
How does moderation and reporting work?

The Imgur community has always been governed by a set of community rules. Imgurians have always been pretty great at self-governing through upvotes and downvotes, but having a set of firm rules allows us to set some limits and guidelines that are in line with the company’s vision.

Let’s go back to the history a bit. Before 2015, the rules were very strict and one infraction could earn you a permanent ban. One problem was, we had no consistent way to notify users about bad behavior or really enforce the rules consistently, so there was a deep misunderstanding around what the rules actually even were for most people. When we finally upgraded our reporting and moderation system and added a warning system in 2015, we were finally able to message more effectively and enforce the rules. Unfortunately, this led to a lot of problems around clarity and no one was happy. We then revised the rules to add clarity, added a “mature” toggle in account settings to allow us to be a bit more flexible with adult-themed content, and added a three strike warning system.

Today, we have a team of volunteer moderators from the Imgur community who respond to all reports of potentially rule-breaking content. Due to the massive amount of posts that get shared to Imgur (as well as some UGC laws), we rely on user reports to bring infringing content to the attention of the moderators.

“What exactly happens when my post is reported by other Imgurians?” -you, maybe
When a post or comment is reported, it joins a queue in what we lovingly call the “mod panel.” The mod panel shows thumbnails and stats of every post that has been reported. A volunteer mod will click through to all of the reported posts, evaluate it next to the rules, and take an action.

The possible actions are:
1. Ignore the report. Nothing happens and the post is removed from the mod panel.
2. Agree, the post is against the rules. A warning message is then sent to the user from the Imgur system and the post is removed from public view.
3. Mark the post as spam. The post is hidden, but a message is not sent. This action is reserved for spambots and advertisers. 
4. Mark as mature. The post is marked mature and a message is then sent to the user from the Imgur system.

The OP of a post that is deemed against the rules will earn a warning on their account. Warnings will expire after a period of normal contribution. If multiple submissions break the rules, warnings will accumulate. Additional infractions earn a 24-hour suspension, further infractions may lead to a ban. The purpose of the warning system is to alert people of the rules and give people a chance to better understand and change behavior.

“Can I be automatically banned if a ton of people report my posts?” - someone
No. All reports are reviewed by a human on the mod team. If something has been reported and does not break the rules, the report will be ignored. The only thing automatic about the system is that a warning message sends to the user when the mod agrees with the report.

“What if the mods make a mistake?” - you, most likely
They have and they will again. We’re all humans here and sometimes mistakes happen. We all try to be as consistent as possible to avoid frustrating mistakes, but when it happens the community team is happy to review the situation and reverse the action. They can be contacted at http://imgur.com/help.

“Why was my post removed, but the same post from two years ago was not? Or what about this other post that I think is worse than the one I posted? ” - people, sometimes
The mod team relies on user reports to be alerted to potentially rule-breaking content. It’s possible that another post you’re seeing in User Sub has not yet been reported. If it’s an older post that you found, it’s possible that it was around before the moderation system was revamped. We do not warn for old content because the warning system is intended to shape positive behavior, and it’s unlikely that we have a chance to influence behaviors of the distant past, but we will often hide older infringing posts from the gallery.

“How long does it take for a reported post or comment to be moderated?” - various humans
This varies depending on moderator availability, time of day, and the overall amount of reports in the mod panel. The team is pretty well staffed and covers multiple timezones. In an ideal world, we’d love to get to everything within an hour max, but sometimes it’s longer and sometimes it’s shorter.

“Who are these moderators and why are they qualified?” - you, possibly
The mods are Imgurians from all over the world who love the community and have volunteered to help. They cover most every time zone and range in ages, genders, and backgrounds. At some point, they applied for the role or expressed interest. To apply, one must fill out an application and those applications are reviewed by the community team here at Imgur. Once accepted, they undergo training on the rules and the tools. They shadow a more experienced mod for 1 week before being given full access. We have constant contact throughout the day in a private Slack channel, where reported posts are often debated and rules discussed to make sure the right action is taken. There’s also a lot of fluffy cat posts shared and funny gems from User Sub, just for fun. Once per month, we all get together on Google Hangouts to just generally hang out and discuss mod stuff.

Whenever a mod steps down or when we feel we’re lacking coverage, new mods are added. 

"How can I be an Imgur mod?" - you, maybe

Thank you for your interest! You can see more about what it entails and how to apply on our community forum.

 

Here is a puppy to reward you for reading so much.
https://help.imgur.com/hc/en-us/articles/207835393
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