Is there something going on with forum moderation?

fyi dunno if this was said but just because a thread is 404’d doesnt mean it isn’t being looked at.

side note, how does one ignore bad actors who are potentially bad but also have their toons forum profiles set to hidden so you dont get the option to ignore them normally.

Go to your Activity Summary page. Click PREFERENCES. Then click USERS. You can then manually add posters to your IGNORED list.

So for your page, the link should be this: https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/u/Articskoll-stormrage/preferences/users

3 Likes

The fact that you can’t do this anymore is baffling.

I feel like adding even a bit of context could take a post that is on the fence on whether or not it’s against CoC (from a moderators POV) and get something done. Especially when it may not be clear that the poster isn’t posting in good faith unless you look at multiple threads over a period of time (which I would assume moderators typically don’t do unless they’re all reported, which is infrequently).

2 Likes

If it’s been 404’d, it has already been deleted, which means it is no longer possible to ‘look at’, even by the moderators. So yes, actually, it does mean it isn’t being looked at.

If it has been delisted (no longer appears in the list of topics, but is still associated with a URL and can still be navigated to and read), then it is possibly still being combed through by one or more moderators.

2 Likes

I suspect this is a limitation of the Discourse software, rather than a feature that has been removed.

2 Likes

no I believe you are mistaken? I know from experience the moderators have the ability to remove a 404’d thread and manually go through it.although if it is true ill probably just give up reporting.Since i dont see a point to reporting stuff if its just gonna get ignored.

They have been redoing a lot of stuff around here and based on how things went… it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s the case.

But hopefully moving on in the future if that is the case instead of just 404ing the thread right away it gets locked down and combed through so it’s fixed.

1 Like

I have to believe this is the case. otherwise there’s little point in reporting it if it goes past a certain point. since it will just get deleted and not actioned? I dont understand. idk im just disillusioned and upset at this.

3 Likes

I’m sorry Fuzz :people_hugging: I feel the same way. I’ve had a lot of… issues in my life and hearing that is hard to deal with.

Honestly, I’m not sure how deeply it would have hurt if not for the others in the thread at the time…

3 Likes

But that is the thing. While some may not engage, there will always be someone who will engage with such behaviour. I know I shouldn’t be keeping on doing this, but myself alone, I usually link parts of the Code of Conduct on what I believe the person is violating before flagging.

But after today, with reporting the said person, it felt disappointing that the reports only lead to the post only being removed, and the person able to continue on with their behaviour. If I was in Fuzz’s shoes, since he was the one who recieved a real life threat, and this was happening, I would also feel unsafe here within the community. Although knowing this person was able to do it to someone and basically sort of get away with it does put the entire community on edge.

I understand that all the members of moderation are humans at the end, just trying to do their best at keeping the community safe, but when someone has been extremely toxic towards the community, and has been getting away with such behaviour after being reported, it does make me question.

Except in this case, we do know. You can’t tell me I can make a post straight away after having a post removed if I made a real life threat. And mind you, they’ve not even switched characters or accounts.

9 Likes

He knew it, too. He literally said nothing was going to happen to him no matter what he said.

That tells me that he’s been doing this for a long time without repercussions which only reinforces the behavior. He knows he can get away with it.

People can ignore him, choose not to respond, but what about the one person who sees that, who may be depressed or in a dark place, and sees this as a sign to do a bad thing.

I don’t care, this is NOT acceptable. If you are so pathetic that you tell someone to end themselves multiple times and then laugh about it, you do NOT deserve to be allowed a platform.

That should be an instant perma ban. Period.

And if you actually look at those comments and believe that just deleting the thread is enough, you don’t deserve to be a mod.

11 Likes

These malicious trolls have more or less studied the moderation patterns and work around it. From the time frame of when they post the threads, to some of the things that they say to game the system, and now it seems they have even identified a pattern whereby they ‘keep to the topic’ initially and then gradually devolve it to their true intentions.

7 Likes

No one thinks its a conspiracy theory, but a lot of us think that what’s being done isn’t sufficient.

I don’t know how things work on your end or the mods end and maybe they’re doing the best with what they’ve got and the people up top need to allocate more resources. Or whatever, I can’t possibly know on my end.

But something has got to give. “KYS” statements or anything that implies such a thing should result in a no-questions-asked permaban. There needs to be moderation on off hours. Just a few weeks ago there was a thread with full blown wanna be NSDAP fans in it. I went to Twitter about that to get it removed.

And mods do need to read the threads, more than just the one reported post, because context matters a lot. If they’re just deleting threads, they might miss out on some of the hostility and some of the incredibly awful comments made by some posters.

10 Likes

I did not see that thread; however, it might be a good idea to reach out to the same Twitter account and draw their attention to what some people are doing here. It might change how topics like those are handled when they are shut down, and perhaps stiffer punishments will be handed to the offenders. I agree; that should be a permaban.

3 Likes

Man. I’m always late to the party. I have no idea what happened. I’m assuming yet another meltdown thread?

1 Like

Sometimes, and depending on the situation, sometimes, taking things to social media could make the problem worse. Although in this case, I don’t think this would, but who knows.

Not so much of just a thread, but a poster in general actually. Like, the behaviour with them was extremely bad. Especially making real life threats and harassment.

1 Like

Unfortunately, that’s not how the Code of Conduct is right now.

The only portion that is even slightly relevant is:

There is no policy language about encouraging self-harm, and all the other clauses are less relevant. Since self-harm is violence, it seems to be the only applicable clause at the moment.

So if Blizzard follows their own stated policy, the “first offense” would be a forum suspension, not a ban.

Could they act outside the stated policy? Yes, since all aspects of this relationship are completely discretionary. They can terminate any or all aspects of the business relationship for any legally unprotected reason at all. But in general, I think the moderators are going to follow internal policy and instructions that are based on what’s published here.

This comes back to “should”. You have a strong opinion, but I personally agree with it. But there’s a problem: your expressing that opinion here changes nothing. No one who reads this forum – not even the Blizzard moderators – are empowered to receive a suggestion on changes to policy or enforcement, nor are they permitted to forward suggestions to those who do have that power. The Support Forum is not a valid feedback forum.

Feedback is highly regimented and will only be accepted from a non-Support forum (like General Discussion) or from the in-game suggestion feedback tool, or (most appropriately), the Support Website Feedback Forum.

If you want to see the policy updated to be more protective of the vulnerable, please use the appropriate tools to make that clear to those who make the policy decisions.

5 Likes

The CS Twitter is run by the same Forum Support Agents who are here + a few more on that team. It is a tiny team of front facing support Information Desk type folks, just like this forum. It does the same things providing tips, status, etc. No GMs or mods there. Usually you will see the posts on it signed by the FSA who posted it even.

This thread here reaches exactly the same people as the CS Twitter, if that is the one you are suggesting reaching out to.

Blizzard has talked about this in the past, they absolutely do NOT allow language that tells people to self harm or un-alive themselves. It does fall under the real life threats and harassment policies.

This is not really a good subject to try to rules lawyer on.

6 Likes

I’m not trying to rules lawyer*, simply seeking the language in the CoC that is the most appropriate. As you say, the clause about violence seems to be the most applicable to this kind of communication. (As I said, in theory the moderators probably have the freedom to moderate this even without that specific policy support, but policy support is useful here.)

And the point is well made that the policy support should be more robust and definitive.

*"I’m assuming that “rules lawyer” is being used here in the sense of “looking for loopholes or technicalities to evade the stated policy”. Which, if so, is the complete opposite of my intent.

2 Likes