I don't know if this has been discussed before or not. But how about an option to report a thread/post to the admins/mods. This way we wouldn't have to figure out if an admin/mod is online to report a thread to. This way it just broadcasts to all mods/admins that a thread was reported so they may act on it. Then after the admin/mod decides the threads/posts fate it is updated somewhere for the admins/mods so they know who did what to each thread.
The way I am thinking about it is as follows
- User Clicks report thread button, Ajax form popups and asks for a reason for the report (pretty much keep it simple).
- After user clicks submit a thread is created only where Admins/Mods can see it containing the following.
- Username of submitter, thread title, location on the forum (eg Windows 7 & Vista) and the reason why.
- Then any admin/mod can go to the thread review it, if against TOS/Policies remove/lock. and leave a response in the report thread stating its status
It may be a bit of work but I think any forum needs an ability to report a thread to the admin/mod staff with out the use of PM's