#I took a screenshot of my successful report and the “[redacted subreddit] has been banned” screen as trophies

[theres-whump-in-that-nebula]

“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.” Absolutely. But is the fire wild and destructive; or safely contained and being used for something?

“Being into dark and disturbing media is a red flag.” I can’t disagree with that. Most people who are okay with committing crimes in real life are okay with viewing disturbing things for entertainment; however, many good (or neutral) people are okay with things in fiction that they wouldn’t be okay with in real life. If you don’t know someone at all — who they are, or what they do — you cannot judge their motivations for liking or disliking something. But absolutely exercise caution online when dealing with any group of people.

Some online communities may be so rife with actual illegal activity that it is best to stay away from them, despite much of the content within them being legal and — for the most part — morally neutral. As a result, the illegal activity may fly under the radar and be allowed to remain on the internet. In these cases, it is your responsibility to report the community to higher authorities, as people and/or animals will be adversely effected if you do nothing.

If you are comfortable pursuing the issue, do not block the content before you’re done reporting it, as you may need to try several times before someone does anything about it. You don’t want to cut off your access to evidence that can be used against a harmful group.

Do not leave comments or engage with the individuals within the harmful community in any way, shape, or form. You may want to tell them “go to hell you fucking degenerates,” and I understand how you might feel that’s the right thing to do… However! This is the kind of behavior that will get you blocked and banned; thereby cutting you off from any plans of reporting illegal activity after they’ve seen your comment. If you have no access to the content; you cannot report it. The best thing to do is go in silently.

Do not report — or even look at — any artwork or fiction; hurting and embarrassing yourself is all that will accomplish. If there is nothing “blatantly illegal” (such as photos or videos of illegal activity), look for other evidence of the members engaging in actual illegal activity (such as requesting photos or video of illegal activity, or confessing to crimes they’ve committed for others’ gratification), and report these instead, since that is precisely the conduct you are trying to prevent. You cannot put out a fire by waving away the smoke; you must get rid of the fire itself, which is causing the smoke.

But remember: not all smoke is caused by the same type of fire. Some can be from a stove left unattended; other types can be from a fireplace. You can’t call a fireman to put out your neighbor’s fireplace just because you don’t like seeing smoke come out their chimney.

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(If you tag this with ANY term followed by a word meaning “wanting two characters to kiss,” or potentially, “large boat,” I will throw a rock at you. This is about how to properly report content in a way that doesn’t waste moderators’ (or the FBI’s) time; because my belief system is practical and action-based rather than philosophical. Thanks.)