We should really update the reporting system

[Amarande]

I didn't actually think about that.

I was just mostly thinking about the recent thread. So many people put things in their search info or their adventure plates that they're not supposed to, and other people see that and think it's okay. No one bothers to report it until someone gets upset for literally any other reason with that person, and suddenly those people are wondering what happened.

This is probably just something that happens a lot in general with rules, especially rules governing large communities where most people are fairly apathetic about each other (same goes for cities in the real world, for instance).

And yeah, I've myself suggested that part of the reason the reporting system is the way it is, is precisely so that you have to decide you really want to report someone and have a certain amount of time in which to think about it (if nothing else, the time it takes to actually sit and write out a report).

Otherwise, it's likely way too many things would be reported out of pique, which would start to drown out the serious reports, and then SE will likely come under fire for letting something major like grooming or financial scamming slip by in the shuffle. Unfortunately, the most likely upshot of that would be Yoshi being pressured into adopting one of the two "normal" reporting methods companies use nowadays:

a) an all-seeing AI that automatically notes when certain infractions occur and actions them without intervention (you see this on mainstream social media, and it has entirely too many false positives, especially for a system like FFXIV's that has an escalating penalty system where previous marks effectively never go away. AI is just not really good enough yet to handle this on its own).

b) a system that primarily works based on numbers of reports, assuming that anyone who's been reported by several others is more likely than not actually guilty of what they're accused of and actions them by default. This often atrophies human GM input down to the point that incidents that are not reported by enough actual people are basically dismissed altogether. The result is that you wind up with a mess where gameplay scuffles involving several people result in actual bans (see how badly the Ahn'Qiraj event went in the WoW Classic rerelease, for instance, and I can already imagine how much of a headache Hunts would become here) while actual serious incidents (like grooming or stalking) get ignored because often the victim is the only person to put in a report so the system deprioritizes it as a "one off."

As with many things here, the status quo seems like it may, in fact, be the least evil under the circumstances.

[VelKallor]

And yeah, I've myself suggested that part of the reason the reporting system is the way it is, is precisely so that you have to decide you really want to report someone and have a certain amount of time in which to think about it (if nothing else, the time it takes to actually sit and write out a report).

Along with a warning that a false or malicious report will land YOU in deep trouble.

As it should be.