One suggestion: There should be a way to report particularly bad offenses that are not spam. I'm thinking things like harassment, hate speech, and personal attacks.

(I've been the victim of transphobic comments on this forum a few times, sometimes by users who otherwise seem reasonable.)

Yeah, I don't see that feature getting abused if it gets introduced.

If it is automated, abuse of the feature would be no worse (or better) than abuse of the current "report as spam" feature (which I have seen abused).

If the reports are sent to blues, then the abuse could be put in check: A user who abuses it could be first warned, and then punished, by a blue. Legitimate harassment (or similar issues) would then be acted upon by blues.

(Yes, I am asking for some forum moderation; not much, but enough to get rid of posts that would make users feel unsafe or unwelcome.)

Let's keep it CIVIL.

In theory I would say I agree.. but then you would click the button for almost every reply. :P

Unwelcome I understand but can you please explain your meaning of unsafe.

Ah, welcome Fables, here is some Lembas bread . Have a feeling you're going to need it;)

Not downplaying what you asking for, just playing devils advocate here ;)

Let's take one of Regals links in the good luck america thread. (post 566)
Do not open it, it is the worst piece of shit of racist stupidest shittiest piece of misinformation I have ever seen. (yeah a few redundants in there I know)

Could I report it as harassment like you suggested? Yes for sure.
But on the other hand it is living proof of the stupidity of the poster, of his ignorance, a masterpiece of showing I am a fool. If he wants to make a fool out of himself, hey fine with me.

Same could be said about the masterpiece captured by catpower, they could be reported.
Or we shall make a thread with all the masterpieces of dumb art?

Sorry sidetracking myself ;)

What is a legitimate harassment? Where do we draw the lines?
If we go into the criminal areas ,as regals has done a few times, no discussion and no thinking really needed.

But how do you want to define the rest? Do not forget this is an international forum where harassment is seen quite different.
On the other hand I DO enjoy certain freedoms we have here on GOG. I do not know a lot of GAMING forums allowing this kind of discussions like in certain threads, not even talking about the language being used ;)
Do we want to loose this freedom? (Or like example as you did dtgreene, looking for other non-computer RPGs ;) Yes that is a freedom as well ;))

So to make it a bit shorter, what do you understand under harassment? Where would you set the limits?

And this post is not only meant for dtgreene, for from it ;)

This question is subjective to some degree, and is something that would have to be resolved, but here are a few thoughts:

Using slurs (of any sort) that are directed at a specific user is harassment.

Repeatedly posting things, in reply to that user's posts, that make the user uncomfortable, could be considered harassment. (Notice the word "repeatedly"; this means that a single post might not be a violation, and that the blues would need to actually examine the context here.)

Speaking of context, context is very important when deciding things such as these. A post that is fine in some contexts might not be so good in another.

Anyway, it is good to have this discussion, even if there may be some disagreement about what counts and what doesn't. (Note that I am very sure about the first point (about slurs) being harassment, and less sure about the second (repeatedly posting) being as well.)

Lets not forget singling out a person and constantly down reping their posts in attempt to suppress their ability to post on forum using greasemonkey script.

Last I checked that was harassment.

It takes time to make a new account, for one thing.

Also, such users would not have a chance to build up a positive reputation.

Furthermore, punishing the user does send a message that such behavior is unacceptable on this forum.

Lol, it takes a few seconds to create a new account, you don't even need a real email. Doesn't matter, rep can be manipulated in this forum with a couple of alt accounts, besides, anyone could just use the alt accounts to harass without compromising the image of the main account (it already happens in this forum). Again, doesn't matter, it would require an active team of moderators most of the time since the harassers would return with other accounts.

All of you need to realize that small changes won't work, you first need to go to the root of the problem and start from there.

Sorry only one word left to reply to this: bullshit :P
Not after they changed to 2-step mandatory. Easy to forget about, or? ;)
And this alt-account would get compromised and banned. Plus you never heard anything about IP, IP addresses, MAC?
Yeah, great reply. I just gonna condense your whole reply into a few words: hot air.
Unlike you dtgreene did participate in a constructive manner, trying to offer ideas and similar. You just went on and harassed here (used INTENTIONALLY). Do you have any point with your posts instead of just being negative?
Your last sentences indicates that you know all, but you do NOT suggest anything.

Funny, i just created this account without any problem, with, you want to guess? Yeah, a non existent email. And another alt account would appear. The rest of your post? It's easy to bypass. Well, you can go through my post history and find out about my suggestions. Oh wait, the forum doesn't have that.