This guide covers our old ProBoards v4 software. Click here for the ProBoards v5 Help Guide.
If you have moderation privileges, you may periodically see a notice at the top of the forum displaying the following message: # Reported Posts – There are posts reported in a board you moderate. Click to view these reports. To hide this message, archive any active reports. – which indicates that a member on the forum has reported a post that possibly breaks the rules of the discussion forum or may be inappropriate in some way.
Report to Mod
To report a post, click the Report to Mod link in the bottom-right corner of any post on the forum that you would like to bring to the attention of a forum moderator. Once clicked, you'll be brought to the report page where you can explain your concerns. Once you've added your comments, click the Submit Report button. Moderating staff members will then be notified of your report.
Reported Posts
Authorized forum staff will see the # Reported Posts message on the main page of the forum until the issue has been dealt with and archived. To access the Reported Posts page, click the # Reported Posts link or the Click to view these reports link. Here, you'll be presented with any threads containing reported posts. All listings will exhibit the subject, display name of the reported user and, the display name of the member reporting the post. The date of the Last Reply of the reporting page will also be presented.
Below the reported post(s) you'll see a row of admin functions. These functions enable moderators to take action on reported posts. They are:
Move to Archive: This allows you to move a report to the archive. When a report is archived, the # Reported Posts box on the main page will display a reduced number count or, will disappear completely if there was only 1 report. To archive a report, check the appropriate box to the left of a listed report and then click the Move to Archive button. Once the page refreshes, the list of reported posts will update, along with the message at the top of the discussion forum.
Move Topic: This button allows you to to move a topic with the reported post to a different board on the forum. To do this, check the box next to the appropriate topic and click the Move Topic button. You'll then be presented with the Move Thread page where you'll choose a new location and set the notification option telling members (or not) where the topic was moved to. Once these options are set, click the Move Thread button to move the topic to the new board that you chose.
Lock: This button allows you to lock a reported topic. Once a topic is locked, replies to the thread can no longer be made by regular online forum members. To lock a reported topic, check the box next to the reported topic and click the lock button. When the page refreshes, the selected topic will be locked.
Delete Post: This button allows you to delete the post that was reported from the forum. To do this, check the box next to the report in question and click the delete post button. Once done, the reported post will be deleted from the thread it was originally created in. Forum staff will still be able to read the contents of the reported post in the report-page but, the post itself will be removed from view on the public forum.
Remove Topic: If after reviewing a reported post the moderator determines the entire thread is inappropriate, the remove topic button will delete the reported post along with the entire thread (topic) in which it is nested. To do this, check the box next to the report containing the thread in question and click the Remove Topic button. Once done, the thread will be removed from view on the public forum but the original reported post will still be accessible to online forum staff on the the reported posts page.
Warn Poster: This button allows you to issue warnings to the author(s) of reported posts. Simply check the box to the left of the report you wish to issue a warning to and click the warn poster button. On the next page, you'll be presented with that members current warning level. Here you can adjust the percentage of their warning level based on your review of the reported post. Once the warning level is set, click the Update Warning Level button to save the changes. You can then view the forum profile of the reported user to verify the new warning level has been applied.
Ban Poster: This button allows you to ban the user that made a post that's been reported. When a ban is in place, the individual will no longer have access to their account or the online forum, depending on the type of ban you choose. To ban the reported user, check the box to the left of a report then click the Ban Poster button. On the next page, you'll be able to select which type of ban you'd like to assign to the reported member:
IP Address: Selecting the IP Address ban prevents the banned member from accessing any part of the discussion forum using the IP address the member most recently logged into the forum with. Using this option will prompt the member with a banned message as soon as they visit the forum. One thing to note is that IP addresses do change over time, so if you're wanting to impliment a more permanent ban, selecting a ban by username as well as email address is also recommended.
Username: A username ban will notify members of the ban when they attempt to login. They can login as guests and will have the option to create new forum accounts with new usernames, but they will not be able to use their banned usernames until the ban is lifted.
Email Address: An email-address ban allows banned members to access the discussion forum as guests. They will, however, receive a message letting them know they've been banned from the forum when they attempt to login with any member account using the banned email address in their profile. This includes any new accounts the member attempts to make with the same banned email address.
For the most effective ban, it's advised to check all 3 boxes. Once you've selected the ban(s) you'd like to assign, you can also choose an expiration time. Ban restrictions are automatically removed from member accounts when the specified period has expired. At this point, the member will again have unfettered access to the forum.
Reviewing Reported Posts
To view a report, click the subject title on the Reported Posts page. Here you can view the contents of the reported post and, below that, see an explanation why the post was reported. Moderator comments can then be added in the provided box to discuss possible actions with other forum staff members. Only staff with appropriate access can view comments in this area. The person reporting the post will not be privy to discussions made here nor will they be notified of any action taken on behalf of the reported post unless contacted directly by a forum staff member about the outcome.
Viewing Archived Reports
If you'd like to view the archive of past reports, click the archive button in the top-right corner of the reported-posts listing page. Here, you can move archived reports back to the report inbox by checking the box to the left of the intended report, then click the move from archive button at the bottom of the archived listings in the admin functions area. The archived report will then be moved back to the report inbox.