Maybe confronting someone isn't the right play.

The answer is simple: inconsistency. There is a lot of inconsistency in moderation and reports are reviewed in what seems to be a random order.

It needs to improve.

I just have issues with extreme view points.

No not everyone in game hacks.
Yes hacking is a major issue.

Now I got both sides mad at me

My issue is more with the flag system.

Originally posted by Deacon the destroyer:

Pointing out some one is being ignorant gets you a 7 day time out..

If you don't do this, there is no worry over the "flag system" or inconsistency.

thats out it is in off topic. the entire forum is rife with alt accounts, obvious trolling and bigotry. those posts/threads stay up for disturbing amounts of time, but calling them out = a ban 100% of a time.

even if you do it in a way that is simply alerting other users that the person is a known troll.

Report the account, thread or post, block, move on.... that is how you handle it. there is no need to engage, or point out other posters for their actions, that is a violation of steam forum rules, called naming and shaming.... Best to ignore people instead of engaging them..

I think it's largely due to an extremely literal and surface-level interpretation of the rules by the outsourced moderation team.

The trolls post with the goal of upsetting and riling up as many people as possible, but it's not technically going after anyone in particular. Someone well-meaning might call that troll out for what they're doing, but that immediately gets reported as an insult. The mods just see "You are a..." and they take action since it's a "personal attack".

The trolls have become experts at staying in that gray area and using this disaffected moderation style to their advantage.

The mods don't care. Steam is probably just one platform of many that they're contracted to moderate. They have absolutely zero stake in the health and well-being of this platform. At this point, AI might do a better job.

Originally posted by Deacon the destroyer:

Rage baiting troll posts are ok
Pointing out some one is being ignorant gets you a 7 day time out.

That's your mistake right there. You engaged the troll and that is exactly they are trying to do with their posts. To get people riled up and to post a heated reply. They most likely reported your post themselves. Public accusations and insults are against the rules. Two wrongs don't make right.

What you should've done and do in future is:

DO NOT ENGAGE! (that alone saves you from being warned or banned) - Report - Block if needed - and finally MOVE ON!. Biggest mistake you can make with troll post is reply to it as long time trolls know how to get under people's skins and lot of them know how to do it without directly breaking the rules. Most of the time they use alts and even don't care if that alt gets banned as they just create new one.

The same i do, i see this discussion as "discussion of blocked user"; in this way the things are more easy and soft and i don't have to read a "suspected alt-account" as opinion of many. But i don't know if it's true, but i dislike cheaters deniers so i blocked him.

The problem with blocking posters; think I've block 6 in 20 years on line, is some people block posters simply because they don't like what some one has to say. Then they open threads that have nothing but "discussion of blocked user" for pages.

Like on the pubg forum, got some one there that has to have 3/5 posters blocked. No way they can actually read a thread, does not stop them from posting "everyone hacks all the time" in every other thread.

Originally posted by Anonymous Helper:

DO NOT ENGAGE

ya well, for me it's like
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/AGrr53lbjvY

Don't use your main account for these forums ,general,community, off topic etc

Only use your main for game hubs. Alt this mess its not worth it.

Mad it's come to this.

how many times do people need to keep explaining the problem and people keep denying it?
at some point it's no longer the user being dumb or misinformed.
it's the HUB and the people that run it.

Just be weary what you post mods are inconsistent as said ... yes there ia a problem, however STEAM has to solve that issue nothing we can do.

Originally posted by mare:

Don't use your main account for these forums ,general,community, off topic etc

Only use your main for game hubs. Alt this mess its not worth it.

Mad it's come to this.

I only have the one. Gave up alts when I quit alpha testing, years ago.

Originally posted by LoveAndPeace:

how many times do people need to keep explaining the problem and people keep denying it?
at some point it's no longer the user being dumb or misinformed.
it's the HUB and the people that run it.

Oh I got your number.
First post in this thread is a veiled insult.
And you don't expect me to respond in kind, and when I do...

Originally posted by SpeedFreak1972:

Just be weary what you post mods are inconsistent as said ... yes there ia a problem, however STEAM has to solve that issue nothing we can do.

Ya I just don't get it, I see people troll like truly dedicated fisherman, and nothing, point it out...

But I'm going to be me and I'm a sardonic, abrasive, argumentative old man. And if motivated can be quite condescending. Most people get it and go with it, but some it triggers.

Originally posted by Anonymous Helper:

DO NOT ENGAGE!

This is the same advice that's repeated since the days of dial-up BBS. 40+ years of "Don't feed the trolls", yet the trolls keep getting fed.

Human nature. We are but fish, and the bait works.

Even if you manage not to engage yourself, you still have to watch the community descend into an argumentative cesspit where the trolling drowns out any actual worthwhile conversation.

I think the four decades of "Don't feed the trolls" proves that it's not that simple, and the solution needs to come from how a community is moderated, and this one is moderated poorly. The monkeys are running the circus now, and the ringmasters don't care.