This page is part of the Moderating Microsoft Forums series. Any user can flag a post as being abusive. This is done by simply clicking the Report as Abuse link on any post. When a post is flagged as abusive, it is important for moderators to address this issue right away to address potential legal issues, tone, abuse, and other infringements. Abusive posts are outlined with a red box as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Post Flagged as Abusive.
Tip: To locate abusive posts, you can filter the current view to show only those posts which are flagged as abusive.
Note: Not all abusive posts are flagged as abusive, so moderators should be diligent. Sometimes users flag a post as abusive to simply get the attention of a moderator, such as a thread that needs to be moved.
If the post is abusive, immediately escalate the issue. If you escalate the post, it will be analyzed to see what rules it violates, if any, and the appropriate action will be taken by an internal team member or forum owner. If the post is not actually abusive, such as in the case where a user is simply notifying a moderator that a thread needs attention, moderators should address the scenario and clear the abuse flag. Back to Moderating Microsoft Forums.
Karl Mitschke edited Revision 6. Comment: Modified figure number, added link to Escalation article.
yottun8 edited Revision 5. Comment: Added "Other Languages" and ja-JP version.
Zoltán Horváth edited Revision 3. Comment: Replaced the first sentence, just not to start a page with "back to". Tagging.
There should be a certain period of time (say 24-48 hours) that a forum moderator should review posts flagged as abusive and then act accordingly.