What happens when a user reports a post? How is the decision to give warnings and infractions taken? This simple guide aims to answer these questions and shed some light on the ins and outs of rule enforcement.
Reports
Every post, visitor message, private message or blog entry/comment that is reported creates a thread in a forum that's only available to see by members of the staff. Every subsequent reports of the same post will simply appear after the original report in the same thread. Here's what such a thread looks like:
Unless a post is glaringly breaking rules, in which case the post will straight up result in a warning or an infraction, the decision to warn/infract will involve discussion in threads like the one shown above. No matter which part of the forum they originate from, all the threads created by reports end up in the same forum; that means that all forum staff members have the ability to see, comment and share their opinion on the course of action to take regarding a report, even if the reported post doesn't originate from a section they mod. That allows the staff to get as many opinions and discuss in depth whether or not the reported post does indeed break the rules.
Also, it's worth noting that a good part of the reports are done by moderators themselves either when the reported post doesn't originate from the section(s) they are moderating or when they come across a borderline post in their section and want a second opinion on whether or not to warn/infract.
Warning/Infractions
As stated before, unless the post glaringly breaks the rules, it will be preceded by a discussion in a report thread. The final decision will be taken by a moderator of the section that the reported post originated from or an administrator. While most reports do not lead to formal warnings or infractions, when they do a similar thread to report threads is created in the same forum. Here is what such a thread looks like.
Once again, any staff member can comment and share their agreement or disagreement with the decision that was taken by the moderator who issued the decision, and are encouraged to do so. These comments can lead the moderator who issued the warning/infraction to reverse their decision or help them handle similar situations in the future more efficiently. The decision to give a warning or an infraction can also be subject to review by the Bulbagarden Board of Appeals, who can determine whether or not the decision was in accordance with the rules and overturn the warning/infraction when it's not.
In conclusion, the decision to warn/infract is never one taken lightly, and involves most of the time discussion, open not just to moderators of the section from which the rule breaking post originated, but also to all of the staff members. The decisions taken are always up for review and oversight. As such, the warnings/infractions do not reflect solely the opinion of one moderator, but of the staff as a whole.
Reports
Every post, visitor message, private message or blog entry/comment that is reported creates a thread in a forum that's only available to see by members of the staff. Every subsequent reports of the same post will simply appear after the original report in the same thread. Here's what such a thread looks like:
DCM said:
Legend:
1) The person doing the reporting.
2) the reason it was reported.
3) The thread the reported post is in. If I click on that, it brings me to the post within the thread.
4)Simply the name of the forum
5)The list of mods of that section. For mod use, in case something is reported and we need to pass the message onto the mod of that section.
6) The Poster of the reported post
7) The Actual Post itself.
Unless a post is glaringly breaking rules, in which case the post will straight up result in a warning or an infraction, the decision to warn/infract will involve discussion in threads like the one shown above. No matter which part of the forum they originate from, all the threads created by reports end up in the same forum; that means that all forum staff members have the ability to see, comment and share their opinion on the course of action to take regarding a report, even if the reported post doesn't originate from a section they mod. That allows the staff to get as many opinions and discuss in depth whether or not the reported post does indeed break the rules.
Also, it's worth noting that a good part of the reports are done by moderators themselves either when the reported post doesn't originate from the section(s) they are moderating or when they come across a borderline post in their section and want a second opinion on whether or not to warn/infract.
Warning/Infractions
As stated before, unless the post glaringly breaks the rules, it will be preceded by a discussion in a report thread. The final decision will be taken by a moderator of the section that the reported post originated from or an administrator. While most reports do not lead to formal warnings or infractions, when they do a similar thread to report threads is created in the same forum. Here is what such a thread looks like.
DCM said:
Not that in the case of Warnings, the thread would be identical, except it would be labelled as a Warning and would mark 0 in the Points section.
Once again, any staff member can comment and share their agreement or disagreement with the decision that was taken by the moderator who issued the decision, and are encouraged to do so. These comments can lead the moderator who issued the warning/infraction to reverse their decision or help them handle similar situations in the future more efficiently. The decision to give a warning or an infraction can also be subject to review by the Bulbagarden Board of Appeals, who can determine whether or not the decision was in accordance with the rules and overturn the warning/infraction when it's not.
In conclusion, the decision to warn/infract is never one taken lightly, and involves most of the time discussion, open not just to moderators of the section from which the rule breaking post originated, but also to all of the staff members. The decisions taken are always up for review and oversight. As such, the warnings/infractions do not reflect solely the opinion of one moderator, but of the staff as a whole.
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