STOOPIT questions that aren't so stupid

[Leftcoaster]

Arriving on site today, I saw I had a new PM.

It wasn't too surprising, I thought it might be an infraction catching up to me from a post that went to moderated queue yesterday because of a prohibited word.

It wasn't. Instead it was a 'I'm new here' greeting from a poster I'd never heard of who actually may be a member but isn't truly a poster not having any posts to date.

The PM provided an outside link, one which I have no intention of clicking onto, having more than my share of spyware and malware irritations already, thankee.

Apologies to the member if you're genuine, but this PM just looked like a bit of spam, leading to my question; is this sort of spamming something that occurs to others here on a regular basis? It stands out to me because it is so far out of the norm (thankfully) from what I personally see and therefore project upon the entire site.

[just1paul]

I've never gotten one like that.

[John]

It's not something that occurs normally, and if you receive something like this, reporting it to a mod will get results quickly.

[angelic_one2002]

Today in the Fun & Games forum, I posted a picture in one of the game threads. My question is..how do you delete attachments?
There are several attachment files stored when I open up my attachments that I would like to clean out (delete). Thanks, in advance!

[John]

You can't delete attachments yourself. Only mods can, sorry.

[angelic_one2002]

Ok..That explains it, then. Thanks, John!

[Leftcoaster]

Thanks for your reply, John. It focused my mind on my intent in that previous post, or rather what would have been my intent had I been thinking more clearly.

I was curious about the frequency about that sort of thing because then it would provide a frame of reference as to how to deal with it, whether to just ignore it or mention it to a mod.

I projectedly figure the staff has enough on their collective plates without unecessarily pointing out each and every little real or imagined transgression viewed, but then wonder whether the way I view that sort of thing coincides with the desires of the site staff.

On the one hand, running across a bit of spam or posting pattern veering toward confrontation is best easily simply ignored, on the other, mentioning it at that point may head off a larger issue to contend with later. Who's (as a poster) to say with certainty which approach is best overall?

I'm not all that comfortable overall reporting on something which seems questionable to me as a reader, I almost without fail second guess myself each and everytime while I'm considering doing so as well as after having done so.

So without asking for itemized detail, I suppose what I'd be asking for through these last two posts is some generalized guideline of what in the eyes of the staff amounts to something actually worth mentioning; something that may aid you in managing the site rather than amounting instead to a distracting nuisance.

{Entering visible second guessing sphere long enough to clarifyingly note that I'm asking for myself, not at all meaning to imply that reportage on any one elses part ever amounts to a nuisance }

[John]

When it comes to pm spamming, you should definitely let mods know - we don't read pm's (contrary to some opinion), and unless notified by a member who receives such spam, we can't do anything about it.

When it comes to posts, please feel free to use the "report post" function for anything you feel is over the line. The mods review each reported post, discuss it if necessary, and make a decision on action from there. The reality is, we probably don't see every post in every forum, and if it's still there, we may not have seen it yet. Helping us out is never a bad thing.

[Newfherder]

I have a stoopit question on reporting posts. Is the post automatically referenced when the triangle is clicked, or should I quote the offending passage in the text of the PM?

[John]

The whole post is included when you report, so no need to quote anything.