What to do when you see a "bad" post

valanhb

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So, in the past few days there have been more than a few posts brought to our (the mod's) attention requiring or requesting action. These may be spammy posts, rude or offensive, right up to out and out trolls. (Unfortunately, we know that there is a correlation between breaks in school and the number of troll hits we get...) So, we wanted to take this opportunity to remind everyone what they can (and should) do when they see a post that the mods should review.

1. Report Post.
This has been used by many of you already, so thank you! For those who don't know about this useful button, it is the yellow triangle with an exclamation point in it at the top of each and every post. Hit that button, and it will give you a little form to tell us why you are reporting it. When you hit Send (or Report), an email will be sent to every mod on that forum.


2. OMG - it's BAD!!! Report the post, and if nothing happens it may mean that the mod(s) of that forum aren't online. Send any of us a quick PM, especially if you see us posting elsewhere. We can't be everyone at once, so we likely won't be the first to see a problem post. Also, we may not be where we get the notification emails (I get the notifications at work, since I'm there more than I am home, so evenings and weekends I don't get the emails.)

3. It's really best not to confront it in public. By this, I mean the ones that are flagrantly disregarding the rules and obviously trying to upset people. Thing is, some of these people's whole purpose is to get people upset - so if no one replies it ruins all of their fun.
It ruins their fun even more if their posts are taken down so fast they don't get many views.

This is a great community, and it is because of you guys that we are able to keep the place family friendly.
You are our eyes on the site - there's only a few of us, but with all of you watching too no one can pull one over on us!
 

mybabyphx

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Thank you Heidi, for letting us all know that! I really don't see that many BAD posts, I've only seen a couple where I was like "WHAT ARE YOU SERIOUS?". Some people just get upset in the heat of the moment and post things that they don't even realize they are doing!

Note: If you get upset please use one of these:
or any other smilie you may want to use



I wonder if this thread was started because of the thread I just started in IMO?
 

starryeyedtiger

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Thanks for the reminder!
there have been several posts on occassion that i thought about reporting but wasn't sure how to go about doing that
 

AbbysMom

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Bumping up this very important reminder.

Originally Posted by mybabyphx

I wonder if this thread was started because of the thread I just started in IMO?
No. It is because of the increased incidence of problem posts over the last few days as Heidi mentioned.
 

lunasmom

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I think its a great tool. There are so many other forums that just let any rude or non-cat site related posts occur and you just have to dish it out yourself with that other person. That just creates longer threads (that may not have anything to do with the OP) and takes up space that perhaps no one else wants to read.

Out of Curiousity, can you report rude PMs too?
 

emrldsky

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Nuh uh...might give me away!
Originally Posted by katl8e

Yes. Sometimes, rude is in the eye/mind of the beholder, though.
I've received spammy PMs before, but there isn't a report button that I can see. What would be the BEST way to handle that situation?
 

AbbysMom

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Originally Posted by Trouts mom

Soooo...can we report them even if its just a mean personal attack?


Yes, that is against the forum rules as well, but as Cindy mentioned, sometimes rude is in the eye of the beholder.
 

rapunzel47

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The questions I tagged to answer have been answered, so I'll just give this a bump up.
 

twstychik

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I LOVE the report post button. I have yet to need to use it here but it's a great resource to have and the fact that there's usually at least one mod online availabel to PM is fantastic.

I'd like to thank all the mods and admin staff here for all their hard work in keeping TCS a friendly family site!
 

kittymonsters

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I haven't seen any bad posts, but I did read PHX's post in IMO and was wondering. I am on usually at weird times though so I miss a lot of the action.

What I was wondering is about the interpretation of rude. I hope to goodness I haven't been rude. However I know I don't beat around the bush and I am straight forward which can be overwhelming for people.

If one of my posts was rude or offensive and was reported I am hoping I would get a notification. Is this correct?
 

natalie_ca

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TBH, not much. I don't open all of the threads here (only ones where the subject line catches my interest and some of the kitty pictures in fur forum), so more often than not I miss the "bad" ones. Plus I have a high tolerance and tend to not even consider a post "bad".

The only posts I will report are those where I feel the poster is in a crisis and is near attempting or sounds like they are currently in the process of killing themselves. Then I will ask a moderator to intervene and track down the ISP so that they can call the local police for the person's area.

Another time I will report a post is if I see a child is being endangered.

Other than that I don't.

There have been some threads posted in the lounge that I thought were inappropriate such as one where someone thought that their cat had died a horrific death at the jaws of their dogs, and then all of those Amber dying posts.

I don't handle stuff like that very well at all and it really depresses me and makes me feel physically sick for weeks. But it's not my place to tell the owner of this site how to run it (not my words) or what posts are suitable for what forum etc, so I just stayed away until those posts were either moved to another forum, or pushed down off of the first page.

This may not be a popular opinion, but then again I've never been one to bow to the polular opinion "just because", but it isn't my job to police this or any other website and tell the mods what posts should and should not be allowed to be posted. So I just live my internet life in my own glass bubble and mind my own little corner of the internet.

Until recently I was a moderator at an art community that has 300,000 plus members. All of them active on one part of the site or another. It was a very busy job. I found I was kept so busy that I didn't have time for my art and I resigned a month or so ago. So now I go to sites and read and post and leave the moderating to someone else.
 

crittermom

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Ok.But I feel the need to point this out.Sorry if it steps on anyones toes.
The post that was just on here the other night, I reported 2 times! .There were others that had reported the thread.It took 2 HOURS for that thread to be pulled.
I was told to go to H*** and was VERY upset that something like that, after being reported was allowed to remain on TCS.If my children had read that post, which was totally uncalled for, I would NEVER have returned to TCS.There is a word that we are not allowed to use, it is censored, but yet that post was left on for 2 HOURS.I was totally offeneded and appaulled.
I am thankful that someone finally pulled the thread and it was removed.But, am still upset that it was allowed to remain for that long.
I have bitten my tongue on more posts than I can count.There have been many, like the one Linda mentioned about the cats head.I think there should have been some kind of warning with that BEFORE we opened it.
 
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