Resource Guide How to Use the Report System Responsibly and Effectively

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How to Properly Make Use of the Report System.


The site staff is here to help make the Chronicles RP Board a fun and safe place for everyone to roleplay, and the staff relies on some cooperation from the community to make sure we can catch and deal with anyone that is ruining the fun or safety of other members of the site. The best way to help this effort is to use the report system in a responsible manner, so hopefully, this resource will make that clearer and easier for everyone.

If you're currently confused as to how reporting someone even works, check the relevant sections of the "How To Report & Ignore" Resource Guide for details before continuing on with this one.

When To Report Something

One of the most common questions a staff member gets from random folks messaging them is "should I report...?" The answer is almost always yes, go ahead and report it. The reason for this is that we like to follow a simple maxim for reporting: better safe than sorry. If you think something or someone is breaking site rules, or even if you're not sure they're breaking rules but you think it might be a problem, go ahead and send in a report. We would rather get some reports that don't lead to any security action than miss actual problems because people aren't sure about reporting it. The only reports we don't want are the joke or troll reports.

On a more serious note, staff members are not exempt from any of the rules that apply to normal members. If you think a staff member is breaking rules or otherwise being a problem for the Chronicles RP Board, please check this other resource to learn how to report staff members. It's a different process done to protect the reporter from any potential backlash from the staff member they are reporting.

What If It's An Emergency Situation?

If the thing you're reporting requires immediate intervention, then you can instead try messaging a Moderator or Administrator directly. If you're not sure who all are Staff Members, you can check the staff member online page or check out the orange and yellow names in the Discord members' list. That page also conveniently has a list of which staff members are currently online, so you can use it to easily pick one of the staff people to message. Getting hold of them via board messenger Discord private PM is also acceptable if you have such avenues available to you. Directly contacting a staff member rather than filing a report for rule-breaking issues should only be done if it's something that can't wait a few hours to be handled.

Never Use The Report System For Spite

The reporting system exists to make sure those who break the rules are dealt with, not to punish people you dislike or to win you brownie points with the Chronicles RP Board Staff.

We notice it when someone repeatedly sends in reports about petty kaka against people they don't get along with, and it does not end well for the spite reporter. We do investigative work for reports that get sent in and in a lot of cases that means looking into the interactions between the reporter and reported party. Fun fact: trying to get staff to hassle someone who isn't actually breaking any rules constitutes attempted harassment by proxy, and we don't take kindly to any form of harassment here at Chronicles RP.

In short, don't screw around with reports. Only report things that you think are actual problems that may break rules. Knowingly wasting our time with frivolous nonsense is not going to end well, so please don't do it.

What To Do Once You've Decided To Report Something

Aside from the obvious step of filling out the report and sending it in, there are a couple of other things you should make sure to do. They're best presented in the forms of things not to do though, so forgive the misleading section title above.

Don't remain involved in whatever situation you are reporting. If someone is harassing you and you're reporting them, stop talking to them and block them if you can't ignore them in the conventional way of simply paying no attention to them. If there is an argument going on that has gone too far, step back and leave it alone until Staff handles it. If there are inappropriate images posted in a thread, don't go yelling at the person to take them down, just relax and let staff do their job. Whatever is going on, you staying involved in it after you decide it's worth reporting will only cause problems. This also means you should not get one last pot shot into an argument before reporting and walk away; trust me, we'll notice and we won't be happy about that sort of nonsense.

Don't go asking friends to send in reports too. One report is enough. The only thing that happens when we get multiple reports on a single issue is that they are all merged into one report thread in our little report area, and if we think it's necessary we might message everyone who sent in a report to get more details. We do not handle cases any differently or any more quickly based on the number of reports received. We do not view it as a protest/petition action that voices the will of the people of Chronicles RP Board. For every case we look at the issue at hand, ask ourselves if it is breaking the rules or not, and proceed accordingly whether it's one report or one hundred reports.

Don't tell the reported person/people about the fact that you've sent in a report. This will very likely cause problems and it violates our site rule against creating drama and probably also the rule against airing your grievances against other people in public. There is no good reason to tell someone you've reported them other than to cause drama of one sort or another, and you'll probably just end up in trouble yourself if you do it.

Don't tell other people that you've sent in a report about some issue. Just like telling the reported person/people about the report can cause drama, so too can telling other people to cause problems. Generally speaking, the best course of action, once you've sent a report, is to just stay quiet about it until it's handled by the Staff. The only exception to this principle is if somebody else who saw or is involved in the reported incident comes to talk to you about it and is considering doing something about it; in that case, you should tell the concerned person to leave the situation alone because you've already reported it. Seriously, there is no other good reason to go around talking about the fact that you reported something, so don't do it.

Asking Administrators About Reports Is Allowed

After you've sent your report and stepped away from the situation like the responsible individual that you are, sometimes you're not going to see any obvious results. It's easy to come to the conclusion that nothing at all was done, but you don't need to sit there and wonder forever. It is perfectly fine to message an administrator and ask what happened to that thing you reported. Sometimes we won't give you any specific details for the sake of privacy or not stirring drama, but we will always let you know the general status of the case. Perhaps we're still investigating, or maybe the person who was assigned to the case got busy and it's just taking a while, or maybe we talked to the reported party and it's already settled, or perhaps we decided that there was no rule breaking going on so nothing needed to be done. You're always welcome to shoot one of us a message to ask about a case, but please keep such messages to an administrator only.

That should cover everything. If you've got questions about when or how to use the report system even after reading this resource and the other related ones linked up above, feel free to message a Staff Member.

Credit to Iwaku Resource Pages for the guide.
 
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