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Reporting Users Guide

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Uzumi's AvatarUzumi
Uzumi's Avatar
This guide will explain the report function and how to use it correctly. I promise, it's not as scary as it looks like! Feel free to ask questions if there's still something bothering you. c: Table of contents: Introduction - What is a report? - What should be reported? - Why should I report? - Can I PM a mod instead of using the report function? - Reporting a member of staff - Abuse of report function - I'm scared of reporting How to report - Where to find it - What it will look like - What to include in a report - What will happen after hitting "submit report"? Templates for reports - Multi-posting - Inappropriate language - Inappropriate links - Violations in chat - Violations in PM
Avatar made by Nai! 💕
Uzumi's AvatarUzumi
Uzumi's Avatar

What is a report?

A report is created by a user to bring a violation of the rules to mods' attention. Reports are necessary as mods are volunteers and don't have the capacity to be everywhere and to make sure that all rules are followed, especially because we aren't allowed look into your PMs as we please. Therefore it is necessary for you to report when you see someone breaking the rules.

What should be reported?

Everything that breaks our rules. I will address some issues specifically, because people don't seem to think that this is something that needs to be reported, but everything that breaks our rules needs to be reported. I will pick out some examples, where people appeared to be hesitant about reporting, this isn't a complete list.

An incomplete list of examples

- Someone has multiple accounts. It is stated in all relevant places that a user is only allowed to create and log into one PFQ account. This includes any past PFQ accounts they have created or logged into. - Someone talks to you in a creepy manner, asks you uncomfortable questions, acts overly affectionate despite not knowing your age or being much older. Please report this. Not everyone on the internet has the best intentions for you, Stranger Danger is a real and very serious thing. - Someone is being rude to you, this is disrespectful and needs to be reported. - Someone is harassing you. If people specifically do things you asked them not to, for example PM you after you told them not to talk to you, then it's harassment. - Someone is asking you for a free Pokémon/Item/Currency or is asking you to click them. No matter how polite they are about it, this is SPAM and against our rules. - Someone has withdrawn from a trade agreement after both participants agreed on a trade. A trade agreement is a contract and they're breaking this contract. - Someone has made two or more consecutive posts. It does not seem like a "big deal", but it is still SPAM and against our rules. If we have it in our rules then it's enough of a deal for us that it needs to be reported. - You can't read a user's template. We have rules regarding legibility, if you can't read a post on mobile/with your skin then the user's template is breaking theses rules. Please report this!

Why should I report?

Broadly speaking, to make PFQ a better place for everyone, including yourself. Our rules were made with two intentions: 1. To make everyone's playing experience nice (including those of children! This is a child-friendly game.) 2. To protect us legally which makes it possible for you to play this game. If someone is breaking our rules, then we need to handle it. You might think it's okay if "it's just once", but most of the time, people don't break a rule just once and you just don't see or notice other instances. Even rules that may seem unimportant to you were added for a reason. If you think that something needs to be brought to our attention, then please bring it to our attention. Important Note: If we find out that someone has been breaking one of our major rules (for example having multiple accounts) and you were aware of it but didn't report it, then you are also in trouble for aiding them.

Can I PM a mod instead of using the report function?

It is allowed to PM a mod your report, but generally it's better to utilise the report function as this can be handled faster. Reports can be taken by any mod who is currently available while a PM can only be handled by the mod who received the PM. Just remember to state who you're reporting. Don't PM Niet a user report, he's the programmer. Don't PM the art staff a user report, they're artists.

Reporting a member of staff

Staff consists of people, mistakes happen but they shouldn't. If you need to report a member of staff, then you can either normally report them or PM Garthic. A support ticket can also be taken as a report if you're site locked. Garthic is the Staff Administrator and handles therefore all reports towards staff. Staff can be reported for following reasons: - Breaking the site rules. Staff is not above the rules, if one of us goes around PMing people for free Shinies then they need to be reported. - Abuse of mod power; Giving you an unjust lock/warning. Read the lock reason before reporting staff for this, this is where we explain why the lock was placed. If the reasoning is rubbish ("Go away." as the lock reason despite never breaking any rules) or over the top (site lock for a first offence double post) then it warrants a report. Otherwise you can also contact the mod in question for further clarification. Remember that staff are volunteers. We may not be available at all times and if you're not getting a reply to your PM then you can send a simple reminder.

Abuse of report function

Making a false report is not abuse of the report function. If you make a report because you thought that a rule was broken but it wasn't, then it's not a big deal. We will inform you about it and that's it. Abuse of the report function is when you report someone while knowing that they didn't break any rules. Trying to use us as your attack dogs is a punishable offence.

I'm scared of reporting

Or any other variation of this. Please understand that I understand you. I've been on your side of the report function, I made reports before I became a mod and it scared me. Mostly because I didn't know a lot about reporting which is why I'm writing this guide now. I'm not gonna throw out the general "there's no reason to be scared!" because I know that general statements don't work on everyone (even if they're true). Instead I will go about specific examples on why you might be hesitant to report and explain why you really shouldn't be. Reporting is not such a huge deal as a lot of people think. It's not much different from a PM to a mod, except that it is handled faster and is slightly better documented. I'm using this thread as a basis on why people might be hesitant to report.

Reasons why you might be hesitant to report, but really shouldn't be

I don't know what is considered rule-breaking and am afraid of wasting staff's time. If you don't understand something about the rules, then you can either PM staff for clarification or use the Questions about Site Rules thread. It's also fine if you get something wrong in a report, we'll just tell you and that's it. Handling reports is the main responsibility of (general) mods, you can't be wasting our time if doing it is literally what we're here for. The worst you can do is distracting us from clicking for 5 minutes. c: Reporting "minor" rule breaking isn't a waste of time for us either, if it's in our rules then we care about it. I don't know how to properly file a report against a user. The last post of this guide contains some templates you can use or adjust for your liking. If there's something in your report that isn't clear to us, then we will ask you for further information. This isn't an issue to us and we don't expect you to know what information we might need. I don't want staff to notice me and to know that I filed the report. I hope this won't come across too harsh, but we won't remember you. Our focus is who gets reported and why, not who reported them. We are thankful for your report, but chances are we won't recognise you if we see you in a thread a week later. I'm afraid that staff will look into my account and lock me for a rule I broke. Most rules don't get you locked on first offence, even fewer rules get you locked on first offence if you didn't break them on purpose. If you accidentally break a rule then simply tell us. If you come forward with it then there are close to zero rules that get you locked, and those that would get you locked are against the law. If you wouldn't go to jail for what you did, then it's extremely unlikely that we would lock you after you come forward with it. Our priority is that people understand our rules and follow them. If you already noticed your mistake and you understand what you did wrong, then there's nothing for us to be worried about. We still need to be informed about this, in case we stumble upon your rule violation at a later date. I feel sorry for the person I'm reporting. Again, most rules don't get you locked on first offence, even fewer rules get you locked on first offence if you didn't break them on purpose. Most of the people who get reported receive a PM informing them about the rules and giving them a warning. Don't take this as an invite to PM the user yourself instead of letting the big scary mods handle it. This would be mini-modding which is against the rules. We keep track of the warnings, if a user already got multiple warnings on the same issue then a warning might not be enough. You won't be able to see if someone else already warned them about an issue. Someone else will report this, so why should I? Because if everyone thinks like that, then nobody will report. It's not an issue for us to receive 3 reports on the same problem, it is an issue for us if there has been a problem for weeks but no reports. We don't have our eyes everywhere, we need to rely on users to report issues so we can deal with them.
Uzumi's AvatarUzumi
Uzumi's Avatar

How to report

This section will explain how to report someone and what the procedure will look like. Hopefully knowing what to expect will make it less scary for you!

Where to find it

You can report a user from their Profile: From a forum post: Or from the chat: Tag the @Reports role in the Discord server if someone has broken a rule there. If you don't want to make that ping in public, you can report them with a screenshot of the chat through the regular on-site report function. The forum report will give you a quote of the reported message.

What it will look like

You will be lead to a page containing a warning and the text input for the actual report. If you report a user through their profile then the text input will be empty. If it was through the chat or forum, then it will contain a quote of the reported message. Please leave this message as it gives us a link to the original post or a timestamp of the chat message! The report itself is a normal input field as if you're creating a thread (which you're actually doing). You can use BBCode, but please refrain from using templates for your reports.

What to include in a report

Information. Make sure that your report answers the following questions in some way: What happened? Did the user post inappropriate content? Was the user rude? Did they double post? Where did it happen? Was it through PMs? In their About Me? Signature? In what thread did it happen? (Report the post itself! It gives us a link.) What or who was affected? Was an item stolen? Which one. Inappropriate Pokémon name? Please link us to it. Does a user have a second account? We need its name. Evidence. If a user can edit the offending content then please add a sreenshot to your report. You can upload screenshots to our on-site Uploader. The following places don't need to be screenshotted as users can't edit them: PMs, completed trades, usernames. Otherwise please add a screenshot or at least a quote of the post. (Side note: if we use the screenshot you're providing us then all identifying information will be removed from it. We won't use your screenshot that has the URL "/upload/Uzumi/evidence.png", we will reupload it to our staff-uploader and you can delete it from your personal space after the report has been handled.)

What will happen after hitting "Submit report"

A thread will be created in a subforum that only staff has full access to. You will have access to the thread you created, but you won't be able to unsubscribe from that thread until the thread has been locked by a mod. You won't be able to edit your posts, but double posting isn't a problem within the report forum. Don't hesitate to create a second post if you have any further information or if you have to correct any previous statements. Nobody except you and the mods can see that thread.
Uzumi's AvatarUzumi
Uzumi's Avatar

Templates

Reminder that you can use the on-site image uploader to upload evidence. We also have a basic guide on making screenshots. These are very basic templates for reports and don't cover everything you can report. You can of course change them, adjust them to your liking or not use them at all. Please add more information if you have more. But yes, reports can really be that simple.

Multi-posting

[quote of the post] Hello! This person has made multiple consecutive posts in a thread.

Inappropriate language

Hello, this person has the word "..." in their (About Me/Trainer Card/signature/...) which I don't think is considered child-friendly. Here is a [url=IMAGEURL]screenshot![/url]

Inappropriate links

Hello, this person has this link [url]LINKURL[/url] in their (About Me/Trainer Card/signature/...). I don't think the link content is appropriate for children, examples can be seen [url=LINK]here[/url].

Chat - Spam

[screenshot of the chat message] Hello, this person spammed in the chat. (Similar messages can be found before/after this message.)

Chat - Trading

[screenshot of the chat message] Hello, this person used the chat to ask for trades.

PMs - Begging

Hello, this person sent me a PM asking for (free Pokémon/free Items/clicks/...).

PMs - Harassment

Hello, this person PMed me after I told them (today/yesterday/in [url=POST URL]in this post[/url]) to not message me again.

PMs - Advertisement (Spam)

Hello, this person sent me a PM advertising their thread.

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