Please help with post reporting

[madd74]

Each post made, including ones by me, can be reported for a bunch of reasons (defined by the board). I am asking for help in the new organization. Any one who sees a post that is off topic, please click on the report button and report it as such. This will make the job of the moderator of the forum easier. Do not feel like you are being a tattle tale. Reported posts get grouped for the moderator, so actual off topics can be moved or what have you.

Anyone extremely "board" can go over extremely old posts that might be off topic for the forum, so they can also be moved. For those who are not familar with what the report post button is, it will depend on the style you are using.
prosilver (board default): (when you hover over, it turns the red)
acidtech:
subsilver2:

These icons are next to the quote button, and when you hover over the icon, it should note something like "report this post". Thank you everyone for your help.

[sewcute]

ok so I have a question about "on-topic" and "off-topic".

What is the "official" topic for Outer Unbound?

I hope that Mair's and my convos didn't upset you.

[madd74]

Great question!

I am not upset in any shape of the form. Generally, if a post contains almost "IM" type qualities, like a lot of quick 1-8 replies, or if the original topic is no longer original. Keep in mind you can report any part of the post. So take the following example:

You make a post called "Spring Cleaning" and you talk about a bunch of things dealing with spring cleaning. A bunch of other people reply to it. The 6th reply in your post might go off talking about someone's summer vacation nightmare, and a bunch of people talk with that for 5 posts, then from there, it turns into basic IM of people doing smiley faces at aech other

X (original topic)
X (reply)
X (reply)
X (reply)
X (reply)
X (reply)
X (reply - about summer vacation) [off topic, someone please click the report button]
X (reply - about summer vacation)
X (reply - about summer vacation)
X (reply - about summer vacation)
X (reply - about summer vacation)
X (reply - smiley faces and one liners) [off topic, someone please click the report button]
X (reply - smiley faces and one liners)
X (reply - smiley faces and one liners)
X 62 more times

In this example, I would break this 73+ post into three sections. You have seen me do this before, when a nwe post comes called something like "From Jarin to random chatter" or "From Video Games to Religon" and things of this nature. Some people are anal when it comes to keeping on topic. I find my own self sometimes going off on tangents, so I am not going to be angry if anyone else does it. This above example would allow me to go in, and break up the message into three messages. This way, frequent visitors to the board would be able to keep things nice and smooth, and people who are not as frequent would not have to sift through tons of crap in their topic. If you do that too often, then some people actually stop coming to the board or stop posting or reading most of the topics (or forums). While there are only four "active" people at this point, I have not done any real advertising, and I do plan to do this at some point when the board goes gold, and I get some of the mods in. Right now, the board is more for people keeping tabs on Jarin, or people I know personally, or have a long net history with. I like order, what can I say

Doing a test, it would appear that the only person who actually sees reported messages is the moderator of that forum (and in this case, the only one besides me who moderates is Jen, and she only moderates Little X, so she would see Little X reported posts and could fix them, however she would not see them anywhere else). So everyone should be "safe". You *can* even report your own posts. If you make a post and realize that it is off topic, you could report it.

As to what really classifies as reportable other than off topic, well, use good judgement. Outer Unbound is a general forum. It is not a chat room. If a post and its replies look like they could be done better via IM, then report the whole thing by reporting the first post. I will have another warning topic similar to "looks like IM" that people can choose. I would imagine people will start to use the boards better with the rules and new forums, so a lot of this deals with nice people who want to look into the past and report things for me Of course, things happen, people get drunk, tired, are releasing stress, and the like, so it could still happen. Plus, we are human.

Final note, just because you report something as off topic, it does not mean that it is. What Mair sees as off topic is different from sewcute is different from Stingray is different from my mother (not currently on the board, mind you). However, off topic is the second thing I check, right after I go through my personal messages.

So, no, I am not angry with anyone, or even remotely close to it. I like structure, and order, and the new phpBB3 gives this to me. I hope this lengthy reply answered your question!