I’m concerned about how easily the forum report system can be abused to censor posts, especially when there appear to be no repercussions for false or malicious reports.
Yesterday, I posted content that was 100% within the ToS guidelines constructive, on‑topic, and containing nothing prohibited. A group of players weaponized the report system to mass‑report it, resulting in it being hidden. A CM reviewed the situation and restored the post. Unfortunately, the exact same thing happened again today.
Allowing players to weaponize the report system is wrong. In-game, you don’t allow players to keep reopening the same ticket over and over so why allow that here on the forums? The current setup enables repeat abuse without consequence, and it undermines fair discussion.
I believe CMs should follow a strict, consistent set of guidelines when reviewing reports, and decisions should not be influenced by personal feelings. I respectfully request that my post be restored again.
For context, my post simply shared a positive outcome from a game feature that some forum users may dislike, but that many players in‑game and in the wider community enjoy. My intent was to highlight something constructive and uplifting not to provoke or violate any rules.
Thank you for your time and for looking into this matter.
Abusing the reporting system does not mean what you seem to think it means. Players can report any post they think breaks the forum Code of Conduct. That includes reporting a thread or post for “spam”. If there are already many many threads on a topic, addition ones are likely to be removed.
Abuse of the reporting system IS penalized. Abuse is when someone uses multiple alts to report a post to intentionally cause it to be hidden.
Unique players on different accounts reporting a post they think is spam is not abuse.
As you have seen, if a post is reported the most that happens is that it is hidden, but viewable with a click, until a Mod reviews it.
If it is removed, then a Mod agrees that it is not really suitable for the forums or violates the code of conduct in some way.
Bold strategy Cotton, lets see how this works out.
The GDKP posts are borderline spam at this point. All threads that are locked/removed/deleted are done by a moderator. If the thread isn’t against ToS/CoC hide post is reverted.
It really isn’t. Absolutely nothing you posted is out of line with moderation. People may flag whatever they feel may be in violation for what ever reason. Especially with a spammy-deadhorse issue like GDKP.
If a CM has already reviewed a post and restored it, that means it was found to be within the Code of Conduct. In that case, it shouldn’t be hidden a second time simply because a group mass‑reports it again.
Once a post has passed moderation review, repeated hiding through coordinated reporting isn’t about enforcing rules it’s about silencing a viewpoint. That’s exactly the kind of report system abuse I’m raising concerns about.
I’m not here to make “bold strategies” I’m here to raise a legitimate concern about how the report system can be abused and to request that it be addressed seriously. Sarcasm doesn’t change the fact that this is a real issue that impacts fair discussion on the forums. I’d prefer we keep the focus on the topic at hand rather than turning it into a joke.
That is not abuse. Again, players may report any post they feel is against the forum code of conduct. Being wrong is not abuse.
Abuse is defined as:
EDIT
I do have good news for you about forum reporting though. The forums are migrating to a Batteltag based backend for the system. Each Battlenet account will have one Trust level that applies to all posting alts, one set of flags, one set of likes, one Ignore list, etc.
Our real Battletag will not be displayed - they are using a WoW forum ID made of the non-unique text portion of your Btag + a new random number. You can still post on alts with your avatar displayed.
My account is already migrated if you want an example.
This wasn’t a one‑time misunderstanding it’s a repeated pattern of weaponized reporting. Today alone, I’ve had three separate posts mass‑reported and hidden, all of which were within the Code of Conduct. This has also happened multiple times in the past.
When a CM reviews and restores a post, that should be the end of it for that content. Allowing the same group to repeatedly mass‑report it until it’s hidden again isn’t moderation it’s enabling targeted silencing.
This is exactly the kind of abuse of the report system I’m trying to highlight. It’s not about legitimate enforcement; it’s about coordinated attempts to remove viewpoints some players don’t like, even when those posts follow all forum rules.
Again you need to stop calling something abuse when it is not considered abuse.
Please read the edit I just added above under the definitions of what forum report abuse actually is. When the forums migrate that should assist in removing the concerns about people using alts to abuse reporting systems.