PROBLEM WITH TERMS & CONTIONS!!

IMDb historically does not address message board abuse or account status of user causing problems, on public forums, other than to suggest you use the report abuse function and put the person on ignore. Further, most replies here come from other users who cannot do anything about it so they use their time to help people correct credits, etc., which are activities more relevant to the site's purpose and mission...creating a searchable database of film facts.

Just curious...how would someone who has been reported know it was you who filed the report if you didn't say so?  The system is anonymous and he'd have no other way of knowing.

The warning you receive means someone has filed a report of abuse that has not been reviewed yet or you've been overusing or abusing the report system (though I am not certain of the second part-they'd be more likely to just permanently disable your report abuse privilege-which is done silently and cannot/will not be reversed). I'd encourage you, if you are reporting the person, to do it once, use ignore, then forget the person and move on.

If other users are so fragile they cannot stand to be on the boards, leaving is probably in their best interest. Otherwise they should also be using ignore and not worrying about it.  You cannot be "bullied" by someone you never see nor hear.

I'd also recommend you don't participate in a discussion by disagreeing with an abusive user, then reporting him. It can be difficult to see who is baiting/trolling whom and they might just zap both of you.  So ignore list can benefit you by removing the temptation to respond, which can get you the same account sanctions as the other person.

I understand your frustrations and concern for other users but really, do you want to spend even a minute of your time dealing with internet trolls?  I know I don't...(and can't imagine staff wants to either).

Good luck, though!

No I don't want to deal with trolls, at all!

But, you're discussing it here/now...

I've gone 11 years without one warning and that counts for nothing, it seems.

Don't be offended by that message.  It means there's been a report of abuse...no action has been taken.  If you'd have done something wrong without knowing it's wrong, it'd be your warning to look into it.  The automated message doesn't think..."well...this is the first time in 11 years, lets skip the whole thing.:"  It's an automated function that will happen while a report is pending review.

Good people should not have to because IMDb allows others to breach the terms and conditions

They don't have to leave.  I've been trolled (or bullied is the new catch phrase) before and just put them on ignore and gone on and had a great time.  If someone gets so caught up in it that they have to battle it out, perhaps there's something much more fun they can be using their time for. If they've deleted their account and moved on, it's their choice and I hope they're doing what's best for them. 

I was just as shocked when I read your response to another member who'd said he'd dared to say something negative about the collective work of a deceased actor

When people gather on a board of someone recently deceased and they're mourning the person, it shows lack of class, common sense, ignorance of etiquette, etc., to go there to make jokes about the person or criticize the person. If you show up at a funeral and make jokes and say the person had no talent, you should expect to get kicked out (or punched out, for that matter).

There's a reason the site has a no-tolerance policy about such trolling and abuse (and a reason such posts get reported-staff only responds to reports of abuse so clearly that person had been reported, perhaps by many, many people).

What happened to freedom of speech?

Just because you can say something ignorant, inappropriate and lacking in common sense doesn't mean you should (not implying you would-I mean, like the person who made fun of a dead person and got his account actioned).

I don't know why people think they have "freedom of speech" but there is no such thing on IMDb or any other private business or property. IMDb has Terms and Conditions and rules of etiquette clearly stated and privilege to use the interactive areas of the site can be revoked at any time. You cannot say or do anything you want.  If you could, you'd have no reason to be complaining about others. You're saying an account should be actioned but you should be able to say or do whatever you like because you have some perceived right?  That makes absolutely no sense.

You cannot walk into a business and badmouth them without being thrown out.  You can't yell "fire" in a crowded theater. You can't make jokes about "bombs" while boarding a plane. While you can criticize the US president's policies and/or promote other forms of government, in the US, you can't say he should be killed. There are many places you cannot curse or talk about explicit sexual subjects. You certainly cannot walk into someone's home and say anything you want. If they object, they can remove you or have you removed. Certainly, if you're an employee, you cannot say or do whatever you want while representing the business in any way (and in most cases now, even if you're on your own spare time).

There really is no such thing as having the right to say anything you want, anywhere you want to. I don't get why people say they have such a right.

I'll find another movie website, where I can discuss movies in a polite and appropriate manner.

There are many that, unlike IMDb's boards, are actively moderated.  IMDb has 10,000,000 message boards and 250,000,000 visitors monthly. They also have a small staff that mostly works on maintaining the main site.  Message boards are low priority and they can't be expected to, at this point, waste too much time following internet trolls around. Active moderation really shouldn't be expected.

They simply provide Terms and Conditions and ask us to follow them or else actions can occur and posts can be deleted. There not going to follow abusive posters around making sure they behave.

So if you're planning on spending a lot of time on forums, perhaps moderated ones would work better.

Even the terms and conditions warn of how the moderation takes place and says that if you don't agree with it,  you should stick to the core features of the site and perhaps take discussions elsewhere.

Anyway...good luck!  Sorry you've had problems.

Oh, and it's middle of the night (California)! I don't sleep much at night...lot's of meds, lots of pain, long story...