Why doesn't Fluther have a "report" button for the users on this site?

I can understand why you’re suggesting this, but no, I wouldn’t be in favor. I think the moderators are very much on their toes. The present system places the focus on unacceptable behavior, as opposed to judging a person unacceptable. When one person misbehaves too many times, the mods are certain to notice.

This is a Q&A site and not a social site. Please see “What is fluther?” here.

Thanks for your response.

I understand this is a Q&A site. A social Q&A site. I would read your link if I joined yesterday, but I have been here for months…so…

I wonder this as well. I’m definitely in favor of such a feature.
When a post gets reported, and I don’t recognize the poster’s name, I will generally go to their page and check their recent answers, to see if the other ones have been of this quality. It would be nice for the general public to be able to do that check for me :D

No. To be honest thats nothing more than renaming the process that is already in place. You can flag indivdual responses. If a single user is generating a lot of flagged responses then action will be taken upto and including banning the user. I don’t see how an extra button would change or imporve that.

I think it would make it more simplified and easier, but that’s just me. And for moderators, like Sarcasm, too.

I have used ‘flag as’ and the contact button at the top of the page quite successfully to accomplish what you are talking about.

How come I always miss the mudslinging? Where was it that got someone to ask a q like this? Link???

If someone writes something here, or PM, that doesn’t meet your stanards, and the mods haven’t caught ti themselves (I think they sleep there – they are always alert) – then you PM Auggie or a mod and copy/paste the verbal assault.

It’s enough, n’est ce pas?

@HTDC my flags have always been ignored…so, don’t use them anymore! Have reported personal attacks and nothing ever done. Seems: they enjoy them —(personal attacks) sometimes when it is a particular person here—!

If they are not going to consider the flags, don’t see any need for a report button!

@BoBo1946 Show me show me. Where?

@zenele rather not bring all that back up again….it has been run in the ground already!

Left you message in your comment section!

I agree with Jeruba; focussing on the individual offending post rather than attacking or reporting the poster is a more judicious way to go.

@HTDC how do you know your flags have been ignored? Mods may have spoken to users about their behaviour but they will not give you a blow by blow account of what they’ve done or why they’ve banned some one. That’s just not how it works here.

I think we should make @HTDC a Special Fluther Deputy and give him his own special report button, a badge and a special arm band.

@dpworkin oh no…give it to Chaz…loll We will all party!

Wow what did I miss here?

@Lightlyseared “how do you know your flags have been ignored?”

I haven’t even said anything about my flags being ignored, nor that I flagged anyone. I have no idea where you plucked that one out from. :/

@dpworkin Firstly, I’m not a guy. Secondly, why do you have to be so condescending? I’m just asking a general question about the site. Actually don’t answer that. :P

Wow, it’s unusual for women to be so controlling.

@dpworkin And it’s typical for a man not to listen.

The code for that feature is already on the site but turned off (there was a minor bug and we didn’t get around to fixing it yet). We basically would allow you guys to report inappropriate avatars, tip us off to spammer accounts and alert us to underage users (don’t worry @Jeruba I’m with you on not judging people but judging behavior).

The problem I have with this suggestion is ‘having site managers do something about it’ in that I don’t understand what they would have to do every time any old random would report a person.

@jeanmay lmao…..yeeehaaaaaaa!

I agree with @Jeruba @Lightlyseared and @janbb . The task can be accomplished with existing means. A “report” function only makes things easier for trolls. This is not primarily a social site, nor a popularity contest.

@HTDC now that Im not viewing the page on the iphone I see my comment should have probably been directed at someone else. Sorry

You can always use the “Contact” button to report someone.

@timtrueman Please do not turn on that feature. It can only lead to more users complaining about censorship.

@Stranger How does it make things easier for trolls? Sounds like it would make it easier to weed them out. I wouldn’t mind the feature.

If a person behaves poorly and you flag them, what’s the first thing that’s going to be asked?—“Let’s see what they did.” In other words, posts. That’s the evidence of the crime. That’s what flags point to.

Any person of ill will can easily use a “report” button as a tool of aggression. Do we think it wouldn’t be abused by the very sorts of people it would be put in to guard against? Schoolyard squabbles, that’s what I’d expect. Bang bang. Gotcha! Bang. Gotcha back!

I don’t see much of a problem if some people can’t be bothered to click a flag or alert a mod. If someone is actually that far out of line, others will see it too, and someone will sound the alarm.

@HTDC, I know you’re not a newbie. I make it a habit myself to reread the rules and guidelines fairly often, just as I check the dictionary frequently for words I’m certain I know. I thought it was pertinent to consult the site’s own self-definition: “What is Fluther? Fluther is a free Q&A collective that specializes in getting fast answers from the right people.” Isn’t that the authority on the site concept?

As Tim mentioned, The ‘flag’ button isn’t for users, it’s for profiles.

I think we got off on the wrong foot—let’s clarify:

1. It’s profiles not users as @andrew clarified
2. This is to enable users to flag profiles for hate speech and/or pornographic avatars (we have people as young as 13 using the site), pointing out spammers to us and reporting underage users (which is against the terms of service)
3. People already report these things to us today (and relatively often) but via the contact link which is more cumbersome for the users who help us out by spotting them before we do (the earlier the better removing the crap that spammers post) and we’d like to make it easier on these helpful users to report such issues
4. Flags only point things out to moderators who will then go and do their research to resolve the issue (we’re not going to blindly ban people)
5. There is no way to flag users for schoolyard squabbles (I’m not sure where this is coming from if you’re only options are the three already mentioned—can someone explain to me how this would happen if I’m missing something?)

The bottom line: reporting content should stay on the content: questions and responses—and so for people to report content like profiles with hate speech or pornographic avatars we’re planning on adding a report link on profiles.

Thanks @timtrueman but this is the last straw. Fluther is ruined, and we are all going to AnswerBag on the same bus.

@dpworkin Can we take the train instead?

I’m gonna go in a big yellow taxi!

@BoBo1946 I’m sorry you feel like we’re ignoring your flags. Looking at your entire flag history, I can see that we’ve responded to 21% of your flags by removing content and 21% by entering the thread with a [mod says:] comment. While we may not agree that every flag we get is actionable, we certainly read—and sometimes discuss—them. If you’d like to discuss this further, please feel free to PM a moderator or our lovely community manager. Please remember, though, that there is usually a bit of time between when you flag something and when we see it and act on it. This is especially true if we need to discuss the thread or comment as a team.

Oooohhhh Nooooo Mr. Hands! Not AnswerBag!! Arrrgh!!!

@timtrueman The so-called ‘schoolyard squabbles’ you refer to often escalate into personal insults and off topic comments. By using flag as and contact, the mods can try to put a stop to it.

I used the term “schoolyard squabbles” above, saving that I predicted we’d have them if people were able to flag each other instead of just each other’s posts. I was anticipating the use of them as weapons of petty aggression and not just as a way to alert mods to problems.

Now I see that the idea is simply to make it possible to flag a person’s inappropriate content on a profile page and not just in a thread.

I understand now, never mind. (Mongo baaaad..).

I support this feature. I call dibs on flagging Andrew’s avatar first.

@janbb Ride with me?

So—just to be clear: the feature that @HTDC is suggesting (“a link or button where you can report people for their behaviour”) is not the same as what @andrew and @timtrueman are talking about (“for people to report content like profiles with hate speech or pornographic avatars we’re planning on adding a report link on profiles”).

So our opinion on the feature that the fluthergods are already planning has nothing to do with our answer to the change that @HTDC is proposing.

Right?

I still say I don’t favor the suggestion posed in the original question above.

@Jeruba Yeah what I’m proposing is kind of different although a report button for someone’s profile might be good too. I just asked this question because I noticed Fluther didn’t have this sort of feature like many other sites did. Not that Fluther is comparable to any other site, of course.

There was no “mudslinging” or recent argument that made me ask this question like @zenele suggested. Seems like it is wrong to question the workings of Fluther, sorry, sorry, sorry. Will never do it again, I plomise. :P

It is absolutely not wrong! I don’t see anyone coming down on you. But surely you have been around long enough to take differences of opinion in stride.

I know, I know, I’m only joking, I do take things quite personally when I shouldn’t, but that’s just my personality. Thanks everyone for responding, made for an interesting conversation.

@PnL “Too sexy” isn’t an option for flagging. Yet.

@EmpressPixie thank you so much for that message! I’m learning…

Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

I think that would make flagging a little like a personal attack in and of itself. I vote no, if they had one I wouldn’t use it, I’d still use the flag button, because that only applies to questions and answers and not the person.