Fellowships need a report button

[Amarande]

Absolutely none of this makes an easier Report function for core game systems, such as PF listings and Fellowships, unnecessary.

Let me put it somewhat differently.

There's basically three buckets into which "reasons to make a report" can be filed:

1 - slam-dunk violation cases where it's clear somebody's posting something really bad
2 - cases where a report is possibly reasonable but whether or not action should happen is a genuine judgment call
3 - specious/abusive reports with no rational basis but hoping for GM action ("MOM! BART'S SMOKING!" to make a classic Simpsons reference)

It's pretty clear you're annoyed at content that seems to fall under the first category but feel that it's too troublesome to make reports in that situation. I can understand that frustration.

The problem is if you make THOSE easier to report, you have to make reporting easier in general, and if the effort to make a report is low enough, you get loads of collateral damage. A lot of people considering filing a report of the second type probably initially feel that way out of high emotion (perhaps a tense situation in a Duty, which is a common topic of discussion in TOS-related threads here), and currently the amount of time it takes to file may cause them to cool down enough to reconsider if it's actually a big enough deal to warrant doing so. A lot of potential report troll types probably currently don't bother because it's so much higher effort to make a report here, and because the reports are still reviewed by actual staff so are much more likely to get thrown out anyway.

With easy to make reports, you'll have a lot more people getting strikes for momentary emotional situations (exactly what other topics about player interaction fear) as instead of cooling off, people will file those type 2 reports more. You'll also have a lot more people reporting just because they don't like someone or their playstyle (let's be real, this happens in more than enough major online games that it would be dreaming to think otherwise). Meanwhile serious reports actually take longer to process, because they're stuck in the queue with all the pique fits and wolf-crying. There would be fingers being pointed at SE that they aren't diligent enough at dealing with the real trust and safety issues.

SE would probably be forced to start to cut corners on its currently mainly excellent report-handling track record (which seems to mostly be marred by only the occasional errant GM decision). Decisions would have to be more summary; it seems like most firms that face this problem tend to ultimately overdemocratize the enforcement of the TOS, with, in particular, receiving too many complaints resulting in being actioned regardless of whether or not the complaints were justified. Where this happens in games, players can and do coordinate to mass report someone they disagree with in order to get them suspended; most popular games seem to be afflicted by this problem at this point. I can think of any of a number of forms of content in XIV that could be rendered nearly unplayable via unscrupulous use of such a system by a mob (the size of a mid-to-large FC, perhaps). Hunts. FATEs. Potentially, it could even be used to abuse materials markets ...