(Redirected from Reports)
- This article is about the feature on the Scratch Website. For the type of block, see Reporter Block.
Reporting is a feature on the Scratch Website that allows Scratchers to alert the Scratch Team when comments, forum posts, users, projects and etc, violate the Community Guidelines. After content has been reported, it gets reviewed by a member of the Scratch Team. The Scratch Team encourages users not to respond to the inappropriate content.[1][2]
In Scratch 2.0, projects which have been reported became invisible to the user who reported them and showed a page similar to the "Unshared project" page. In 3.0, a red message is shown that tells the user that the Scratch Team has received their report.
Comments will also become invisible, and if enough reports are received, the comment will be deleted. Moderators can later restore a deleted comment.[3]
Misusing the report feature, such as reporting for disagreement, is not allowed and any Scratchers that do it will have action taken on their accounts, including an alert or a ban. This has happened before in circumstances known as 'false reporting'. Users have been known to do it as a sign of hate to famous Scratchers, but it has happened to all types of users across the Scratch website.
Reports can also be sent to law enforcement under very rare and serious circumstances, usually if it violates a law.[4][5]
Reporting Users
To report a user, one can go to their user page and click on the Report this profile button below the What I've Been Doing section. Then one should select whether they are reporting the username, icon, About Me or What I'm Working On. Once one has selected what they are reporting, they should either press Send to send the report to the Scratch Team or press Cancel to cancel the report.
When Should a User be Reported?
Examples when a user should be reported:
- If their username is inappropriate or includes inappropriate references
- If they have an inappropriate icon
- If there is inappropriate text in the description fields
- The "user" is impersonating another user
Reporting Projects
To report a project, click on the "report" link below it next to the Project Statistics, select a reason and type what the prompt commands the user to do in a box. The Scratch Team will review the project. If many users report the same project, it is temporarily removed from the site. When a project is reported, a message on the top of this page will be shown.
Pre-written reasons
- Mean or Disrespectful to a Scratcher or Group (Asked to give reason why the project was mean or disrespectful)
- Copied project (Asked to give URL of the original project)
- Uses image/music without credit (Asked to provide links which contain content not credited in the project)
- Too violent or scary (Asked to tell why the project is violent or scary)
- Inappropriate language (Asked to give where inappropriate language, or "swearing", occurs in the project)
- Inappropriate music (Asked to provide name of the audio file with the inappropriate content)
- Inappropriate images (Asked to give the name of the sprite or backdrop with the inappropriate image)
- Sharing personal contact information (Asked to give where personal info is given)
- Other (Older versions: Asked to tell the reason otherwise. Newer versions: Gives another selection of options to choose from.)
As of April 2020[6], selecting Other will give another set of options to choose from, which includes options for illegitimate reasons to report that try to prevent troll reports or reports where users do not understand the rules:[7]
- I don't like this project (Illegitimate reason, user does not like the project)
- This project does not work (Illegitimate reason, user finds the project does not work correctly for them)
- This project could be improved on (Illegitimate reason, user feels the project could use improvement)
- This project is too hard (Illegitimate reason, user finds a project too hard to play)
- This project is misleading or tricks the community (Project contains content meant to spread a damaging rumor, bait-and-switch projects do not count)
- It's a face reveal or is just trying to show someone's picture (Project contains a picture of either the creator's face in real life or someone's real appearance, with or without consent)
- This project doesn't allow remixing (Project has a notice against remixing)
- I'm worried about the safety of the creator of this project (User believes the project's creator is in danger)
- Something else (Asked to give the reason if it does not fit the other ones)
Before pre-written reasons were introduced, there was a text box for users to explain their report.[8]
Automatic Project Censor
If a project has been reported many times by a user or users, the project is automatically unshared and the creator is blocked for a short while. The creator will also receive an Alert in their Messages saying the project was automatically censored and is under review. The Scratch Team will review the project, and if it follows the Community Guidelines, the project will be restored and the offenders who reported the project will receive an alert. The project creator will also receive an alert when the project is re-shared. Some users have suggested to remove the project censor and/or the account block as a result of false reporting,[9] but that suggestion has been rejected by the Scratch Team because the project censor and account block helps to keep the community safe.[10]
False Reporting
False reporting is the act of reporting a project when it does not break the Community Guidelines or is not otherwise inappropriate. It can lead to the project being temporarily taken down if multiple people report it. Many of the projects that are false reported belong to famous Scratchers.[citation needed] False reporting can be an attempt to take down a project, and can be problematic because it can drown actual reports. However, projects that are taken down after being false reported by several users are restored after review from the Scratch Team. Additionally, a reputation system exists to reduce the likelihood of a project being automatically taken down due to false reporting.[11]
Mass Reporting
Mass Reporting is when a single user or a group of users repeatedly report a project and it gets taken down. Despite the common misconceptions, mass reporting is not the same as false reporting, as mass reporting also takes down inappropriate projects, not only falsely reported ones. However, sometimes users will claim they were mass reported when one of their projects was legitimately removed to avoid admitting that their project broke the Community Guidelines or that they accidentally unshared the project.[12][13]
Report Threatening
Some users threaten to report other users, whether there is a legitimate reason to do so or not, for example, these hypothetical comments.
| “ | Person A: "Your projects are bad."
Person B: "Your projects are worse. I am going to report you and get you banned." |
” |
Threatening to report a user is not allowed, even if they have posted content that violates the Community Guidelines, as it is threatening and disrespectful to the original user and could create more conflicts.[14] Content violating the Community Guidelines content should be reported without leaving any response.
Reporting Comments
- Main article: What should I do about unfriendly comments?
To report a comment, simply click the "Report" button in the top-right corner. Scratchers should always report spam and inappropriate comments. Reporting comments is the only time when reporting on the Scratch website where users can not give a reason why they are reporting the comment.
Types of Comments That Should be Reported
- If they are rude/inappropriate
- If they are unconstructive, negative comments
- Sharing personal information
- Spam
- Harmful links
- Links to or names a browser extension.[15]
Reporting Forum Posts
This button is used to bring a post to a moderator's attention. However, unlike common misconception, it is not only for reporting inappropriate material; it can also be used to request common tasks which require moderator abilities, like thread renaming, closing, or moving.
Neither BBCode[16] nor HTML[17] parse in reports.
How the system works
When a post is reported, a message is sent to all the Community Moderators and other members of the Scratch Team, who can process it. In Scratch 1.4 and Scratch 2.0,[18] if a post was reported four times by four different Scratcher accounts, it was automatically hidden and the user who posted it was temporarily banned for the remainder of one day, during which time the Scratch Team could look into the issue.
Once a report is processed, a moderator will "zap" it,[19] meaning it has been dealt with by the moderators, and no further actions are required. By "zapping" it, they remove it from the list of the reports that they get.
Purpose
The report button should be used for reporting in the case of:
- Inappropriate content
- Spam
- Posts harassing other users
- Flame wars
- Duplicate thread (a thread posted twice)
- Topic in the wrong forum
- Rejected suggestion
- Requests for a user's own topic to be closed (if topic made less than 24 hours ago)
- A user wanting their topic or post to be deleted
- Topics that should be stickied
- Anything else that needs a moderator's attention
In the Text Based Games Forums, the report button was also used in certain topics run by moderators, such as tokens.
Reporting for no specific reason is considered spam, and is frowned upon, as it wastes the moderators' and Scratch Team's time. If a user does it once, they will receive an alert. Doing this multiple times can result in a ban.
Reporting
To report a post, click on Report on the bottom right of a post. It links to a page with a comment box. Type the reason for reporting the post, then press "Submit" (or press Alt+Shift+S on the keyboard).
This page can also be accessed at:
https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/misc/?action=report&post_id=POSTID
Reporting Studios
To report a studio, one can simply click the "Report this studio" button beneath its thumbnail.
Then select the options by selecting from Title, Description, or Thumbnail. Pressing Send will send the report along chosen item.
Reporting Classes
To report a class, click on the "Report this class" button below the Latest Activity section of the class's class page, where 'Report this Profile' would be on normal user pages. Type in the reason why the class is being reported. Then click on the "Send" button to send the report.
Reporting Complicated Situations
If there is a situation that cannot be reported with any of the above methods, use the Contact Us page to explain the situation to the Scratch Team.
See Also
References
- ↑ Paddle2See. (3/8/2013). "Sometimes the best course is to not respond at all." post:98989
- ↑ Paddle2See. (11/1/2017). "Yes, it's best not to respond harshly, as that tends to make the situation worse" post:2390773
- ↑ users:Paddle2See/#comments-22326641[dead link]
- ↑ cheddargirl. (24/12/2014). "There have been only three cases that has ever really required this in the entire history of doing reports." post:650536
- ↑ Paddle2See. (12/4/2021). "I think it is unlikely that that information is going to be given out. Even more so just posting it on the forums." post:5122157[dead link]
- ↑ seotts. (7/4/2020). "As a first round of changes, we have added nesting to only the Other option." https://github.com/LLK/scratch-www/pull/3789
- ↑ post:6993501
- ↑ ar-topic:1081
- ↑ topic:141100
- ↑ post:4600199
- ↑ post:6428108
- ↑ post:6451865
- ↑ post:6458091
- ↑ andresmh. (8/10/2010). "A lot of people thing[sic] that it is OK to respond to attacks with more attacks or with threats. This is not acceptable" ar-topic:47509
- ↑ ceebee. (30/11/2017). "We’ve decided that, for safety reasons, we are no longer going to allow these to be advertised on Scratch. " topic:284272
- ↑ demosthenes. (9/2/2011). "Nope, no BBC code[sic] in reports." ar-post:669907
- ↑ Paddle2See. (8/2/2021). "Nope. It just takes the text you input and sticks it in a text box" post:4869844
- ↑ http://scratchexp.media.mit.edu/issues/251[dead link]
- ↑ Harakou. (20/5/2017). "Please do - it's easy to zap two reports instead of one" post:2629758
