Are coordinated reports harassment on the forum?

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1

If a group of players is coordinating reports with each other against another certain poster is that considered harassment? I believe the wording in the forum code of conduct would include behavior like this. I’d rather not go into any details on the forum, which could result in me being actioned anyway but if I were to make a ticket explaining this in further detail and give the names of certain posters then perhaps a mod could investigate to see if this were the case. I’d rather not waste a moderators time if this isn’t considered harassment anyway.

What I mean by a “coordinated report” is a group of players using communication outside of the WoW forum and WoW game to target a player and specific posts. I understand that Blizzard could not do anything about communications outside of the game but seeing the same posters constantly reporting the same player might be a dead giveaway as to what is going on.

2

Mass reporting wont result in a action unless rules are broken if anything those false flagging could be actioned in reversed best advice place the people on ignore and dont communicate with them.

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3

I’m not worried about this part, this part I fully agree with.

This is what I am wondering about. I was curious about putting in a ticket, I could even list the names of the posters who are coordinating these reports together. I don’t expect a moderator to remember by heart who reports certain posters, but if I could draw attention to those names in a ticket then they could see the connection. But if it’s not considered to be harassment then it’s not worth wasting the time for someone to even look at my ticket.

4

Let me ask this are ur posts being hidden and removed or hidden then restored.

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5

The greater majority of my posts are restored.

6

Since you stated that this is on the forums, a ticket would not do anything. If they violate the rules simply report the posts that do. Otherwise, the forum moderators can see who reported and determine if they are doing so simply to harass another poster.

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7

Then uve got nothing to worry about if they werent being restored thats false reports will come back to haunt them.

8

The mods will be able to see if it’s a group of the same players flagging your posts. Especially if you aren’t breaking posting rules and your posts are unhidden. This pattern needs to happen before any action is taken. Don’t let them push you into breaking the rules.

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9

This is the part I was curious about. I can’t post many details about how I am certain who the main people making certain reports are over the forum but I’d have no issue in talking about it in a ticket. I just wanted to help bring the names to light in a ticket, that way a connection could be made easier as I wouldn’t expect a forum mod to remember poster names by heart when they don’t interact with the posters anyway.

10

While this is appreciated, there is really nothing you can tell a mod about other posters that they wouldn’t already know themselves.

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11

Would such a thing be considered harassment if a group of players were doing this to someone?

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Generally, flagging posts is not any kind of violation. Players are allowed to flag posts they feel are against the Forum CoC. There is no requirement that they investigate first, no requirement that they explain why, and nor requirement that their feelings be 100% correct.

Ultimately, it’s up to the mods to decide. One time? No. A pattern of behavior flagging posts that are obviously not against the Forum CoC? Perhaps. There is no “ticket” to open with forum moderation, they are not going to discuss another player’s account, and again, there is really nothing you can tell them that they won’t already be able to see on their end.

Your best course of action is to place them on Ignore, and move on. If you are following the Forum CoC, then you are not going to get actioned.

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13

Yes and no. It’s not something you can report though. You have no way of confirming a specific group is doing it. Them claiming to do it isn’t proof. If you were actually breaking posting rules it would just show that they were vigilant. It can take longer to show a pattern of harassment. The mods would be able to see a pattern of the same players reporting most/all posts of one player.

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14

I am happy to hear that something like this could potentially be considered harassment.

Thank all of you for the detailed responses, it was a help. Have a good day!

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15

It’s not considered harassment and nothing will happen to the people who are coordinating reports outside the forums.

16

That answer is totally different from the other responses. Thanks for your reply though.

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17

That’s because it is correct.

18

To address someone’s comment in another thread about “false flagging”. Blizzard does not have a category for that because it is not against the rules, so to speak.

If someone is using chars or accounts to flag a post, that is considered abuse of the reporting system. Just flagging you and being wrong won’t get anyone in trouble.

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19

My concern was asking if a group of posters who coordinate reports against specific posters could be considered harassment, especially if it happens over and over by the same posters. My concern had nothing to do with what people call “false flagging”.

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I think the others have it fairly well covered but to reinforce this bit.

We keep an eye out for patterns, so we may notice when specific characters/accounts are reporting specific other characters.

At the end of the day, the most other players can do with their report is temporarily hide a post. It is up to the moderator to determine if the post may violate policy or not and either restore it or remove and penalize it.

Keep in mind, there are some posts that we may not penalize but we will remove because they are either off topic, not appropriate to our forums, etc…

I wasn’t aware that you could see who was reporting the post.

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