Flagging a post SHOULD not be anonymous

[krasniy]

There is a flagrant amount of flagging going on in the forums in an attempt to suppress people’s right to free speech. If someone does not disagree with you and they have sufficient trust or maybe even a moderator they can simply just hide your post. I think that if someone wants to hide your post or flag it I believe it should not be anonymous I believe they should actually have their name attached to that flag. I am sick and tired of people pushing their freaking agendas on these damn forums and then when you disagree with them and they don’t like it they simply hide your post. Oh it’s off topic? Isn’t it funny how so many things in this post go from one topic to another within the same thread it’s not a problem until it’s someone that disagrees with certain individuals on these forms then all of a sudden it’s an issue and we have Flags everywhere just like a violation of offsides in a football game Flags everywhere!

I also think the developers need to keep a closer eye on the moderators because of their friends with the individuals they’ll probably take their side pretty much every time. If this is found to be the case I believe that individual should find their moderator Powers removed.

I don’t mind debating my position and standing behind it but I’ll be freaking Damned if I’m going to sit there and allow people to screw me around when I’m expressing my opinion because I don’t agree with them. Meanwhile if I don’t agree with them I could probably flag them until the cows come home and it won’t matter but because they have some sort of high-level Trust setting because they’ve been around longer they can simply flag the damn post and it disappears like magic just one person one flag goodbye post. That’s a bunch of horse ■■■■

I think the form should be fair for everybody and not favor just a special few. If you believe the forums should be impartial then I hope you’ll support this post.

[james]

@james

The forum software contains a Trust level and Flag Success rate for all members.

When you flag posts, if a moderator agrees with your flag, then you score a success and increase your overall trust level - if not a failure and decrease your overall trust level. Some members have a high success rate. Some a low success rate.

Previously these scores were included in the moderation queue as guidance for us when reviewing flags. We would then review the moderation queue agreeing or disagreeing, hiding / unhiding / deleting / etc as required.

If multiple players flagged a post then it would automatically be hidden - until reviewed.

If a thread hit a flag limit it would automatically be closed for a period. During this period the queue is supposed to be cleaned by a moderator. If the queue hasn’t been cleared, then when the close timer expired the queue would auto-reclose again because the thread still contained too many flags.

The recent forum software update has switched from the training mode into an active mode. If a post is flagged by enough players with enough trust rating, then action will be taken automatically. Some players are much stricter about off-top and in-appropriate posting. In the past this didn’t have any effect. But now it can result in a post being hidden. Even when this happens the flag still shows up in the queue to be reviewed. If a moderator agrees then the player increases their trust level, if we disagree the post is restored and they lose some trust.

At the moment some players likely have more trust then they should. This will only be resolved by us processing the moderation queue.

I think ultimately this is a good system - as it empowered the community to self moderate. We’re not always online and engaged in a thread.

But can it be abused? No - players need to build up their trust level. If you do abuse it then you’ll lose your trust level and will no longer be able to flag posts.

The possible false positives that are happening at the moment is because we’ve not been strict enough reviewing the queue in the past - so players don’t have the correct success rates. We’re going to make sure we work through the queue.

Why are some posts un-hidden and others not? Simply because the queue is presented in an urgency order and I will have likely processed a few items in the queue.

What needs to be done:

1. Players need to use the flagging mechanism to help moderate the forum. Trust the flag and don’t get into fights.
2. Moderators need to make sure we’re reviewing the flags and helping players establish the correct trust levels. Then the false-positives will reduce.
3. We should be giving clear public guidance on what is allowable on/off topic posts, necro-posting, etc.

In general players do take the flagging seriously and I don’t see anyone using it as a trolling tool - as I said above - players just have different levels for off-topic / in-appropriate / etc posting.

Some details I posted in another thread about posts getting flagged.

Hidden Post

So, I got a message today saying one of my posts was flagged and hidden as a result… [image] So, I’m confused.

[karakavra]

Hello friend, unfortunately it is not a matter of the developers, the flag is poorly managed, since, if two or more people give the flag its publication will be hidden automatically, I have lived it so I know what I say, by the people that participated in that thread, I recognized at least 3 people who usually deprive others of freedom of expression, but they are older people, with boring lives, who instead of playing the game, do nothing but criticize and annoy the In addition, a useful tip, do not participate in the forum, since only a few have that privilege, if your opinion does not like they censor you without more

[krasniy]

There ya go James… I was just told here basicly I may as well not participate in the forum.

[karakavra]

It’s a tip, I’m nobody to tell you to use it or not, only that you expose yourself to others censuring you, but you see that you deserve it, since it was in your favor until you see that you misunderstand what you want

[karakavra]

I think you don’t understand, it was in your favor

[krasniy]

Yes I understood… you and your allies would like it if I just left the forums

[flexyjerkov]

this hidden post thing is BS… surely just allow users to report and keep it visible till a mod checks it over?
We know this community has it’s fair share of trolls who just like to poke people for a reaction.

[Vurtadelic]

Just give it some time. The people that are falsely flagging post are going to lose that privilege. Don’t give ‘em any more fuel and keep on building.

[krasniy]

Yeah it is being abused…read all of it… you’ll see the pattern and who is doing it

[flexyjerkov]

There’s always one person who just ruins it for everyone else, be it in game or on the forums

[krasniy]

Look at the post above where a member of the same guild suggested I get off the forums.

[Vurtadelic]

I feel like some nuance was lost in translation there. Maybe it was more of a ‘if the forums are upsetting you don’t post for a while’

[Unciviled]

I have no side here, and some of the posts getting flagged isnt something that needs flagged.

Either your flagging system is broke asf or you have some rogue mod being a knob.

[Vurtadelic]

It’s a new flagging system that just needs a tune up. People flagging posts wrongly will lose that trust level.

[Fiffer13]

Perhaps we should have a dispute function, where we give our defense of why our topic is relavent, and within ToS?

I am not against or for anonymous flaging, technically most of us don’t use our names in our usernames, and its possible to have more than one account which could make the flagging acounts annoymous (not that anyone should, and i’m not encourging it).

Which is why I think a formal dispute process, where you can defend your self to mods/wonderstruck would be a way to combat abuse more strongly.

[the-moebius]

i accept only one flag

[Unciviled]

Then we need a “safe comment” button the rest of us can use to unflag it. Still its a broken system.

[Aragorn]

I agree there should be a way to contest the flag. It is currently annoying.

[Peyago]

I have found the new mute funtion has fixed most of my forum problems. Of course now it shows you all quoting nothing lol. I get to pick if I am in a good enough mood to deal with certain individuals.