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I've noticed a handful of obviously spammy users (the most recent being https://stackoverflow.com/users/246855/best-penis-products) - there's no way to report the user, only their content.

Are there any kind of reporting features on a user level, either in place or planned for future implementation?

2 Answers 2

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Click "flag", then "requires moderator attention".

In there, type up how you think this user is a spammer and give the question IDs of things you think are spam. The moderators will handle the rest.

If you think 150 characters isn't enough room, just e-mail them directly using the contact link at the bottom of every page. Again, make sure to provide links to the offensive material so they know where to look.

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    I think @Christopher is requesting a flag button on the profile page. Mr best-penis-products has yet to answer or ask a question. Presumably he's too busy enlarging himself.
    – grenade
    Commented Jan 18, 2010 at 18:11
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    Then just send an e-mail. Or heck, flag one of your own questions for moderator attention and let them know what's going on. They're smart people, those Bills and Marcs. They'll handle it well. I can tell you that I have done this. I've flagged one question because the question I wanted to flag was locked (meaning I couldn't flag it), described the issue and they fixed it up no problem.
    – Welbog
    Commented Jan 18, 2010 at 18:13
  • Just flagged one of my questions pointing at the user and to this thread.
    – perbert
    Commented Jan 18, 2010 at 18:32
  • @grenade if the user doesn't make any posts, then there's no reason to be concerned... As soon as they make a spam post you can flag it...
    – Jasarien
    Commented Dec 1, 2010 at 16:25
  • What about spammy comments? Flagging a comment doesn't have something like "spam" or "moderator attention". In stackoverflow.com/questions/10937358/…, the spam was first posted as answer that was flagged and deleted. Then the same thing showed up as a comment. Commented Jun 7, 2012 at 18:58
  • @JamesMoore: It's the same thing. Flag the post that has the comment attached and tell the moderator what is going on. Moderators are smart enough to read things that you write. At least the moderators I hang out with are.
    – Welbog
    Commented Jun 12, 2012 at 3:05
  • That's good to know, but I wouldn't call it quite the same thing if a human has to read the comment. Seems like a spam button for comments would be good. Maybe it's not that big of a problem though - I've only had it happen to me once. Commented Jun 12, 2012 at 4:10
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Listen to the Welbog 2010. He knows the truth. You don't really want the ability to flag users, since SO isn't about users - it's about posts.

The Powers That Be know what to do with users who abuse with their posts...

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    "SO isn't about users - it's about posts". In theory, yes. But in practice, some users are always bad. It's like saying, hey, there's this guy on the corner that hits anyone that walks by...but I shouldn't get mad at the guy...just at the individual punches. Because maybe someday he'll stop punching people if we just say "gosh, ow, that hurts" every time he hits us, and then he'll use his punches only for good. Or maybe he just likes to punch people, and should be avoided. I think this is a long and somewhat ridiculous comment.
    – beska
    Commented Jan 18, 2010 at 19:13
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    I agree with that last sentence... ;-) Thing is, automated post-deletion works. Automated user -deletion probably would not: read the comments on various nominations in the moderator nomination thread; some users hold grudges for quite a long while...
    – Shog9
    Commented Jan 18, 2010 at 19:16
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    More to the point, users create content beyond just posts. In particular, user profiles, which might e.g. link to the spam site with the goal of building PageRank. Commented Jan 2, 2023 at 22:03

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