What merits "reporting," Jeff?

[Anonymous]

Hi Jeff -- I don't want to create extra work for you, so I don't want to report things willy nilly -- and people often get mean here -- so how mean is too mean? Are there "report" criteria posted anywhere? What would you like us to report? Thanks! And I appreciate your calm and amusing demeanor when replying to rude/demanding people... I wish I could be that calm and amusing when my kids sass me.

[Anonymous]

From what I can tell recently:

1) Any immediate response that jumps down the poster's throat with a nasty/sarcastic/off topic comment.

2) Anything racist/sexist

3) Vicious personal attacks

4) Anything that calls out an individual by name or easily identifiable for speculative discussion.

I've been guilty of 1, doing so in sport. I'm trying to be better behaved.

Although I've also had a few deleted that were head-puzzlers, so.

[Anonymous]

I report spam and solicitations a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From what I can tell recently:

1) Any immediate response that jumps down the poster's throat with a nasty/sarcastic/off topic comment.

2) Anything racist/sexist

3) Vicious personal attacks

4) Anything that calls out an individual by name or easily identifiable for speculative discussion.

I've been guilty of 1, doing so in sport. I'm trying to be better behaved.

Although I've also had a few deleted that were head-puzzlers, so.

Ugh knock it off, your "sarcastic"/"snarky" posts are funny only to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From what I can tell recently:

1) Any immediate response that jumps down the poster's throat with a nasty/sarcastic/off topic comment.

2) Anything racist/sexist

3) Vicious personal attacks

4) Anything that calls out an individual by name or easily identifiable for speculative discussion.

I've been guilty of 1, doing so in sport. I'm trying to be better behaved.

Although I've also had a few deleted that were head-puzzlers, so.

Ugh knock it off, your "sarcastic"/"snarky" posts are funny only to you.

Oh, get over yourself.

[Anonymous]

I report things that are attempts to derail otherwise on-target threads or are particularly hateful. If it's a thread about racism, no point in reporting something for racism, since people are going to express it when asked...but I reported a post for racism recently on a thread that was about announcing one's pregnancy at work, where someone said OP couldn't handle her job bc she was a woman of color. asshole post on an otherwise on-track thread.

I also report liberally when I am a thread's OP and people go off topic. for example I started a thread about jews who didn't circumcise and got a lot of the usual assholes that circumcision discussions bring out. I was not interested in their attempts to impugn my judaism or my decisions. report report report.

I don't report people who express themselves more meanly than I think appropriate but are actually contributing what I feel is a valid point.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Hi Jeff -- I don't want to create extra work for you, so I don't want to report things willy nilly -- and people often get mean here -- so how mean is too mean? Are there "report" criteria posted anywhere? What would you like us to report? Thanks! And I appreciate your calm and amusing demeanor when replying to rude/demanding people... I wish I could be that calm and amusing when my kids sass me.

The list in the second post is pretty good. I am most interested in eliminating "mean first response syndrome" which is when the first response to a new thread is mean, snarky, rude, off-topic or whatever. I find that the first few responses set the tone of a thread and I don't want threads being derailed right off the bat. So, feel free to be a bit more liberal with the "report" button in the early stages of a thread. By the time the thread is a few pages long, the OP has probably received as good of an answer as she is likely to get and removing one or two posts probably couldn't save the thread anyway (though there are cases in which it could, so don't give up reporting altogether).

I guess the best way to answer is to think of a graph in which one axes is "age of thread" and the other is "meanness" of post. A response that is both to a new topic and very rude should definitely be reported. A post that is on a new thread and sort of mean should be reported. But, a post in an old thread that is only sort of mean might be given a bit of leeway.

Sexist/racist is often in the eye of the beholder and I give enough leeway that I think every single group thinks I allow them to be abused more than other groups. But, when in doubt, report it. In the worst case I won't do anything, but I may agree with the report.

I won't always act on a report for various reasons. So, it is better to over-report than to under-report. Also, I try to get a sense of "community standards" and act accordingly rather than simply going by my standards. Reports are a good way of influencing my perception of community standards.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:I report things that are attempts to derail otherwise on-target threads or are particularly hateful. If it's a thread about racism, no point in reporting something for racism, since people are going to express it when asked...but I reported a post for racism recently on a thread that was about announcing one's pregnancy at work, where someone said OP couldn't handle her job bc she was a woman of color. asshole post on an otherwise on-track thread.

I also report liberally when I am a thread's OP and people go off topic. for example I started a thread about jews who didn't circumcise and got a lot of the usual assholes that circumcision discussions bring out. I was not interested in their attempts to impugn my judaism or my decisions. report report report.

I don't report people who express themselves more meanly than I think appropriate but are actually contributing what I feel is a valid point.

This is a reasonable approach that I think works well.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From what I can tell recently:

1) Any immediate response that jumps down the poster's throat with a nasty/sarcastic/off topic comment.

2) Anything racist/sexist

3) Vicious personal attacks

4) Anything that calls out an individual by name or easily identifiable for speculative discussion.

I've been guilty of 1, doing so in sport. I'm trying to be better behaved.

Although I've also had a few deleted that were head-puzzlers, so.

Ugh knock it off, your "sarcastic"/"snarky" posts are funny only to you.

Oh, get over yourself.

This is the sort of response that I would probably remove in many contexts.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From what I can tell recently:

1) Any immediate response that jumps down the poster's throat with a nasty/sarcastic/off topic comment.

2) Anything racist/sexist

3) Vicious personal attacks

4) Anything that calls out an individual by name or easily identifiable for speculative discussion.

I've been guilty of 1, doing so in sport. I'm trying to be better behaved.

Although I've also had a few deleted that were head-puzzlers, so.

Ugh knock it off, your "sarcastic"/"snarky" posts are funny only to you.

Oh, get over yourself.

This is the sort of response that I would probably remove in many contexts.

Thanks and LOL from the OP.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From what I can tell recently:

1) Any immediate response that jumps down the poster's throat with a nasty/sarcastic/off topic comment.

2) Anything racist/sexist

3) Vicious personal attacks

4) Anything that calls out an individual by name or easily identifiable for speculative discussion.

I've been guilty of 1, doing so in sport. I'm trying to be better behaved.

Although I've also had a few deleted that were head-puzzlers, so.

Ugh knock it off, your "sarcastic"/"snarky" posts are funny only to you.

Oh, get over yourself.

This is the sort of response that I would probably remove in many contexts.

That was me. I see your point, however I would argue that the "ugh knock it off" scolding was out-of-line considering the contrition/confession in my post. As you say, context is everything.