Mass reporting occurs when multiple people report a project in a short period. It is a very useful and necessary system for keeping scratch safe when the ST isn't online, as it takes down projects that are so inappropriate that they shouldn't be left up for long. However, as of late, it is being abused, and that is a problem.

A problem that can be solved by one simple change.
Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you,

Mass report reason precedence

But what exactly is mass report precedence?

A scratch project can be reported for many different reasons.



But not all of these reasons are as bad as the others.


(Note that this diagram isn't perfect and needs improvement. Kindly suggest improvements if you feel that it isn't accurate.)

Different report reasons have higher precedence than others in terms of how inappropriate they are.
Since the point of mass reporting is to take down a project that is so inappropriate that it warrants an immediate takedown, legitimate mass report reasons are often in the red “Very bad” category, since most of the time anything in those categories will likely be something that needs to be taken down immediately. The other reasons with less precedence don't necessarily warrant an immediate project takedown, especially if it's one of the yellow or green categories.

So, my suggestion today is that the automated mass report system should only take projects down if the report reasons have a high precedence category, like red and orange, and simply notify the ST with a big flashy message if the reasons are low precedence. This way, we can both improve the mass report system to lower its abuse and ensure that it still functions correctly.

PROS-

• This will stop the abuse of the mass report system and ensure that it still functions correctly.
  

CONS-

• None so far.
  

If they implement this, aren't the mass reporters just gonna start using the red reports eventually?

ZanterZlox wrote:

If they implement this, aren't the mass reporters just gonna start using the red reports eventually?

True. There's no real way to stop them from doing so, but they'll probably get alerted to their false reporting since those reasons are very noticeable, and if they aren't there in the project it's obvious that it was falsely reported. Using the red reasons will result in consequences for the false reporters, so we can assume they'll try to stick to more of the minor reasons. The minor reasons also seem to be the ones most used for mass reporting nowadays anyway.

-Valtren- wrote:

minor reasons also seem to be the ones most used for mass reporting nowadays anyway.

Source?

ZanterZlox wrote:

-Valtren- wrote:

minor reasons also seem to be the ones most used for mass reporting nowadays anyway.

Source?

Not really much of a source but an observation. A few of the projects that I saw while browsing had been mass reported often had people in the comments claiming that the project stolen or that something was not credited.

-Valtren- wrote:

ZanterZlox wrote:

If they implement this, aren't the mass reporters just gonna start using the red reports eventually?

True. There's no real way to stop them from doing so, but they'll probably get alerted to their false reporting since those reasons are very noticeable, and if they aren't there in the project it's obvious that it was falsely reported. Using the red reasons will result in consequences for the false reporters, so we can assume they'll try to stick to more of the minor reasons. The minor reasons also seem to be the ones most used for mass reporting nowadays anyway.

I suggest adding to the suggestion that abusing report features for more major reports should be punished more harshly as well

it probably already does

the fact it says the best topic to exist makes me not want to support it respectfully change the title it sounds so cringy

dogsarethebestkids wrote:

the fact it says the best topic to exist makes me not want to support it respectfully change the title it sounds so cringy

ah well it was worth a try

-Valtren- wrote:

dogsarethebestkids wrote:

the fact it says the best topic to exist makes me not want to support it respectfully change the title it sounds so cringy

ah well it was worth a try

its all good it just sounded cringe

Sharing personal contact details should be bumped up, as its very bad, arguably.

This is an excellent suggestion. I certainly support it.
Now everybody is going to get on me for using the support convention

GIitchInTheMatrix wrote:

Sharing personal contact details should be bumped up, as its very bad, arguably.

Absolutely.

GIitchInTheMatrix wrote:

Sharing personal contact details should be bumped up, as its very bad, arguably.

Agreed. I don't know why it's “less bad” when sharing personal contact information can lead to very dangerous situations. It's arguably worse than any of the other options currently labeled “very bad.”

But in any case, I feel like all the options pictured should have equal priority (I don't remember what “Other” contains). Copying projects and using images/music without credit is considered disrespectful, and while doing these things is often a mistake, it is also often done intentionally to try to spite someone or capitalize off of someone else's work. So if being mean/disrespectful to a Scratcher/group is considered “bad,” then so should copying projects and using images/music without credit.

It's also unclear that this is what the problem is to begin with. Neither you nor I have looked at reports recently, so we can't be so sure that most cases of “mass reporting” are not already just people reporting the projects are too violent/scary. In fact, if this were implemented, the fact that options like “too violent/scary” are listed as “very bad” would probably make “mass reporters” choose that option in an attempt to get the project “mass reported” as soon as possible. Since “too violent/scary” already sounds “very bad,” the “mass reporters” would do this regardless of whether or not this new “mass reporting” system were made public. Especially considering that all the “very bad” options are near the top of the dropdown, so they'd likely be selected first.

ZanterZlox wrote:

If they implement this, aren't the mass reporters just gonna start using the red reports eventually?

this implies there is some sort of organized “phantom guild” that mass report projects together

the majority of mass reporting false positives is just little kids submitting reports for projects they don't like/not understanding the rules

Unspeakable Horrors…

hi875230163394 wrote:

ZanterZlox wrote:

If they implement this, aren't the mass reporters just gonna start using the red reports eventually?

this implies there is some sort of organized “phantom guild” that mass report projects together

the majority of mass reporting false positives is just little kids submitting reports for projects they don't like/not understanding the rules

There are defiantly ‘phantom guilds’ of sorts, which do report projects.

Support, no cons I can think of.
Also, you could diagram all the options in the “other” category instead of just the category itself, that could be helpful to the topic.

Theres nothing stopping them from using the red report reasons.
I think it would be better to just have a text box instead of options.

7salad3salad wrote:

Theres nothing stopping them from using the red report reasons.
I think it would be better to just have a text box instead of options.

that nullifies the point of the mass reporting system at all unless an AI could detect that its a valid report

7salad3salad wrote:

Theres nothing stopping them from using the red report reasons.
I think it would be better to just have a text box instead of options.

you still have to type after choosing a reason (post #1 never said to remove this)

qwerty_wasd_gone wrote:

7salad3salad wrote:

Theres nothing stopping them from using the red report reasons.
I think it would be better to just have a text box instead of options.

you still have to type after choosing a reason (post #1 never said to remove this)

you do? its been a while since ive had to report something