess it if it that post is made by a moderator. I've reported mods posts in the past, its nothing personal, but if I feel a post has crossed the line then I'll report it no matter who made it. Once you're not abusing the 'report post' feature, & genuinely feel the post should be looked at, then you're doing your bit.

As Dav mentioned, any abuse of that system by a mod is a serious matter.

Bobeagleburger

Will I Amnt wrote: »

Said without a hint of irony :rolleyes:

All you have done here is have a go at the op, why not comment on the subject at hand?
It's a very valid point.

I addressed it twice but you choose to ignore those posts

Nice name change btw, everyone seems to be changing identities these days

Faith

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

Various things really. Hold a grudge, infract you for the smallest breaches of charter in their own fora. E-mail their colleagues and highlight you as a troublemaker putting everything you write under more scrutiny, discredit your points in their own fora by using mod actions etc etc

Two points:

1. Do you think anyone is that petty that they'll get so angry that their post was reported, that they'll take it out on the reporter in various passive aggressive ways? Anyone like that wouldn't survive long as a moderator. Forums have multiple moderators so that each moderator is also moderated. If I saw a co-mod acting like a dick, I'd call him/her on it.

2. The majority of moderators don't even use the RP forum. We get emails with the reports, and most of us action them through the email. The chances of a moderator even seeing that their post has been reported is pretty small. Some might scan the front page, but we get enough sitewide reports that the front page changes pretty quickly.

It's really not something to be concerned about. I'd actively encourage all users to report posts no matter who the poster. If a moderator is constantly causing trouble elsewhere, it's great to have their posts reported so that the admins have a record of that.

LuckyLloyd

Yeah, not buying what is on sale here tbh. Seems Dav et al have missed the point. It's fine saying 'any serious abuse is demod and site ban'. That's fair enough and I've no doubt that anyone stupid enough to try and abuse the facility in that fashion over the years have been rightly put to the sword.

However, if someone gets the modship of Plumbing and Heating (just an example off the top of my head, not insinuating any foul play on behalf of the surely noble mod (s) of Plumbing and Heating), then as a user across the rest of the vast expanse of boards they have a special and unfair privilege. Via a simple 30 second search of the Reported Posts forum, they can choose to see if any of their posts ever have been reported; who reported it; and why. If the moderators of that forum deemed the report unworthy of further action (as per the majority of reports) they still are aware of the complaint.

So, if you are in a thread and don't like a post by a regular user you can report it privately. However, if the post you have an issue with is by a moderator, you are unable to report it privately. Your report is easily available to the mod / poster in question.

As such, the report system in its current format is not fully private and equal. Saying:

- 'we know our report system is not fully private and equal but we are handstrung by technical limitations'

is totally fine.

- 'oh, so what, no big deal any major breaches are dealt with harshly and it has been like this forever you know?'

is, eh, not so fine.

wnolan1992

darced wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

That's what DRP is for. If you feel a mod is being biased against you in a decision, then go to DRP. If they had no reason to warn/infract/ban you, then it'll be overturned.

If a Mod is continually being overruled in DRP because of bias, then I think it's fair to say they won't be a Mod for very long anyway.

It seems pretty obvious that people are not aware of this and without doubt it will and is being abused.

Mods are forbidden to use their privileges on the site outside of their own forums. If you come across a Mod abusing the Reported Posts feature, then report them to the CMods.

Will I Amnt

rarnes1 wrote: »

I addressed it twice but you choose to ignore those posts.

Nice name change btw, everyone seems to be changing identities these days

I changed my username for a reason outlined to the admin in a pm, so if you don't mind editing your other post to remove my previous username...
You can pm all your buddies.

Bobeagleburger

Will I Amnt wrote: »

I changed my username for a reason outlined to the admin in a pm, so if you don't mind editing your other post to remove my previous username...
You can pm all your buddies.

No bother

You do realize that an old username shows up in quoted posts

Will I Amnt

rarnes1 wrote: »

No bother

You do realize that an old username shows up in quoted posts

Yep, I just don't want my other name as easy to find in a search.

K-9

The post specifically referred to is about a pretty widely known issue in soccer, it has been discussed before on soccer feedback threads on the forum before, so the user could be referring to that. Petty reporting of posts in soccer is hardly some sekrit phenomenon.

Anyway, the vast majority of mods wouldn't abuse the system, any that do should be reported as it is breaching the privacy of the reporter.

Boards.ie: Danny

rarnes1 wrote: »

No bother

You do realize that an old username shows up in quoted posts

It does

Pawwed Rig

Faith wrote: »

Do you think anyone is that petty that they'll get so angry that their post was reported, that they'll take it out on the reporter in various passive aggressive ways?

Everyone? No. Some people? Yes.
I see it everyday at work with petty people having digs at those they do not like. I saw it in college, I saw it in school and I see it in my social life. I've been a victim of it and if I am honest I have probably done it myself. To think mods are not representative of the general population is an error (imho)
Have I seen it on Boards by mods? I have seen some fora with serious issues and have seen mods give out about RP on thread aswell as having infractions overturned through DRP where the person complaining claims bias on the part of the mod. I don't know if it is appropriate to name fora but I think the airsoft and C&T fora are good examples of this (please delete if inappropriate).

With regard to your second point - what I know about the DP forum is in this thread and other similar ones. I do not know the mechanics of the whole thing.

Bobeagleburger

Boards.ie: Danny wrote: »

It does

Yep, obviously from quotes pre-name change

Ando's Saggy Bottom

K-9 wrote: »

The post specifically referred to is about a pretty widely known issue in soccer, it has been discussed before on soccer feedback threads on the forum before, so the user could be referring to that. Petty reporting of posts in soccer is hardly some sekrit phenomenon.

He seems to know a lot about how many and exactly what type though doesn't he?

LuckyLloyd

Rafa's Wrinkly Ballbag wrote: »

He seems to know a lot about how many and exactly what type though doesn't he?

Of course, when he was a mod he read the forum. Like many mods would read the forum. You scroll through what isn't interesting and notice what is. The suggestion that mods wouldn't do that is a little naive.

Insect Overlord

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Yeah, not buying what is on sale here tbh.

...

So, if you are in a thread and don't like a post by a regular user you can report it privately. However, if the post you have an issue with is by a moderator, you are unable to report it privately. Your report is easily available to the mod / poster in question.

...

- 'oh, so what, no big deal any major breaches are dealt with harshly and it has been like this forever you know?'

is, eh, not so fine.

For a fella who tags himself as "the voice of reason", you do seem to come out with some very strange statements.