This part of my user's guide covers the reporting mechanism and how to use it to maintain good content on the site. It was last updated on 25 December 2009.

As あなた continue to use Fanpop, あなた will come across content that is not what it should be in some way. Since ファンポップ is largely only as good as the content it contains, it is important to address these issues for the good of the site and the ファンポップ community.

Now, most of the content that "is not what it should be" is likely just content that あなた don't like, and such content should be rated appropriately (see the link). But, rarely, there is some content on the site もっと見る problematic than that, and for such content there exists the reporting function. Reporting allows you, the user, to flag something on ファンポップ as being wrong in some way, so that it will be fixed.

Here's a handy guide to distinguishing between different types of problem content, and whether ratings または reporting should be applied.

* あなた disagree with a particular user (rate)
* あなた don't like what the user says (rate)
* あなた find the user obnoxious and harassing (ignore)
* The user uses obscene language and/or posts obscene content (report)
* The user attempts to sell a product または encourages あなた to buy a product (report)
* The user consistently attacks and demeans あなた (report)
* あなた suspect the user is actually a duplicate account of another user (ignore)
* Content is 投稿されました that あなた think sucks (rate)
* Content is 投稿されました without キーワード (rate)
* Content is 投稿されました with inadequate キーワード (rate)
* Content is 投稿されました in the wrong spot (report)
* Content link does not work (report)
* Content link is to a web site which hasn't been updated in years (rate)
* Content link is for a contest which has already ended (report)
* Video link doesn't work embedded (rate)
* Video is short, low-quality, video is out of sync with audio (rate)
* Video requires users to install software on their desktops in order to view it (rate/comment)
* Video doesn't work embedded nor on the 情報源 site (report)
* Video is offensive/obscene (report)
* Video takes forever to load (rate)
* Video not what あなた expected (rate)
* Video is unrelated to the spot topic (report)
* Content exactly duplicates other content already in that spot (rate/comment)
* Spot duplicates an existing spot (report)
* Spot seems silly, unnecessary (comment)
* Spot name contains errors または isn't precise (comment)
* Spot is offensive または obscene (report)
* Image is low quality, has no description, and/or fails to have image credits (rate/comment)
* Image has no image credits and あなた know the copyright belongs to someone else (report)
* Soapbox 記事 presents a ridiculous opinion (rate)
* Soapbox 記事 filled with grammatical, spelling and/or logic errors (rate)
* Soapbox 記事 shorter than a full page (rate)
* Soapbox 記事 consists of text from another site/source (report)
* Soapbox 記事 has no pictures (rate)
* Pick has no pictures (comment)
* Pick does not allow users to add 回答 that are clearly necessary (comment)
* Pick is not related to the spot topic (report)
* Pick contains offensive/obscene text/images (report)
* Pick is biased/one-sided (comment)
* The video in a クイズ 質問 doesn't work (report)
* あなた don't like a particular pop クイズ 質問 (comment)
* There are spelling errors in a pop クイズ 質問 または answer(s) (comment)
* There are factual errors in a pop クイズ question/answer (report)
* There is no way to know the answer for a pop クイズ 質問 (report)

Reporting and comments
To file a レポート on something, look for the little "flag" icon. This is located in different places, depending on what あなた are reporting. Click on the flag, and a sub-menu will appear, along with a text field for "comments". IMPORTANT: EVERY レポート SHOULD HAVE A COMMENT! Note, however, that the user interface is poorly designed - あなた must type the コメント BEFORE clicking the type of report, even though the コメント box is under the レポート buttons. Why comment? It is VERY likely that the staff または admins who review the reports on a 与えられた 日 will not immediately understand WHY あなた reported a piece of content, and if it's not immediately obvious, it may not receive any action. It's that simple.

Types of Reports
Broadly speaking, there are three types of reports あなた can file as a ファンポップ user.

* Spot reporting: あなた can file a レポート on a particular spot. To レポート a spot, look for and click the red flag and the word "report" just below the spot's banner in the upper right. This will open the reporting sub-menu.


* User reporting: あなた can file a レポート on a particular user. To レポート an user, click on the user's name to go to the user's プロフィール page. In the left column, labeled "about me", you'll see a bunch of information: the user's プロフィール pictures, name, country, お気に入り films, books, et cetera. Under that, there will be several links, including one with the red flag and the words "Report Abuse". Click that link to open up the reporting sub-menu.

* Link reporting: あなた can file a レポート on a particular piece of content on the site. There are eight kinds of content which あなた can レポート on Fanpop: links, videos, images, soapbox articles, pop クイズ questions, picks, 回答 and コメント (Note: only コメント in a フォーラ または 回答 to an Answer Request can be reported as of 25 December 2009). With each, you'll be looking for a grey, unlabeled flag, in the locations described here:

With links, the flag is located just under and to the left of the ratings bar.


With videos, the flag is located just under the ratings bar.


The flag for 画像 is located (as with the video flag) just under the ratings bar.

With クイズ questions, the reporting flag is located on the right, between the 質問 and the 一覧 of answers.


The flag for 記事 is just under the タイトル of the article, far to the left of the ratings bar:


The flag for picks is on the right, where the ratings bar would be if あなた could rate picks:


The flag for 回答 is below the 質問 and the "answer this question" button:


The flag for コメント is below the コメント itself:


What the reports mean
When あなた click the flag, a sub-menu will appear, prompting あなた to select which kind of レポート あなた wish to file. These choices vary slightly, depending on which kind of レポート あなた are filing. To file a report, あなた must click on one of the red boxes, selecting one of the categories of reports.
If あなた change your mind and don't want to click any of the reports, あなた can always click the green "don't report" box in the sub-menu instead.


When あなた レポート a SPOT, there are four possible reports:
The spot inappropriate レポート specifically means a violation of the link. This includes obscene content, spam content, hate speech content, as well as copyrighted content. A spot dedicated to "Robbing Banks" would merit an inappropriate report, as would spots dedicated to "Sex chat", "Downloading mp3s for free" and anything involving a racial slur.

The spot offensive レポート means content that あなた find offensive. It may not be obscene または a clear violation of the Terms of Service, but あなた find it offensive. "Defeating Atheism" might be a spot to レポート as offensive.

The spot miscategorized レポート means that the spot is catalogued in the wrong channel. For instance, if a spot dedicated to the Lynx web browser were to be listed as part of the "Travel & Places" channel, one would be well-justified in filing a miscategorized spot report.

The spot duplicate レポート means that the spot's topic is already covered によって another spot that was created beforehand, または that the reported spot's topic is insufficiently different from an existing spot to merit a separate spot. A "Fanpop Kids" spot would likely be reported as a duplicate of the "Parenting" spot, for instance, and a "Great car commercials" spot would be reported as a duplicate to the "Car Commercials" spot.


When あなた レポート USERS, there are three possible reports:

The user spam レポート means that the user is clearly on ファンポップ for the sole purpose of trying to sell a product または service to the other users. An user whose only contributions are to a spot he created for "Greatest Video Downloads", including a link to the site greatestvideodownloads.com and a soapbox 記事 describing how great the same web site is, is an example of an user who should be reported as a spammer.

The user offensive content レポート indicates that あなた feel that the user in 質問 is regularly posting offensive content to the site, across many spots. An user who posts リンク to a blog called "Why your beliefs are stupid" to all the faith-oriented spots would be reported with this flag.

The user abusive レポート indicates that the user in 質問 is abusive to あなた and/or other ファンポップ users on the site. An user who regularly rates all your content as a 1 might get an abusive report, as well as an user who regularly posts attacking コメント in response to your comments, as well as an user who belittles someone's opinions, intelligence, appearance and so forth.


When あなた レポート CONTENT, there are five types of reports あなた can file:

The content broken レポート indicates that the content link does not work. This should be filed anytime a link goes to a page that doesn't exist, a link goes to a completely different page than what the link described, または (in the case of videos) the video in 質問 has been removed from the host web site. NOTE: a video link is NOT BROKEN if it doesn't play embedded on ファンポップ but does work on the host web site. Some video hosting web sites - YouTube springs to mind - allow their users to specify whether their 動画 may play embedded または not. If the video cannot play embedded, it will 表示する up as normal on Fanpop, but あなた must click the video's title (or the little ARROW/アロー link 次 to it) to go to the hosting web site and see the video. It is only when the video does not work embedded AND it does not work on the 情報源 site that あなた should file a "broken" レポート for a video.

NOTE: pop クイズ 質問 do not have a broken レポート option. Instead, they are the only type of content to have a bad question reporting option. The bad 質問 flag is used to both indicate when a question's video link is broken (it doesn't play embedded または on the 情報源 site) and/or to indicate that the 質問 is incorrect (that is, if the 質問 is wrong). It is also appropriate to use this レポート if a 質問 requires the user to guess, not because あなた don't know the answer, but because there is no way for あなた to know the answer. For example, a 質問 that asks "What is my お気に入り color?" is a valid 質問 only if that information is available on Fanpop. A 質問 "What is the population of country X?" would be a bad question, but a 質問 "What was the population of country X in 2008?" would be valid, because it can be validated.

The content inappropriate レポート indicates that the content violates the link in some way. Among other things, this includes sexually explicit imagery, 動画 that contain obscene language, 画像 without proper copyright credits that clearly were created によって someone other than the user, and soapbox 記事 that consist in large part (if not their entirety) of text that was copied from some other site (ie, plagiarism).

The content outdated レポート indicates that the content (usually a link) points to a site describing an event that has already occurred または a deal that has expired. A link to a site where あなた can sign up for free e-mail アップデート on the 5th season of "Big Brother" would be appropriate to flag as outdated.

The content spam レポート indicates that the content is trying to sell something to the ファンポップ users viewing it. This one is a little tricky, because most web sites are trying to sell something. But a link to, say, a dating service web site would not be spam if some of the site could be used for free, but would be spam if あなた had to pay money up front to actually get to any content on the site.

The content miscategorized レポート means that the content has nothing to do with the spot in which it is found, または that there's a better spot for it. A video link to Michael Jackson's HIStory in the link spot would be miscategorized, for instance. That one is obvious, but this レポート can also be pretty tricky. Would a picture of Carly Simon, who didn't tour または produce any albums in the 1980s (but who was at least alive in the 80s) be miscategorized if it was placed in the link, instead of the link? Would 動画 of ファンポップ users' children be miscategorized if they were placed in the link rather than the link? Would an 記事 describing how to be kind to our fellow users be miscategorized if found in the link, rather than the link または link spots? There is some leeway; when in doubt, あなた can always try sending a message to the user who 投稿されました the content which may be miscategorized to discuss it with him/her.

A note on multiple reports
Just a quick note: ファンポップ remembers the reports that あなた submit. So don't try to swamp content with reports, because the site will only allow あなた to レポート a 与えられた item once. Any further attempts will be met with the reply "You have already reported this as a <report type> <spot/user/link>".

What happens to reports
So you've found some content that doesn't work in some fashion and have reported it. What happens then?

Reports that users file appear in a 一覧 for the site staff and moderators to address. In many cases, the reason that the レポート was filed will be obvious to them, and the staff and/or moderators will take the appropriate action. However, in many cases it is apparently not obvious why a レポート was filed, because the moderators will occasionally contact the person who filed the レポート via a message, asking for clarification. Then, once they've investigated what the reason was for the report, they will take whatever action they deem necessary. Such action includes chastising users, moving miscategorized content, banning users, merging spots, deleting spots, and deleting other content.

In addition, if the レポート was a "broken" content report, a message is also generated to the user who 投稿されました the content originally, with the subject line "One of your リンク has been flagged によって another user." In the case of broken content, the user who 投稿されました the content originally usually has two days to 編集 the link and replace it with a working link before the broken link is completely removed from the site.

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Here's リンク to other parts of the guide for your quick reference:

* link

* 1: link

* 2: link.

* 3: link

* 4: Picks: this is the generic name both for the アンケート 質問 that あなた see on the site and for the 回答 あなた can pick to that question. Papa has created a link.

* 5: link

* 6: link

* 7: link

あなた may also want to see:

* link feature

* link