by contacting a mod that I know is active in a certain board. These are those situations where you know you have a good report, it is handled as such but is marked as bad, which is of course a mistake that can happen to anyone.
Absolutely, I've marked reports wrongly a few times. I usually contact the user that reported it, and explain to them that I've been an idiot.
As it is an exclusively voluntary activity, we cannot actually be in a position to be disappointed, but perhaps encourage others to use the "report to moderator" button a little more. Everyone has the right to their opinion, but some prominent members of this community have marked this activity as a waste of time, which must have had an impact on other members.
I don't think that's the case, ultimately you're giving your time to report something for the better of the community, if we've messed up on our end or you don't agree with it I'd like to hear it. Even, when we can't reach an agreement, it's nice to know what users think about x report.
Yeah, I do think a few opinions of prominent users carry more weight than they probably realise themselves. However, I do understand their point of view. Although, we aren't perfect, and there certainly could be more of us in particular sections of the forum, and I do think some of the concerns they bring up are valid. Ultimately though, the decision comes down to theymos on when we need more moderators, and when a particular issue becomes a big enough issue to decide to correct.