How to get a profile unblocked?

Hi folks.

Earlier today there was (as far as I know) a single self-promotion post from a new author that got flagged quickly. I'm not sure if there were one or two posts in the thread, so it may be lingering.

Anyway, one of the spam fighters left links on the profile to "Terms of Use" and "For Authors," but I took it further and left my usual explanatory message explaining why the post was flagged. The new member since left me a return comment, distressed because he did not know of the rules, and says he is now prevented from posting anywhere. That suggests to me that enough people flagged his profile to get him temporarily suspended, although I can still get to his profile and see it, which suggests it's not suspended. I gather there's an in-between status?

He's concerned because he feels that he is now blacklisted on the site, and that his original post is still available out there so people will see his name and deliberately avoid him.

Is there anything that can be done about getting him back to a status where he can post? I honestly don't think he'll want to post at all after this (he actually sounds distressed), and I feel certain he won't abuse the rules after this. I'm also concerned because I didn't think it was supposed to work quite like this -- one or two (before being notified) unaware self-promotion posts aren't a reason to be banned.

Is there someone I should notify?

Member is here: http://www.librarything.com/profile/paulroy

The member's profile should not have been flagged per the Spam guidelines. Overzealous authors fall under the Type 2: Teachable moments category.

Perhaps anyone who did flag the profile will see your message and go back and unflag. Other than that perhaps a message to someone in charge?

>2 Taphophile13:

Yes, my thoughts too (on teachable moments).

Seems weird to me, though, that the person's profile does not show us that it's blocked, but he says he cannot post. Does anyone know what numbers of profile flags trigger these various stages? Were people aware there might be an intermediate stage?

>1 amysisson:

I think lorannen would be the person to contact.

BTW, there were at least two spam posts by that author.

I can't say I've heard of an intermediate "unable to post but profile is unblocked" stage; I know Tim tried doing that manually once years ago and it didn't work well, but that's the only time I recall that happening.

I wondered at the time (and still do) as to whether it's just a specific *group* he can't post in, rather than not being able to post. Considering there's only one book in his library (for which he's the author), I'd suspect that it's not a permission issue, myself.

He may also be stating "can't" when what he means is "my topics are flagged until gone, bummer" but that's just a suspicion.

Looking at paulroy's account, he hasn't been suspended. There was one profile flag that was removed by staff, and he should still be able to post. I'll reach out to him personally to see what's up! Thanks for posting.

He actually couldn't post (it wouldn't allow him to) in Hobnob, BUT he says that now he can so it seems to be fixed.

Part of the problem is that if there are two (or more) spam posts in quick succession before anyone has posted a message on their profile, it probably looks to some people like they're ignoring the rules on purpose, when usually it's that they aren't aware of them. LT is (I think?) unusual in its restrictiveness, for which I am grateful.

Ah well, I think it's as fixed now as it's going to be, although I'm make a note to remember that lorannen would probably be the best person to contact if necessary.

I don't think this author has any intention of making spam posts again outside the designated areas.

Thanks, all!

LT is (I think?) unusual in its restrictiveness, for which I am grateful.

Me too. Well, I'm grateful that LT is more restrictive than the new norm, not that its level of restraint is unusual. (As anyone who has been here for awhile knows, I don't think LT goes far enough in some ways.)

I used to think that it was common sense to lurk and/or read the basic material before posting to a community, and that thus obviously anyone who didn't follow the rules was deliberately choosing to ignore them. But the days when that was common sense are long gone, and nowadays most people seem to assume that if you aren't breaking the law or hawking pharmaceuticals, anything goes anywhere.

lorannen or myself are the folks to reach out to for any issues like this in the future. Happy to help! Glad he's able to post again.

I thought that a number of flags in a short period causes the poster to be temporarily blocked but only for an hour or two until staff have a chance to look at it.

Yes, I believe there's a posting-level trigger there. As with all of these things, we're not telling you the rule, but as you might expect it's much quicker to shut someone off under some circumstances than others.

Thanks for the info, Tim!