Improved forum post alerting process from Monday 6th July

Non-subscribers will be able to alert posts, at least provisionally, but the alerter's account must be at least 30 days old to do so.

The process of submitting alerts has been enhanced too, to encourage its use, and improve the moderation process for moderators too.

An offending post can be alerted right from the thread by selecting a single predetermined reason - no need to visit another page as currently.

A comment can be optionally added, but in most cases, this will not be necessary. Any comment is only likely to be read when the reason for moderation is not obvious.

Hoping we have a less abusive and offensive site, not simply politically correct.

@Russ

Will humans (continue to) read content when a post is flagged and determine whether the complaint justifies removal of a post, or are you planning to implement some sort of automated removal?

@eladar said
Hoping we have a less abusive and offensive site, not simply politically correct.

I do hope "less" applies to "offensive" as well as to "abusive."

UK residents of a certain age may recall posters enjoining people to: "Save metal and waste paper."

@Russ
On behalf of many (I hope) a big thank you to you Russ.

A thought - consider making the alerter's account 6 months old.

I am willing to bet all moderators are left wing.

Prove me wrong.

@chesstachio said
I am willing to bet all moderators are left wing.

Prove me wrong.

Define left wing. You clearly consider the term pejorative.

@chesstachio said
I am willing to bet all moderators are left wing.

I expect the mods to be smart, fair, educated and decent.

So probably somewhat left of fascism.

@moonbus

There has always been automated removal based on the content of the post.

I've found robomod quite useful when I've posted something inflammatory and then had second thoughts. I can edit my post by adding a 4-letter word and robomod obligingly removes any sign of my post. I get a robomod reprimand of course, but that's just between me and robomod.

I'll be doing Miss Marple's finger exercises this weekend.

The post that was quoted here has been removed

I have found that if I just delete a post (leaving the empty in place), a "forum buddy" might make insinuations and allegations about the original contents of the post.

Maybe Kewpie would rather leave no trace of a post for a similar reason.

And if you did not know that, well . . .

So here's to beer, and monks!

@russ said
Non-subscribers will be able to alert posts, at least provisionally, but the alerter's account must be at least 30 days old to do so.

The process of submitting alerts has been enhanced too, to encourage its use, and improve the moderation process for moderators too.

An offending post can be alerted right from the thread by selecting a single predetermined reason - ...[text shortened]... be necessary. Any comment is only likely to be read when the reason for moderation is not obvious.

Please include "Post Off-Topic" as one of the predetermined reasons.

@no1marauder said
Please include "Post Off-Topic" as one of the predetermined reasons.

There should also be a formal mechanism for reporting controversial or offensive avatars. 😉

(anything related to football teams excluded, of course)