Spam or Abuse points.

shai74
shai74 Posts: 512 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Okay, so I haven't posted any spam (which I consider a post advertising something) and yet I've been reported for spam.

I have also never abused anyone, ever, on the forums, and yet I've been reported for abuse.

So my question is, can you just report someone for abuse or spam because you didn't like what they said, with no one moderating the reports?

Because there are dozens of people on here who say things I don't agree with. Should I report them for abuse instead of just either ignoring the thread or contributing my opinion to the discussion?
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Replies

  • caracrawford1
    caracrawford1 Posts: 657 Member
    edited October 2014
    shai74 wrote: »
    Okay, so I haven't posted any spam (which I consider a post advertising something) and yet I've been reported for spam.

    I have also never abused anyone, ever, on the forums, and yet I've been reported for abuse.

    So my question is, can you just report someone for abuse or spam because you didn't like what they said, with no one moderating the reports?

    Because there are dozens of people on here who say things I don't agree with. Should I report them for abuse instead of just either ignoring the thread or contributing my opinion to the discussion?

    Yes unfortunately people are doing that. Its incredibly immature and childish. Part of being an adult is understanding that the world does not revolve around you and somebody might actually *gasp* disagree with you. A good example is the grown man who was posting everyday asking people to look at his diary for that day and tell him if he "did good"-just like a child. In short, told him that we were here to support him, but not babysit a perfectly capable adult, and that if was unsure of his choices, a nutritionist might be a good idea. Well he flagged me for abuse and everyone else who agreed with me or had something to say not to his liking.
  • elphie754
    elphie754 Posts: 7,574 Member
    I really hope they put a system in place where people who report non-abuse be ause they didn't like the answer, they get in trouble.
  • shai74
    shai74 Posts: 512 Member
    Well, seems to me if it's not going to be monitored, the function shouldn't be there at all. Nor should it incur "points".

    If you abuse someone, and it's reported to Admin, and they decide you did in fact abuse someone (by reading the post), then they can take appropriate action. Likewise with spam. If you post ads for viagra, then you should have your account removed.
  • missiontofitness
    missiontofitness Posts: 4,059 Member
    I had the same thing happen to me. Anyone who disagreed with the OP (who was pursuing unsafe weight loss techniques and fad/starvation diets) was flagged. The feature is being abused, and I haven't seen moderators responding quickly to legitimate threads..most likely because they are inundated with all of these petty reports. One thread I saw was flagged 18+ times, and it's now days later and still hasn't been deleted/addressed...the OP did deactivate though (they were very, very underage by their own admission).

    I'm mostly disappointed that the thread that I was wrongfully flagged for spam/abuse in was deleted, yet I still have the negative marks on my account.
  • Graelwyn75
    Graelwyn75 Posts: 4,404 Member
    It is with this system that you realise just how many immature and sad people there are on this site, who would be better suited to a kindergarten than a site for mature adults.
  • missiontofitness
    missiontofitness Posts: 4,059 Member
    Graelwyn75 wrote: »
    It is with this system that you realise just how many immature and sad people there are on this site, who would be better suited to a kindergarten than a site for mature adults.


    Because not agreeing with everyone or disagreeing with a post means you are being unsupportive...that's what I've learned here in some threads.
  • Tigg_er
    Tigg_er Posts: 22,001 Member
    Graelwyn75 wrote: »
    It is with this system that you realise just how many immature and sad people there are on this site, who would be better suited to a kindergarten than a site for mature adults.

    I would agree with that. I do wish they would bring back the ignore button.

  • Graelwyn75
    Graelwyn75 Posts: 4,404 Member
    Lol and thus my point is proved.
    I shall now go and cry into my cornflakes over a few silly clickers. :)
  • missiontofitness
    missiontofitness Posts: 4,059 Member
    Graelwyn75 wrote: »
    Lol and thus my point is proved.
    I shall now go and cry into my cornflakes over a few silly clickers. :)

    What the...seriously?!
    I really want to know what the point of this point system is. You can only get negative points!

  • Graelwyn75
    Graelwyn75 Posts: 4,404 Member
    missiontofitness wrote: »
    Graelwyn75 wrote: »
    Lol and thus my point is proved.
    I shall now go and cry into my cornflakes over a few silly clickers. :)

    What the...seriously?!
    I really want to know what the point of this point system is. You can only get negative points!

    I think it is a bad idea to be honest and horribly open to abuse.
    It leaves a bad taste in the mouth and certainly could discourage some from bothering to post at all. If the worst came to the worst, they should at least put in a 'like' option too, which apparently is an option with this forum software.

  • LeonCX
    LeonCX Posts: 862 Member
    Graelwyn75 wrote: »
    It leaves a bad taste in the mouth and certainly could discourage some from bothering to post at all. .
    @Graelwyn Maybe blame the cornflakes for the bad taste?

  • Graelwyn75
    Graelwyn75 Posts: 4,404 Member
    LeonCX wrote: »
    Graelwyn75 wrote: »
    It leaves a bad taste in the mouth and certainly could discourage some from bothering to post at all. .
    @Graelwyn Maybe blame the cornflakes for the bad taste?

    Lol, tongue in cheek comment, I don't actually eat cornflakes, they are rather bland.
  • Tigg_er
    Tigg_er Posts: 22,001 Member
    Graelwyn75 wrote: »
    Lol and thus my point is proved.
    I shall now go and cry into my cornflakes over a few silly clickers. :)

    Ya and I agreed with you. Must mean I'm gonna get a flag ? A like button would be nice .
  • LeonCX
    LeonCX Posts: 862 Member
    I vote for thumb up/thumb down. Like Youtube. I think at least with the spam flag, it was to make users do all the work. Maybe the mods were getting lazy and asked for that feature. because with 5 spam flags, the comment just drops out.
  • missiontofitness
    missiontofitness Posts: 4,059 Member
    LeonCX wrote: »
    I vote for thumb up/thumb down. Like Youtube. I think at least with the spam flag, it was to make users do all the work. Maybe the mods were getting lazy and asked for that feature. because with 5 spam flags, the comment just drops out.

    Are threads only pulled after 5+ spam flags?
    There's the thread I mentioned above that has 19 abuse flags, and it's still there three days later. Weird that they don't pull for abuse either.

  • Aviva92
    Aviva92 Posts: 2,333 Member
    Where are you seeing all these flags in threads? I don't see anything.
  • LeonCX
    LeonCX Posts: 862 Member
    edited October 2014
    @missiontofitness - my understanding is that only spam flags(5) will make a comment drop out. I don't think abuse flags do much of anything. there are still some controversial ED threads out there with 30+ abuse flags. Entire threads are mainly pulled if a moderator deems the material against MFP guidelines, regardless of the flagging.
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
    LeonCX wrote: »
    I vote for thumb up/thumb down. Like Youtube. I think at least with the spam flag, it was to make users do all the work. Maybe the mods were getting lazy and asked for that feature. because with 5 spam flags, the comment just drops out.

    I think the 5 spam reports and it's pulled was more because of the number of complaints regarding how flooded the forums get with spambots every single night. At least with this new feature, 5 members agree it's spam and it gets pulled. I don't believe the same it true of the abuse flag though...
  • annangelich
    annangelich Posts: 402 Member
    Generally, when I don't agree with the poster or their attitude I just don't post on it, unless I have some information that can be helpful...I have only ever reported people trying to sell things.... I am curious though, how do you know if you have been reported? I haven't yet, but I don't post things much, unless I need help and advice....
  • missiontofitness
    missiontofitness Posts: 4,059 Member
    LeonCX wrote: »
    my understanding is that only spam flags(5) will make a comment drop out. I don't think abuse flags do much of anything. there are still some controversial ED threads out there with 30+ abuse flags. Entire threads are mainly pulled if a moderator deems the material against MFP guidelines, regardless of the flagging.

    Ahh, that makes more sense. Do you know if there's any threads out there that thoroughly explain this feature more? I've gotten some info from a mod regarding it, but I'm still pretty in the dark about all of this.
  • LeonCX
    LeonCX Posts: 862 Member
    edited October 2014
    Do you know if there's any threads out there that thoroughly explain this feature more?
    yes, there is a thread on spam flagging in Website Suggestions.
  • missiontofitness
    missiontofitness Posts: 4,059 Member


    @annangelich, if you go to your notifications, you can see if you have any negative points due to spam or abuse flags. A mod will contact you if you have broken a rule/get a strike.

  • shai74
    shai74 Posts: 512 Member
    You click that little bell then choose "All Notifications" and you can see it. I would like to see who reported me for what post. It's really not fair that I've offended someone and I don't know who or why, takes the fun out of it.
  • 1princesswarrior
    1princesswarrior Posts: 1,242 Member
    After reading the guidelines to the various flag options and having years of software testing experience my suggestion is to just not worry until you hear from a mod. The guidelines say nothing will happen on your account until it is looked at and compared against MFP guidelines. Then the point system will be taken into consideration.

    Unfortunately with a community the size of MFP the new forum software cannot be beta tested with a reasonably sized group of users so the mods and administrators must sort through all of the flags they are receiving at this point.

    So until a better method of sorting through the flags is developed this is going to continue. I apologize for being such a downer but I have been on both sides of the coin with this issue and there is not a simple solution.
  • missiontofitness
    missiontofitness Posts: 4,059 Member
    1princesswarrior wrote: »
    After reading the guidelines to the various flag options and having years of software testing experience my suggestion is to just not worry until you hear from a mod. The guidelines say nothing will happen on your account until it is looked at and compared against MFP guidelines. Then the point system will be taken into consideration.

    Unfortunately with a community the size of MFP the new forum software cannot be beta tested with a reasonably sized group of users so the mods and administrators must sort through all of the flags they are receiving at this point.

    So until a better method of sorting through the flags is developed this is going to continue. I apologize for being such a downer but I have been on both sides of the coin with this issue and there is not a simple solution.

    Do you think they're keeping track of the threads in which you are flagged, especially given that people are flag happy right now for non-guideline violations? Because if I have -100 points and there's nothing to fall back on to cross check, that seems like a flawed way to determine whether someone violated the guidelines.

    ..I hope I don't ever reach -100. -2 is quite enough for me.
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  • Aviva92
    Aviva92 Posts: 2,333 Member
    shai74 wrote: »
    You click that little bell then choose "All Notifications" and you can see it. I would like to see who reported me for what post. It's really not fair that I've offended someone and I don't know who or why, takes the fun out of it.

    yeah, i saw that. i was just confused how people in this thread knew when a thread had spam or flags all over the place. i just see where i can see if i have any notifications, but how do people see this for other people?
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    edited October 2014
    Aviva92 wrote: »
    shai74 wrote: »
    You click that little bell then choose "All Notifications" and you can see it. I would like to see who reported me for what post. It's really not fair that I've offended someone and I don't know who or why, takes the fun out of it.

    yeah, i saw that. i was just confused how people in this thread knew when a thread had spam or flags all over the place. i just see where i can see if i have any notifications, but how do people see this for other people?

    If a post is flagged, the number of flags will show under the posters avatar right next to the flag button.

    edit: example -
    p3b8gy4kkx5x.jpg

    Then if you click the flag icon, you can see what other users have flagged it as. In this case, this was the OP in a thread. It has 3 spam flags and 2 abuse flags.

  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    edited October 2014
    oh, I see you got flagged OP.

    I totes didn't do it. (I did!)

    It doesn't matter. :) Mods are allowing users to attack others, flagged items aren't a big deal until the automatic system closes it. Which from what I saw earlier, took 12 reports.
  • annangelich
    annangelich Posts: 402 Member
    missiontofitness wrote: »

    @annangelich, if you go to your notifications, you can see if you have any negative points due to spam or abuse flags. A mod will contact you if you have broken a rule/get a strike.
    Thank you, I just happened upon this when I went to view all notifications. Fortunately I have none. Glad to hear that a mod will contact me (for future reference). Thank you for answering my question. I

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