If a comment or post gets reported, I can think of a number of different groups who might see that report:
- The moderators of the community in which it was posted.
- The admins of the instance hosting the community (call it instance X).
- The admins of the reporter’s instance (call it Y).
- The admins of the poster’s instance (call it Z).
Do all of these see the report? Only some subset? Some other group I’m not thinking of?
And if it is all/multiple of these, how does the actioning work? If the report’s admin removes a post, does that mean nobody from instance Y can see it, but everyone else still can, or does it remove it more widely? Same for Z’s admins and Z users. If X admins remove it, I presume that means nobody at all will see it, is this correct? And would a mod approving it means that admins of various instances will then not see the report, or does it stay in their queue separately?
Mods: Get every report in the community and can temp/perm ban you from the community and/or remove the comment
Admins (community’s instance and reported user’s instance) Can do anything a moderator can, and can ban you from their instance (bans you from all communities on that instance as well) When this happens, you will essentially be shadowbanned from every user on that instance, which in some cases can be a blessing as some instances have some VERY harassing users so they will no longer be able to bother you any more after the ban.
Admins (your instance) They have access to the server your account is on, so they can do anything to you. Being banned from your own instance is like having your account seized. Your content will stay up (if they choose not to delete it) and you won’t be able to log in. You won’t be given a chance to appeal so you’re basically locked out.
Admins (other instances) They won’t get your report but if they see your comment and find it particularly distasteful, they may choose to ban you from their instance, and you can bet your bottom dollar they won’t be accepting your request if you ever try to sign up there.
So if one of these groups has already actioned it, the post will still appear in the queue for the other groups to take a look at? I vaguely recall hearing about an issue where admins approving a comment would mean mods won’t get to see it, or vice versa. Is that me misreading/misremembering something, or has it since been fixed?
I’m guessing “target instance” here means both the host instance of the community and the instance of the user doing the reporting, which may be the same or may be two different instances?