Hi, I am just wondering if there is a penalty for reporting things that shouldn't be. I recently submitted a report which, upon closer inspection, I realized I had made an error in doing so. I think this is the first time I have done so, and I definitely am not in the habit of creating unnecessary time waste to the mods (except maybe all the questions I have in the Feedback forum, heh - but those are useful), and I have learned to be more aware before I submit a report. I am wondering if infractions are given for isolated incidences of incorrect post reporting? Thanks.
Moderators look at the details of the reported post and then the post or thread before making a determination. If it's one or two posts that are improperly reported it's not an issue, but if someone's consistently reporting the wrong stuff we're going to let you know about it.
You'll probably get an infraction if you're doing something stupid like back-and-forth reports with someone you're bickering with, or reporting everything you don't like even if it's within the rules. But an accidental mis-report isn't likely going to lead to anything at all other than the report being closed without action.
I seem to recall getting an infraction (maybe it was a warning, I forget) for posting a link to a specific FAQ that was being discussed. I seem to remember being the only person doing so in that thread where everybody else was posting "I think..." posts but yet I got the infraction and the post got deleted. Kind of wonder about that one. It's lapsed though. I also got one for reporting a Post that was old that the mod thought was a waste of time. I had come across it while searching for something and went ahead and reported it. *shrug* So be it. As noted previously, mods can't nitpick and don't have the time to do so. Gotta admit that I've gotten to the point that I don;t want to report stuff anymore but yet there's too much garbage around here not to.
You didn't get any infractions for posting a link to the FAQs. You got one for posting something a mod had already posted / addressed. Once a mod gives an answer to a question, you don't need to post just repeating what they already said. That would be a useless post. You did get one for a report, but I can't imagine why. Looks like the mod might have put the infraction on the report page instead of on the post being reported. So I reversed it. In the future, do NOT post in threads about your infractions. If you have any questions about them they belong in a PM to a staff member who can look into it.