# What do I do if I find a spam post or an offensive post?



## Corry

You report it!!!

I am finding that many people don't know how, or don't even know they have the ability to report a post to the entire mod team with very simple press of a button. 

We wish to keep this forum as clean and spam free as possible.   However, the forum is big enough that we cannot read every thread, and therefore miss things. 

That's where you guys come in! 

First, let's decide what posts need to be reported. 

*What qualifies as a spam post?*

Most of the time spam posts are pretty obvious. Someone might join with the name FREE_VIAGRA562, and then proceed to post a thread with nothing but links to sites where he tries to sell you stuff. 

Some spammers can be a bit more subtle....maybe posting in a seemingly relevant thread...for example, someone posts a thread asking "How can I remove the background from this picture?" and the spammer comes in and says "Wow, great pic! I recently tried this software that has thousands of backgrounds you can insert into your pictures!" ...then you click the link, and it's selling you something. 

Sometimes it's hard for even mods to decide if something is spam. So, if you are EVER in doubt, and think it might be spam, please report it, and we will decide. 

*What qualifies as an offensive post?*


We do our best to keep things civil among the forums so we can enjoy a pleasant environment. But like it or not, there are thousands of members here, and there are bound to be conflicts now and then. Unfortunately, those conflicts occasionally get out of hand. Again, mods do not always see these posts unless they are brought to our attention. 

If you ever think a post or a thread is getting out of hand, or is completely uncalled for, feel free to report it and let the mods decide the best course of action. 



Now that you know what to report....we will learn HOW to report it! 

*How to report a post*

You may not have ever really paid any attention to the report button, so you may not know that it's right there in front of you!!

On every post other than yours, there will be the little '!' icon, as shown here: 







Click that button, and it will take you to a short form to fill out. Simply fill out the reason you are reporting the post by writing something such as "This is spam" or "This person verbally attacked another member". 






And that's all there is to it. Reporting a thread will automatically alert the mod team to it, and allow them to take action as soon as they see the alert.


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