A new Report Option in the Report Menu

The suggestion is to add a new report option to the drop-down menu, such as “Wrong Category” or “Wrong Topic.” This feature would create a more effective and less punitive way to manage misplaced content.


How It Would Work

User Experience

  1. A user sees a post that is in the wrong category (e.g., a post about car parts in a general discussion forum).
  2. They click the “Report” button and select the new “Wrong Category” option.
  3. A secondary prompt or pop-up appears, asking them to select the correct category from a list.
  4. The user selects the appropriate category and submits the report. This action sends a specific type of flag to the moderators.

Moderator Workflow

  1. Moderators receive a report specifically tagged as “Wrong Category” with a suggested new location.
  2. The report includes a direct link to the post and the user’s suggested category.
  3. Moderators can quickly review the post and the suggested category. If they agree, they can move the post with a single click, notifying the original poster that their post was moved rather than deleted.
  4. If the moderator disagrees with the suggested category, they can choose to either move it to a different category or dismiss the report without taking action.

Benefits of the Feature

  • Preserves Content: It prevents the loss of valuable discussions or information that was simply posted in the wrong place by a user who may not have understood the rules. Instead of being deleted, the content is preserved and moved to where it belongs.
  • Educates Users: It helps users learn the correct place for their posts. The notification they receive lets them know what happened and why, which can prevent them from making the same mistake again.
  • Improves Moderator Efficiency: Moderators are able to quickly identify and handle these specific reports. Having a clear suggestion from the user about the correct location speeds up the process significantly compared to a generic report that requires them to determine the issue from scratch.
  • Reduces Redundancy: It decreases the likelihood of a user creating a duplicate post in the correct category after their original one was deleted, leading to a cleaner and more organized forum.
3 Likes

I mean I don’t know if they could do that since they use Discourse to run the DevForums, but I used Discourse a little while ago and I think you could have done that, but I am not really sure tho, i think discourse does not have that.

2 Likes

I personally think it is a thing that they can add. Discourse is a customizable service, and I don’t know why they would even have this Forum Features category if they aren’t even able to implement half the suggestion due to Discourse limitations.

3 Likes

why can’t u just use this

3 Likes

Cause aside from the fact those types of flags are almost never actioned on, it would save mods time and keep valid posts alive (instead of being flat removed, cause mods can literally never be bothered moving posts)

1 Like

That’s why this exists in the feature request:

2 Likes