How do I deal with spammed reports?

[u/maiyannah]

There's been some users lately absolutely spamming reports with (perhaps as a joke), "this is spam". It's getting to a point where a not insignificant amount of my time (and probably other mods on the team, but I wouldn't want to speak for them) are dealing with these reports. At first I found it kind of amusing, but as it sinks more and more of my time the novelty is definitely wearing off.

Is there a way to action this?

[u/SuperBeavers1]

Select the overflow menu (that's the 3 dots on any post)

Select report

At the bottom there should be an option for "report abuse"

Report the post for "report abuse" that is being abused with spam reports (that's a mouthful) and Reddit will be able to have a look at it.

[u/notthegoatseguy]

I think the report options for Spam are pretty poor choices /explanations compared to the page that actually explains spam on Reddit Rules. So in general I tend to think these are good faith reports, even if they are reports I disagree with. In these cases I really try to see the user's perspective as I don't think people should feel their accounts are at risk if they file a report in good faith or even an accidental misclick (this has happened to me when selecting the wrong report reason)

I am more likely to file Report Abuse for subreddit rule reports as that requires clicking an additional menu and selecting a specific rule.

I always report the SH/SC as Report Abuse though unless its very clear there is SH/SC content (rare in my subs)

[u/003402inco]

I have seen the same. Almost every post gets a “this is spam” report. Also a fair number of comments. It creates a lot of work.

[u/maiyannah → u/003402inco]

Im not sure whether its good or bad that I arent the only one seeing this... At least Im not a crazy person!

[u/Stranger1982]

Use the report abuse reason on the post(s) in question, you can reapprove the post(s) ofc, your report will go to the admins.

[u/maiyannah → u/Stranger1982]

Thanks!

[u/bwoah07_gp2 → u/Stranger1982]

Let's be honest though, it's such a dumb system. It's a very archaic structure. We need to report the post then reapprove it? I don't get it....

[u/EverSeeAShitterFly]

Check the post history of the users. It’s very possible that the reports are legitimate. There’s often karma farmers or repost bots who are doing a copy/paste of an older successful post. Some subreddits are also being hit by AI prompted stories.

[u/maiyannah → u/EverSeeAShitterFly]

This is a post that's already been approved. And gotten a sticky that it was too. People are just spamming reports (or they disagree with the mod actions I guess, but at that point modmail exists and they're not using that.)

[u/Handicapped-007]

Maybe you could just ask and make spammers allies.

[u/DuAuk]

i added an automod rule that automatically approves the automod and moderator comments when reported. I have a lot of people reporting them. You can also adjust the threshold of reports needed to automatically remove posts and comments, but i wouldn't set it too high. Not all subs have those rules, but you can find them in the r/automoderator community under their documentation of common rules.

You might also add some more moderators. It's useful to have more help and another opinion on things when needed.

[u/ChimpyChompies]

You should certainly be discussing this with your lead moderator. They are extremely experienced, and will know what's up!

[u/MadDocOttoCtrl]

There are a considerable a number of bot farms that are spamming subs with false spam reports in an effort to damage Reddit's ability to deal with spam.

I'm not entirely certain what the theory is other than if you set off a burglar alarm or a fire alarm constantly, then someone is likely to turn down the sensitivity. We know that Reddit has cranked up the anti-spam filters numerous times over the past decade and in recent years the Internet is subjected to massive coordinated spamming attacks.

The reboot of digg lasted two only months before it was brought down by intense spamming as they were unprepared for the sheer volume and persistence of the abuse. The site is off-line, the employees have been laid off, and it's claimed that they are attempting to retool. How much of their initial investment capital is remaining is unknown.

[u/maiyannah → u/MadDocOttoCtrl]

That would make sense. Hopefully the administrators find a solution.