Right, but the point OP is making is:
In other words, yes, the system is meant to stop bad actors, but it’s also being abused to protect hurt feelings. Why else would so many players have begged blizzard for a notification stating “your report was received and the player was actioned!”
To which you might say “well I want to know the report system is working, and knowing they were actioned helps with that!” Okay sure, but I also think there is a part of you that is just hell bent on revenge.
People get a little power trip out of knowing they can potentially have others muted or banned all for ‘having the audacity to offend me!’, particularly when they can rally other players in the match to report someone, even though they’re the only one who was actually upset.
Which is why many matches are becoming what feel like ghost towns with no communication of any sort, because when that sort of abuse regarding the report system is possible, we all lose. Why?
Because even people who know they’re sensitive and more likely to report don’t disable chat or do anything to sort of ‘take themselves out of the line of fire’, so it leaves everyone else walking on eggshells and thinking “eh, I’d better not risk being reported by just keeping quiet”.
And I mean that seriously, the bar for ‘being friendly’ or ‘being a good team mate’ is so low right now that I got 3 friend requests this past weekend and the only thing I said in the match was “great support, thanks for the heals” and “gg wp all”. People are dying out here for a little friendly interaction but too scared to be reported.