Reporting: How it works and how you can help!

Here on r/masstagger we tend to feature a lot of subs that post some pretty nasty stuff. Some of you may have noticed that some subs don't seem to be around very long before getting banned. If you've ever asked yourself why this is, or are unfamiliar with the reporting structure of Reddit, then this post is for you!

Apologies in advance for this huge screed, this guide includes a lot of basic information that most of you already know. I'm including it for the benefit of new and future users. Scroll down a ways if you want to just read about reporting.

The first thing you'll want to do is familiarize yourself with the overall sitewide rules. These rules apply to the site as a whole, to every subreddit, and every user. In our case we're going to feature "prohibited content" as it is relevant to this guide:

Content is prohibited if it:

1. Is illegal
2. Is involuntary pornography
3. Is sexual or suggestive content involving minors
4. Encourages or incites violence
5. Threatens, harasses, or bullies or encourages others to do so
6. Is personal and confidential information
7. Impersonates someone in a misleading or deceptive manner
8. Uses Reddit to solicit or facilitate any transaction or gift involving certain goods and services
9. Is spam

It is important to familiarize yourself with all the items listed above, however I've provided context for items 4 and 5 as they are the most applicable in regards to this guide.

Now that you're familiar with the sitewide rules, let's get into the hierarchy of Reddit.

• Users
• Mods
• Sitewide Admins

You likely already know what a user is, so we'll focus on the difference between mods and admins.

Mods: These users own/control/moderate specific subreddits. They are regular folks (unaffiliated with Reddit) who either created a subreddit of their own or were granted mod privileges in one. Their main task is to curate the subreddits under their control and police them for rule-breaking content.

Because subreddits often have their own rules on top of the sitewide rules, the job of a mod is to enforce both sets. They can delete offending comments and posts, as well as ban users from the subreddits they control if they see fit. Mods can do whatever they want inside their subreddits as long as they follow sitewide rules. If they want to ban you from their sub for any/no particular reason, they can.

Sitewide admins: Admins are employees of Reddit itself and are tasked with oversight of the entire platform. They are not restricted to a single subreddit, but rather police Reddit as a whole. They have significantly more options available to them to enforce sitewide rules. Although their powers are more broad than a regular mod, their scope is limited to sitewide rules and nothing more. These folks can remove users or subreddits entirely from Reddit if they break the rules.

Now that we're familiar with the hierarchy of Reddit, let's see how reporting works.

There are 2 different entities you can report offending content to. Mods of a particular subreddit, and the Site Admins.

###Reporting to subreddit Mods

When you're on a a particular sub and you see a post or comment that violates the rules (either for that sub or sitewide) you can click the "report" button and a report will be sent to the mods of that sub. See here. After clicking "report" you'll be faced with a relatively simple multiple choice dialog that lets you drill down to the specific rule that you think is broken. On most subs, this is an effective way to report rulebreakers, as their mod team is committed to enforcing both the subreddits' and sitewide rules.

That brings me to the whole point of this post: Most of the subs featured here on r/masstagger tend to not have mods who care about sitewide rules, or operate in such a fashion as to obfuscate the rule breaking instead of cleaning up their subs. No matter how much you report rule breaking content to the Mods of these questionable subs, they do not follow through on enforcement of the rules, artificially delay enforcement to keep posts/comments up, or otherwise carry on in bad faith. When this happens, it's time to move up the chain:

###Reporting to Sitewide Admins

Reporting to the sitewide admins is a different procedure then reporting to mods. You cannot report a whole subreddit, only posts or comments within that subreddit. Note: it is extremely important that you only report posts/comments that break sitewide rules! Do not spam admins with reports just because you do not like the content of a comment/post! Also, Sitewide Admins do not enforce individual subreddit rules. Make sure your reports are clear and relevant to sitewide rules. These folks work hard to make Reddit a great place for everyone. Please don't waste their time. Once you've identified an offending post/comment:

Follow this link to send a report to Sitewide Admins

For example, here is how you would go about reporting violent content.

It is very similar to mod reporting, however you'll be asked for a URL to the offending comment/post. Grab the permalink for comments or the URL if you want to report a post. Once you send the report, you'll be messaged by the Site Admins to let you know they received the report. After that, you're done. At this point it is in the hands of the Site Admins and they will eventually make a call on what to do about your report. When they have completed their assessment (and possibly take action) they may message you again, however they will not disclose to you the actual action taken.

And that's it! Hopefully this guide will be helpful. Share it anywhere you think may be useful. Over the course of time I've done my fair share of assessment/reporting so if you have any questions feel free to ask.