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I came here to report about someone who bullied me a few days ago but to my surprise, their account is already temporarily suspended, most likely, within a couple of days from now. But most likely the suspension happened because of someone else maybe "reporting" them. I don't know. It still doesn't solve the problem that, that user deleted my 1 question unnecessarily and by downvoting on some other posts cost me around 40 rep.

But this is not just about the 40 rep or even me in general. When such a thing happened to me, I felt down momentarily for being kind of helpless (my rep was less than 150 then) and I thought that a person with more than 200k rep must be totally immune. But thanks to recent observation, they're not (Great and Way to go MSE! :-)).

So, I have following questions:

  1. How did they get banned? I mean I get the reasons now but not the triggerer as in the action that brought it into the limelight. Was it some person reporting it here on Meta or community in general patrolling its user on regular basis or is there a button like the flag button to report on some user too such as "Report Bullying" or "Report Abuse".
  2. If there is no such button, shouldn't there be one so that a user can report such a thing happening to them. (Note: The flag button needs us to visit every question and is less about some user in general, rather, about the question itself. And the harassment may be too spread out, like not just several questions but answers too.)
  3. How to try/ensure that the user who/whose account was bullied, is restored to its previous unharmed state?

(Not sure which tag this question fits out of: discussion, support, feature-request)

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    $\begingroup$ Below every question and answer, there is a button which says "Flag." Click that and choose "Rude or Abusive". Beyond that, we are not going to discuss the moderation action taken towards any specific users. $\endgroup$
    – Xander Henderson Mod
    Jun 27, 2022 at 20:12
  • $\begingroup$ @XanderHenderson, suppose (say) user Alpha is being rude, then can I mention them particularly for being rude to me? Also, would I have to repeat this under every question? $\endgroup$ Jun 27, 2022 at 20:15
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    $\begingroup$ Don't flag users. Flag behaviour. If a question, answer, or comment is abusive, raise a flag on that question, answer, or comment. $\endgroup$
    – Xander Henderson Mod
    Jun 27, 2022 at 20:17
  • $\begingroup$ @XanderHenderson I don't get this "flag behaviour", could you give an example? Also, I want to bring the attention towards a particular user's activities. $\endgroup$ Jun 27, 2022 at 20:19
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    $\begingroup$ If a question, answer, or comment is abusive, raise a flag on that question, answer, or comment. $\endgroup$
    – Xander Henderson Mod
    Jun 27, 2022 at 20:20
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    $\begingroup$ @XanderHenderson that's not the problem. It's my own questions and answers that are being targeted by user Alpha (an imaginary person). Alpha is downvoting several of my answers and questions and even deleted some of my questions (maybe by help of his friends or proxy accounts). Now what? $\endgroup$ Jun 27, 2022 at 20:24
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    $\begingroup$ Welcome to this site! At the bottom left of each page is a Contact link (alternatively: this), one of whose options is "I want to report a Code of Conduct violation". This option doesn't have the character limit that flagging boxes have and reaches the StackExchange community managers, whose scope overlaps with that of the local mathematics site moderators. Do first learn about the mathematics site culture, and what the CoC encompasses. $\endgroup$
    – ryang
    Jun 27, 2022 at 23:12
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    $\begingroup$ @InanimateBeing You should probably forgo the complaints about downvotes since you have no way of knowing who cast them. But of course you can see close/delete voters, and you can flag if you think you can argue they are targeting you unfairly. $\endgroup$
    – rschwieb
    Jun 27, 2022 at 23:14
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    $\begingroup$ If someone is downvoting several of your posts, the software will detect this and will reverse those votes (and I expect the user doing the downvoting will be hearing from the moderators, as well). There is no way that one user can delete a post of yours, unless that user is a moderator – you're not being bullied by a moderator, are you? $\endgroup$ Jun 28, 2022 at 2:58
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    $\begingroup$ I think everyone knows which user you are talking about lol. $\endgroup$
    – user905694
    Jun 28, 2022 at 7:38
  • $\begingroup$ @Random that is unfortunate, I never meant to though. That's why I didn't even mention their period till suspension so as not to give any hints. Though I can understand why. $\endgroup$ Jun 28, 2022 at 11:39

2 Answers 2

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We diamond moderators are typically the ones that mediate user conflicts and enforce the CoC. Please do bring it to our attention if you feel you're being bullied or abused by another user.

You only need to flag once, even if the bullying takes place across multiple posts or comments. Flags have a write-in option ("Something else") where you can describe the problem you're having. It's good to include as much information as possible, but we have tools to investigate, so don't worry if you can't include everything. Links are helpful when you have room, but not necessary.

Keep in mind that you can't tell for sure who casts downvotes, or whether they have proxy accounts. You may be able to tell who cast a close or delete vote. However, if many of your posts are being closed, take a moment to consider if the votes are really unfair. Are you sure your posts are well-written and follow the guidelines? Take a moment to consider this before reporting, as the solution may be simply improving your post.

A few things to note about voting:

  • There's not much we can do about single downvotes. It's not until the downvotes become a pattern that the situation is potentially actionable.

  • Bursts of downvotes-- for example, if somebody goes through your profile and downvotes all your posts-- are automatically invalidated by the system. Be patient, though, as this doesn't always happen quickly.

  • As mentioned in the comments, we can't share details about specific users, so you will not know what moderator actions your flag has lead to. At this point, the best thing to do is simply move on, knowing it is out of your hands.

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    $\begingroup$ thanks a lot for your answer. It's hit nail right on the head! Also, though I agree that votes aren't really unfair in themselves but the problem is that when someone specifically focusses on you and puts you under scanner then that is discrimination or targeting in it's truest sense which nobody would want for themselves even if they may be (slightly) wrong. But I was just sharing a perspective. I have now fully understood the efficacy of MSE community which is way beyond I had imagined and your answer seems just perfect to me. $\endgroup$ Jun 28, 2022 at 11:35
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  1. Unless you're an insider, unlikely you will get information on this. The banning process here is one without clear transparency. Of course, I have found it that users are free to discuss bans of other users on meta. For example, I have found the moderators being criticized for laying bans on certain high effort users who answered some questions violating EOQS.

1.5. If you want to report behavior, you can sumbit a request through the report dialogue box. To open up report dialogue menu you can either click this button in comment:

enter image description here

Or, you can click this button at bottom of post:

enter image description here

  1. Usually once the bad actor user is punished, their actions are reversed as well.
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