BLF is a totally awesome place.
I hope this new change makes it even better. 
It should at least cut down on some types of complaining. 
Thanks sb for your continuing effort and insights, that make BLF the nicest forum in the world while still keeping moderation at a minimum possible 
There’s a lot I could say, but I’d probably get my post “Reported” so I’ll just say that I won’t say. 
The Rudeness Meter
Born 2016-06-11
Died 2019-03-08
Rest in Peace little meter
:sunglasses: Nice, thanks!
Interesting. The visible meter certainly had tradeoffs… On the one hand, it gave people behavioral hints without the need for admin action. On the other hand, it had a tendency to turn small conflicts into large conflicts. And the way people responded to it, by either correcting their behavior or escalating conflicts further, seems like it sped up the process of identifying the people most likely to cause trouble. Basically, if there was going to be an explosion, it would happen sooner rather than later.
If it’s ever feasible to do on a per-user basis, I’d still like the option of seeing when my posts are flagged. But it’s not a big deal; people have other ways to let each other know when they went too far.
(edit: fixed dvorak typo… dvorak makes it too easy to switch vowels)
Drama Meter
Thanks a lot for your input TK.
That was the idea at least. But in practice I would receive a personally written PM from many users each and every time they got flagged. It was a surprisingly strong reaction, often vehemently defending their opinion that the report was unjustified. I usually begged to differ. 
That’s sort of the paradox here. Users that make a concerted effort to follow the rules and keep the peace (which are the large majority of you) were invariably the same ones that genuinely cared about fixing their flagged posts. Consequentially, with that great attitude those users are almost never on the reports “scoreboard”. I’m not exaggerating when I say that the overwhelming majority of users here generally stay out of trouble; at any given moment there are usually 1 or 2 names on my overview list of users that have recent non-expired reports, and they are usually from the same small group of repeat offenders.
You could have a page listing their handles and mugshots, like are posted behind the counter at stores, those people who bounce checks and the like. :laughing:
So, people were personally PM’ing you over a “Report” hit? Maybe a way to deal with that, if technically possible, would be to make the reporting person choose from a list, which rule is violated. That would cut down on revenge hits, and also make the report more useful to the one who gets reported. I don’t know how much it would cut down on the PM’s, though it should help in some cases. Another option might be to implement some sort of reputation function, and limit the use of the “Report” button to people with a large enough reputation on the site. I don’t know how that would be done technically either.
I know that sometimes, without realizing it, I break a rule that is important to some member. I recently did that, and apologized. But I wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t seen the “Report” on my post. Other times, I get hit and never do figure it out, so I assume it’s a “revenge” hit, or a “dislike” hit. I’ve known from the beginning not to “worry” about a hit here or there, but I like to see when it happens. I like having the ability to look at my post and try to understand why it was flagged. Making the “Reporter” specify what the hit was for would help at least me, and maybe a few others. Someone recently suggested a “Challenge” capability be added to the “Report” feature. I think that’s a nice idea as well. It might also cut down on the personal PM’s.
I just really prefer the “Report” function to be visible to the person being hit by it. Otherwise, might as well get rid of the button completely. You say misuse isn’t very common. I think hiding the meter and the hit list could make misuse of the button more common. Shady characters love the shade.
I had to google this word indignant i can’t even pronounce it properly lol sigh.
Thumbs up on a great job of keeping BLF on the top!
Hey DavidEF, also thanks to you for your input.
The thing is, this assumes malicious intent by the reporting user. As I mentioned earlier, I often review the reported posts, and the report is almost always justified. I’m not trying to cut down on the number of reports, but rather on the amount of ancillary fights and arguments that break out (usually in public) as a result of a report, however well justified the report may be.
That’s a fair point. But I would like to emphasize that this is not granting impunity to any shady actors. I can and do fully audit both the receiving and the giving parties with the Report button, and in the rare cases that I have observed abuse I usually permanently close the user’s account.
Why don’t people just send a PM when they think someone is rude (not to sb 
) and have a wee argument about it between themselves? 
So what happens now?
I understand that not much has changed except people can’t see what they have written that has been marked rude by someones opinion so don’t get a jist for it and may continue genuinely unaware.
Do you have a limit that once reached forum members get a surprise (or not so surprise) dressing down or warning message from the admin, or banned?
Asking for a friend
No firm limits, every case is different. But unless it’s a total psychopath they always get several warnings first. As I mentioned, most bad behavior comes from a small number of repeat offenders that don’t really appear to care about their number of reports and aren’t trying to improve. In my experience here, I’ve seen more cases of users reacting well to one of my PMs and changing their behavior than users that analyze their reported posts and self-moderate themselves. Nobody has been banned on a whim just because of an occasional slip-up or for having a bad day; you practically have to ask for it to get banned.
Also I should mention that when I talk about closing the account(s) of users that abuse the Report button, I don’t mean cases where I don’t personally agree with the report. Everyone has their own opinions and particular sensitive spots, and I respect that. So don’t hesitate to report a post if you think it violates the BLF Rules. Accounts are only closed for abuse in extremely obvious cases of somebody trying to game the system, and I can’t even remember the last time that happened.
my only personal complaint was for trying to moderate a rude comment.
I should have just pushed the button.
Probably the best move for everyone SB.
Good work sb56637!
In keeping with making BLF a happy place, what about a LIKE button?