why report-happy players are in danger

[Mystique]

if you frequent view the neoboards, you would notice there are some players who do nothing much all day but report players. why are they so report-happy, you ask? some of them do it to grab attention and praise. however, some players do it to get into the good books of the support team. however, what many of them don't realise is that it could backfire.

b4 i continue, we all can pretty much agree that moderators are humans and in fact, most of them are actually players with the power to freeze accounts and that they have the "ultimate" punishing weapon in neopia.

let's say we have this report-happy player called "Superfly" (named becoz he thought he behaves like Superman but is actually very irritating). Superfly frequents the neoboards and trading post alot and send an average of 50 report forms a day. he may also be a good players in terms of restocks and trading.

hence a moderator on an early Monday morning (and suffering from Monday blues) reaches his office, opens his maibox and as usual finds tons of email. as he briefly read through the list, found no less than 30 emails from Superfly. "oh crap, not this guy again! i got dozens of report forms from him every day!" as he (assuming he has that little bit of patience left) read through every of his report forms, he realised many of them are abt reporting the same player or for trivial stuff. "hmm...i must do something about this guy...let's see what i can find out about his account". now obviously a moderator cannot outright freeze a player for making 50 correct reports per day coz he has his job to think off. so the natural thing is to investigate Superfly's account for plausible reasons..."ooohhh...Superfly restocked 10 unbuyables yesterday!" (possible autobuyer)..."ooohhh...he transferred some expensive stuff and nps from other account!" (possibly using multiple accounts to make nps..)
b4 long, Superfly got frozen becoz the moderator decides to give himself the benefit of the doubt.

another scenario: moderator is roaming the neoboards and he happens to see this off-topic thread that's pretty humorous. while the moderator's having a good laugh about it...out comes...Superfly! Superfly posted " reported..for being off-topic!" now, moderator thinks " not again...my judgement's questioned"

now of coz, you may think that there's no evidence to back up what i am saying and that i can't speak from a moderator's pt of view. well, if you think again, all of us have a certain tolerance for irritance..much like if a fly is hovering in front of you, you would swat it.

which reminds me of a real-life incident reminscent to this. i am helping out my cousin with her cybercafe and there happens to be this regular customer. now, this customer has a very irritating habit of pressing the ringer for my attention. he didn't just do it once, but repeatedly whenever i am occupied and can't be at the front counter..(i could be washing utensils or assisting other customers). of coz, keeping in mind abt customer handling, i always tolerate it even though i can't stand the ringer. finally, one day, while i was in the midst of playing a game, this same customer pressed the ringer repeatedly again. as i was in a pretty grey mood that day, i went to the counter, grabbed the ringer and shoved in under the counter, all the while keeping a "plastic" smile at him. i just snapped that day and i guessed that customer got my message too.

[Keith]

I've always felt that report happy peole are in danger because they're drawing attnetion to themselves... which is why I report noone at all.

[digi2124]

Wow. This make a lot of sense. I once knew a player who hacked someone's account worth 2~3 million NP (he and i knew the person [he, being the the one with 2~3 million NP was really annoying]). He delivered himself a Hidden Tower item. After 2 weeks, the person he hacked was spamming him with battledome challenges (the hacked doesn't know his hacker). Of course, being so report happy, he reporter the spammer. 1 day later, he found that his account was frozen with this message:

This account has been FROZEN for the following reason:


Our automated system does not know why you were frozen. Please contact us by clicking here if you'd like more information.
If you think the above reason was applied to you by mistake, please contact our support staff by clicking here. Don't forget to include your USERNAME and explain why you think your account should not have been frozen. If you DID break the rules, please do not contact us again. Your account will NOT be unfrozen and you will not get your Neopet or items returned. But, you are welcome to create a new account, as long as you follow the rules.
Remember to read our Terms and Conditions thoroughly.

Of course the hacked account was also frozen, so he couldn't say he was really angry, but soon, the hacked/frozen person became less and less annoying and actually offered us a cookie during christmas break (we didn't eat it because we thought it was poisoned).

That's why I don't report people with my main account (I'm paronoid).

[shapu]

The thing about reporting is that if you're going to report someone, you have to do it only once. It doesn't do any good to keep drawing anyone's attention to the same account for the same reason over and over again - if something is bad enough to be reported, then the moderator should see that and take care of it the first time.

Another thing about reporters: The ones who do it for attention are just as bad as the scammers, IMO. One oughtn't do something for yourself, you ought to do it for the right reason; that is to say, if you're going to report someone, don't do it because it makes you feel like a big man, do it because if you don't, that person might scam some helpless little newbie.

Anyway, I don't think I've reported anyone since the old PPT went down, and the Mafia boards were lost with it. Hmmm.

[hynfaeries0]

uh oh. I guess that i shouldn't report people anymore.

[Jens]

that does make a lot of sence, the neoboards from another perspective... i actually never report (unless when a person is having like 'unwanted' pictures on their lookup) but i send them warnings like "Please stay on the topic instead of beginning to talk about peoples age, there are a lot of people who will report you if you continue" or "Those 'post this... and get 10k' messages don't work and are considered as spam, you will get reported by various people if you don't stop posting these messages" If i notice the same person do the same thing again, i send them another neomail, if they do it again latern i will report them and notify in the report message that i warned them twice. Normally people will get better after i send them one neomail, but there are some accounts (who we can call 'stupid New Member' without any trouble XD) who wont listen...

[Axe]

One of the many reasons when I report people, I don't post saying I did, because the new defense is, if you report me, I report you.

[Jens]

One of the many reasons when I report people, I don't post saying I did, because the new defense is, if you report me, I report you.

*confused* why would people want to report you?

[Keith]

One of the many reasons when I report people, I don't post saying I did, because the new defense is, if you report me, I report you.

*confused* why would people want to report you?

Because he reported them!

[Axe]

One of the many reasons when I report people, I don't post saying I did, because the new defense is, if you report me, I report you.

*confused* why would people want to report you?

Because the people on the boards get angered when we post your reported, and when you post that, they really can get on you, trying to find a mistake in you, and trying to freeze you, yes, this is true.

[Jens]

One of the many reasons when I report people, I don't post saying I did, because the new defense is, if you report me, I report you.

*confused* why would people want to report you?

Because he reported them!

but he says he never posts if he reports people... *remains confused*

[Axe]

One of the many reasons when I report people, I don't post saying I did, because the new defense is, if you report me, I report you.

*confused* why would people want to report you?

Because he reported them!

but he says he never posts if he reports people... *remains confused*

I used to post I reported them, but seeing what I posted *points up* they will try to get on you and try to find a fault in you.

[Keith]

One of the many reasons when I report people, I don't post saying I did, because the new defense is, if you report me, I report you.

*confused* why would people want to report you?

Because he reported them!

but he says he never posts if he reports people... *remains confused*

And hes saying he dosnt post because they'd report him!

[Jens]

oooh... i understand, i read the sentence wrong... **Message discussed! Back on topic XD**

[igotphunk]

I'll report people occasionally if I see them posting chainletters on more than one topic. It's brutally annoying.
I don't think anyone can really be report happy, unless they're the ones who post. 'I'M GUNNA REPORT JU!' and other junk like that.
*shrugs*