Reporting Advertising

[naomi24]

I tried to report a post from a new user that was clearly just an advert. When I pressed 'submit', the following message came up.

"You need to define a custom text".

What does that mean?

[wolf63]

Did you put a tick in one of the boxes? Did you put some text in the big box?

I know that it is one of the above - not sure which. :-)

[NoMercy]

You need to tick one of the boxes and you need to type something in the comment box.

I usually tick 'other' and just write 'advertising' in the big box.

[naomi24]

Ah, thanks very much. I ticked a box, but I thought that was enough, so I didn't write anything. I'll try again.

[pastafreak]

I've never quite understood *why* we need to type something in the box. Any ideas any one?

[mike11111]

I suppose it's to stop anyone from reporting threads just for the sake of it - they need to justify their report.

[AB Editor]

Because we want to know why you're reporting it. While for spam it's simple it can be quite complicated for other issues - sometimes we need an explanation!

[Canary42]

I've been caught out by this - just put a single word in the comment box like "spam"

[AB Editor]

Exactly. For example, if someone is being abusive, but in a way which isn't immediately obvious we might want to know that it is an ongoing issue and that we should look at the history between the two users.

[pastafreak]

Thanks Ed....now I won't wonder anymore. :-)

[naomi24]

Ed, maybe the message could be changed from "You need to define a custom text" to something like "Please explain your reasons for reporting this post"?

I looked at that and thought 'what on earth is a custom text - and since I don't know what it is, how am I to define it?'

[jno]

naomi's right, "define a custom text" is gibberish. It's very tempting to put a custard recipe in there and claim you misread it.

[AB Editor]

Ed, maybe the message could be changed from "You need to define a custom text" to something like "Please explain your reasons for reporting this post"?

I agree. I'll add it to the bug list.

[AB Editor]

Custard also welcome

[ummmm]

If I'm reporting advertising I just put a full stop in the box.

[AB Editor]

You're not the only one Umm!

[ummmm]

You don't really need an explanation though, do you?

[ChuckFickens]

I'm very verbose with my report text too, it's normally just one word max :)

[ummmm]

Are they words that wouldn't get past the swear filter?

[EvianBaby]

Hey Ed, I might be imagining it but a while back did you publish a list of some of the funnier/more obscure reports you received? (without revealing who it was from).

Can we have an updated one?

[mccfluff]

i want to report something now, just so i can put a custard recipe in

i might go and report ummm for something