From my perspective, following are a few tips for intelligent newbies who wish to help keep the forum clean.
The zeroth rule is, give a damn. I recently
reported a year-old copypaste spam. As
seen in the archive, the post immediately after it quoted the spam in its entirety, then replied, “Oh, that's just spamming, man.” If he successfully identified it as “spamming”, then why did this this person (a “brainwallet”-pusher, by the way) not click the handy “Report to moderator” link?
Sometimes, it is a judgment call. When I’m unsure, I sometimes reply to a borderline nonsense post (or just ignore it) when I should probably report it. But if you
know that something is spam, please do the right thing.
Use of the report system has been and continues to be a learning process for me. I started out reporting flagrant spam. Then I added no-substance posts by apparent account farmers, and reporting of misplaced topics. More recently, I upgraded to targeting
copypasters for permaban. As you gain experience, you will likely follow some similar trajectory of your own.
Particularly when starting out, reading more than I write has been a useful habit—here as everywhere. I have carefully experimented with different strategies to raise bad posts to moderator attention, for maximal impact with best use of my time and theirs. Along the way, tips from Legendaries have been of great assistance; as such, I must thank DannyHamilton for his recent discussion with me, which inspired this post.
Ultimately, as in any endeavour, there is no substitute for experience. For your hundredth report, you will be faster on the draw and surer in your aim than for your tenth; and I have no doubt, I will learn much more before I make my thousandth report.
