[Unofficial Guide] Reporting effectively

[Steamtyme]

Curious on the opinions of others. I've been reporting a little in auctions whenever I browse the section, generally the reports are fine but I received a "bad" and figured I'd bring it here to discuss and give the thread a bump.

I am selling my Hero member account with registered email address.
Link to original is here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5160444.msg51669376#msg51669376
Neutral trust rate but no negative feedback's at all.
No staked address, never banned and never requested for loan's.

Registered 2014
Posts 1267
Activity 826
Merit 529

Price: 0.015 BTC
Open for serious bids

Contact me for more details on Telegram @tosall2017

Do not bother me with giving account details before purchasing. Too much people here around to give red trust
because they don't like account selling

I believe the Tag would have been "This as a sales thread not an auction and asked it to be moved to the Marketplace -> Goods - > Digital goods - > Invites and accounts"
Anyone have any ideas as to what was wrong with the report? I've had others in the past moved and marked "good" so I'm not sure if it is just a one off or if this now counts as an auction.

[suchmoon]

Anyone have any ideas as to what was wrong with the report? I've had others in the past moved and marked "good" so I'm not sure if it is just a one off or if this now counts as an auction.

I guess it's because it says "open for serious bids", which kinda sorta makes it an auction.

[Welsh]

Curious on the opinions of others. I've been reporting a little in auctions whenever I browse the section, generally the reports are fine but I received a "bad" and figured I'd bring it here to discuss and give the thread a bump.

I guess it depends on the moderator dealing with it, but personally I believe that doesn't belong in the auctions section, and would have marked that good, and likely would have report it myself. As suchmoon suggests it may be because of the "bids" although I read that as open to offers more than bids. I think the auction section should be a place for threads which have a structured auction system such as bids, end time, and all that jazz.

[malevolent]

It's barely an auction, but it's still technically an auction, as no (global) mod or admin has decided to designate and enforce any section-specific rules:

"Price: 0.015 BTC
Open for serious bids"

If the OP wanted to sell the account for 0.015 BTC, he wouldn't have added the part about 'serious bids'. Since he did, 0.015 BTC should be treated as a starting price of the auction.

tl;dr the report has been handled correctly.

[Steamtyme]

See I can understand that and am only really looking to clarify. Does using the word "bids" alone give it enough of the characteristics one would expect from even the most basic auction?

There is no end date. Bids is essentially saying OBO ( or best offer). He states he us "selling" not auctioning. The thread is locked forcing off site communication; how can people know other bids?

I honestly read it as ".015 buy it now price, but telegram me and I'll consider offers." I would argue the locking of the topic makes it not open to bids, despite the wording.

Thanks for the insight and opinions on this. I guess it'll be a coin flip from now on reporting there as I've had some similar reports handled as I thought they would be.

[Welsh]

Thanks for the insight and opinions on this. I guess it'll be a coin flip from now on reporting there as I've had some similar reports handled as I thought they would be.

It's probably best to take the advice of those that handle reports there, and is a good example of why I don't handle reports in the auction section. In my opinion though, many users here are posting in the auction section, and digital goods or whatever just to gain more exposure. (Just like that user is doing here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5145791.msg51156573#msg51156573)  I think we shouldn't quite get hung up on the technicality of using "bids", as opposed to "offers". It would be nice to have a more defined set of guidelines for this niche issue, but I guess it isn't justified.

The way the thread is worded it does sound like this is my price "x", but I'm willing to listen to best offers which to me is more suited to invites and accounts, and doesn't sound quite like an auction to me. Obviously, due to the way the report has been handled, and the difference in opinions here this is a "at mods discretion", and could vary depending on who's handling it.

[malevolent]

That's why I said it's barely an auction. We could do with some basic rules in that section to rule out ambiguities. 

Was that topic locked from the start, or was it locked later on?

I didn't handle that report, just explained why it was handled the way it was.

[Steamtyme]

I definitely agree that having even a base set of guidelines for a lot of areas would be useful. The topic itself was locked from the start, usually what grabs my attention for some of these.

I appreciate the insight and discussion on this. I actually didn't assume you had handled the report. Just felt it was a good explanation to build on.

It's probably best to take the advice of those that handle reports there ~snip~

That is good advice, and will definitely keep it in mind.

[mikeywith]

Another thing you might mention is that you can't submit two lines in a report. One of my bad reports was a double post resulting from my submitting a partial report, because I wanted to include a qualifiction on a second line. I don't think that should have been flagged as bad, as the subject post was deleted. I

I've made that mistake a few times. It's just natural to press enter for a new line especially when you've include a link to somewhere. I'll be sure to add something like this. Thanks for the suggestion.

Any updates regarding this issue ? I just happened to hit enter twice ! ended up reporting the same post 3 times in a row, because I am way too old to learn from the first mistake, the reason I wanted a new line was to make the mod's "life easier" because I didn't want to put 2 links and some explanation in the same line so that whoever is reviewing the report can easily understand the report, and the reward I get for being nice is 2 bad reports  .

Not that big of a deal since my reporting accuracy is not that great anyway, but this thing is annoying to say the least.

[Welsh]

Any updates regarding this issue ? I just happened to hit enter twice ! ended up reporting the same post 3 times in a row, because I am way too old to learn from the first mistake, the reason I wanted a new line was to make the mod's "life easier" because I didn't want to put 2 links and some explanation in the same line so that whoever is reviewing the report can easily understand the report, and the reward I get for being nice is 2 bad reports  .

Not that big of a deal since my reporting accuracy is not that great anyway, but this thing is annoying to say the least.

Thanks for the reminder I did forget about adding this to the thread. Considering there's now an infographic of this I think its about time I fix some of the issues that are present. I have been updating it from time to time, but its not been anywhere near the top of my priority list.

Added a small section about it under general advice. If anyone can link me the scripts that are available that expand the comment field that would be very much appreciated. I know they exist, but can't search them up at the moment.

[malevolent]

Another thing you might mention is that you can't submit two lines in a report. One of my bad reports was a double post resulting from my submitting a partial report, because I wanted to include a qualifiction on a second line. I don't think that should have been flagged as bad, as the subject post was deleted. I

I've made that mistake a few times. It's just natural to press enter for a new line especially when you've include a link to somewhere. I'll be sure to add something like this. Thanks for the suggestion.

Any updates regarding this issue ? I just happened to hit enter twice ! ended up reporting the same post 3 times in a row, because I am way too old to learn from the first mistake, the reason I wanted a new line was to make the mod's "life easier" because I didn't want to put 2 links and some explanation in the same line so that whoever is reviewing the report can easily understand the report, and the reward I get for being nice is 2 bad reports  .

Not that big of a deal since my reporting accuracy is not that great anyway, but this thing is annoying to say the least.

There's a small Violentmonkey/Tampermonkey/Greasemonkey script created by Minifrij which creates textarea, adjust the rows and columns to your liking:

https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/35345-replace-input-with-textarea-bitcointalk-report/code

[tranthidung]

It is not a new feature, but has not yet presented in the guide, so I think @Welsh should consider to add more details for the Patrol page section.
With steps to customize Patrol page.

I just discovered interesting things on patrol page, so I updated the thread today.

Now, let me presenting what I discovered.

Beside the standard patrol page, that most of us know, at: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=recent;patrol ⁽¹⁾
There is another 'hidden' patrol page, in which posts made in bounty threads disabled by default, at: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=recent;patrol;nobounty ⁽²⁾. I knew about that page by @suchmoon or @Vod, and originally it was disclosed in Russian board.

Generally

• The (1) page is overwhelming spam posts, and there is no reason to find spam posts in bounty threads, with abundant proof of authentication or weekly report posts
• The (2) page is more helpful, but by default, there are still so many posts over many boards

So, what users can do if they want to limit posts in their interest boards, such as Altcoin Discussions?
There is solution, but users have to manually customize their patrol page. Here is a guide, given by @o_e_l_e_o

Patrol isn't really hidden. You can make a link to it appear at the top of each page immediately above the link to your Watchlist by going to Profile - Forum Profile Information - and checking the box titled "Show patrol link".

What is hidden is that you can customize the patrol link to view other recent posts. Patrol shows the last 200 posts by newbie accounts. If you delete ";patrol" from the link, so you are left with https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=recent, you will see the last 100 posts by all accounts. You can also customize this by adding ";boards=x,y,z" on to the end, where x, y, z (and so on) are the boards you are interested in. For example:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=recent;boards=1 will show the last 100 posts in Bitcoin Discussion
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=recent;boards=7,8,57 will show the last 100 posts in Economics, Speculation and Trading Discussion.

You can also chain this together together with patrol, so for example:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=recent;boards=1;patrol will show all the posts by newbies on Bitcoin Discussion out of the last several hundred newbies posts. I'm not sure exactly how many recent newbie posts the forum keeps on file to populate this list from, but it's not a huge number (in the region of several hundred) I think, and since the vast majority of newbie posts are spamming the altcoin boards with bounty reports, then usually this will only show you a small handful of posts.

What users have to do (if they want to customize patrol page) are:
- Having a list of interest boards/ sub-boards and their identifying figures of those boards/sub-boards
- Bookmarking the customized patrol page: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=recent;boards=X
- Changing the X-value to their interest boards/ sub-boards at specific timepoints when they want to check spam posts.
Notes:
Users can includes multiple boards/ sub-boards in the customized patrol page
I listed a few boards/ sub-boards and their identifying numbers

• Meta: 24
• Bitcoin Discussion: 1
• Altcoin Discussion: 67
• Trading Discusion: 8
• Gambling Discussion: 228

[Welsh]

It is not a new feature, but has not yet presented in the guide, so I think @Welsh should consider to add more details for the Patrol page section.
With steps to customize Patrol page.

That would be a nice little addition. I'll get around to it at some point. Hopefully, this weekend I'll have some time to add to the guide. Although, this thread has definitely been the lower priority out of all my projects. I'll probably include ways of filtering sections to help with moderating too.

[Vaslime]

It is not a new feature, but has not yet presented in the guide, so I think @Welsh should consider to add more details for the Patrol page section.
With steps to customize Patrol page.

That would be a nice little addition. I'll get around to it at some point. Hopefully, this weekend I'll have some time to add to the guide. Although, this thread has definitely been the lower priority out of all my projects. I'll probably include ways of filtering sections to help with moderating too.

details is the most important in reporting enumerating from start to finish

[DdmrDdmr]

@Welsh, a quick(ish) question here:

It seems logical that a specific token that announces in the token (or Altcoin) section, should work on a single thread to include relevant information on updates and so forth. Nevertheless, I have not been able to identify a rule that specifically stated this.

The case is that, on the Spanish Local Board, there is a specific token that has multiple threads running (some already reported for duplicate or other reasons):
tokens:
AXEL lanzó oficialmente el intercambio IDAX, abriendo los mercados comerciales A
Cómo logran los creadores de contenido veces más ingresos a través de AXEL
El Token AXEL ahora está disponible en ProBit
AXEL Anuncia Asociación Estratégica con Trittium
AXEL.Network (AXEL) Competencia Comercial, ¡ven a lograr tus 30,000 tokens!
AXEL.Network (AXEL) Competencia Comercial, ¡ven a lograr tus 30,000 tokens!
¡Gana los 30,000 tokens! AXEL Anuncia Listing Oficial de Tokens en ProBit
ANUNCIO: 16 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2019 IEO Tokens
(there are probably more that are not on the first page I've gone through).

Q1) Which would be the proper reasoning to report the above (other than depicting multiple threads for the token, being leniant to spam), with reference to a valid rule?

Q2) If they were to be deleted, which one should survive (i.e. not be reported)? -> probably the oldest.

The profile also posts in our main section, but I don’t consider those specifically spam, since the content is general purpose, and the only reference to it’s own token is through a link to the Telegram channel in each of these post (within the post).

[Welsh]

Q1) Which would be the proper reasoning to report the above (other than depicting multiple threads for the token, being leniant to spam), with reference to a valid rule?

Q2) If they were to be deleted, which one should survive (i.e. not be reported)? -> probably the oldest.

Sorry, for the delayed reply.

It all depends on the content really. Although, most of the threads linked could be reported for duplicate content, and low quality content. If they're posting updates independently from their announcement thread then this probably falls under duplicate content/spam. If they're saying a few words, and then link to their service its usually low quality. Project updates are probably more suited to the announcement thread, and don't warrant their own thread. There should really only be one thread per project in the tokens/altcoin announcement threads. I've removed the topics linked because they fall under duplicate content, and low quality content.

I normally leave the oldest, unless the old thread has no activity, and another one does.

[DdmrDdmr]

<…> There should really only be one thread per project in the tokens/altcoin announcement threads <…>

Thanks for the clarification and course of action on the spam.

Perhaps what I miss is the above to be verbalized explicitly in the rules to some extent. Although it seems reasonably logical, the profile case at hand tends to create a new post on Tokens every time he wants to communicate an update, which, being the Spanish childboards not very active per se, gives them more visibility for a longer period of time than an update to the single Ann thread.

<…>

Cheers for looking over the Spanish Local board whilst our moderator is awol for the time being. It’s pretty surprising the language capabilities of many on this forum.
 

[Welsh]

Yeah, its not directly in the rules that there should only be one project announcement etc. Although, my interpretation is that it falls under duplicate content, and some of them were definitely low quality. At the moment it seems franckuestein isn't active within the last month or two, and until then I'll be handling them like the way I've stated above. There are other existing moderators which understand Spanish, and probably handle a fair few reports also. So any Spanish which I can't understand will be left to them. I've been handling a fair few from the Spanish section recently, but once your local moderator is back I would potentially ask them what their interpretation would be as it is for the local section.

So, feel free to report these types of threads, and they'll likely be handled the same as the above. I'll give the user a message as it seems the perfect opportunity to try out my Spanish in private

[Lafu]

Today i got fucked by myself LOL.

There was 2 Threads in the Altcoins section exactly the same written in German !

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5201974.0
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5201978.0

So i toked one and have written in there to move it to the german section.

Verschieb das bitte in das deutsche Forum .
Das hier ist nur für Englische sachen gedacht .
Du kannst das selbst machen , unten links wenn du ganz runter scrollst hast du 2 optionen ,Move und Lock topic.
Klicke auf Move und dann suchst du dir das deutsche forum aus .
Am besten hier rein moven : https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=152.0

Danke

Wenn du es nicht machst wird es ein Moderator machen oder der thread wird sogar gelöscht.

And i reported the other one as an double thread , after he moved the one i have written he edited the other one to English (before it was German too) !

Thats what fucked me up and the report was marked as bad lol , because there was no double thread anymore and in english now !

Cheeers

[Welsh]

And i reported the other one as an double thread , after he moved the one i have written he edited the other one to English (before it was German too) !

Thats what fucked me up and the report was marked as bad lol , because there was no double thread anymore and in english now !

Cheeers

Yeah, I marked that bad. I was wondering what you were referring too as you're normally pretty accurate. Things like this can happen though, and that's why I always suggest linking to the thread if possible. I see this mistake a few times when users simply state "wrong section", and it gets moved, but the previous moderator didn't mark it as handled or the user themselves moved it. Then it usually gets marked bad as we are none the wiser. Before I was made a moderator I used to report them with "Doesn't belong in x" like in the original topic.

That's just unfortunate that it got marked bad though. Don't let that stop you in similar cases in the future.