'Reporting abuse or spam' docs seem to be outdated/misleading, as many ways suggested don't seem possible

[0xdevalias]

Code of Conduct

• I have read and agree to the GitHub Docs project's Code of Conduct

What article on docs.github.com is affected?

https://docs.github.com/en/communities/maintaining-your-safety-on-github/reporting-abuse-or-spam

What part(s) of the article would you like to see updated?

We seemingly can't report from an issue/comment as suggested by the docs:

• https://docs.github.com/en/communities/maintaining-your-safety-on-github/reporting-abuse-or-spam#reporting-an-issue-or-pull-request
• https://docs.github.com/en/communities/maintaining-your-safety-on-github/reporting-abuse-or-spam#reporting-a-comment

---

If a repo is empty, we can't report it:

• https://docs.github.com/en/communities/maintaining-your-safety-on-github/reporting-abuse-or-spam#reporting-a-repository

---

We can report a user:

• https://docs.github.com/en/communities/maintaining-your-safety-on-github/reporting-abuse-or-spam#reporting-a-user

---

I haven't specifically checked any other cases.

Additional information

See Also:

• Clarify reporting abuse in comments when the user is not a contributor. #20202
  • Update reporting abuse or spam #20204
  • Move line 14 into permissions statement frontmatter #23050
• "Reporting an issue or pull request", the documented feature does not exist on GitHub #34260
• Article assumes there are Report links on Issue comments #35070

[0xdevalias]

Technically yes, this is stated at the top of the docs page:

Who can use this feature?

Owners, collaborators, prior contributors, and people with write access can report issues, pull requests, discussions, and comments on issues, pull requests, discussions, and commits. Anyone can report apps in GitHub Marketplace.

But when I am looking for a quick answer to something, I am usually going to jump straight to the section of interest; in which case I don't get shown that:

• eg. https://docs.github.com/en/communities/maintaining-your-safety-on-github/reporting-abuse-or-spam#reporting-an-issue-or-pull-request

• eg. https://docs.github.com/en/communities/maintaining-your-safety-on-github/reporting-abuse-or-spam#reporting-a-comment

So it would probably be better to explicitly include that a normal user isn't going to be able to see those options in those subsections; if that is truly the case.

Though it's also confusing to me (except that past related issues mention it) that this feature would be restricted; as it adds more friction that will lead to less people 'raising the appropriate alarm'; as they may not know (or want to spend the time) to click through to the user profile and report from there.

It's also kind of confusing to me because in the iOS app, I do see a 'report' option in the ... menu for issues/comments/etc seemingly always; but on web that menu option isn't present.

[0xdevalias]

But when I am looking for a quick answer to something, I am usually going to jump straight to the section of interest; in which case I don't get shown that:

It looks like there was even a PR that attempted to add this 'in-place' guidance way back in 2022:

• Update reporting abuse or spam #20204

But was rejected:

• Update reporting abuse or spam #20204 (comment)
• Clarify reporting abuse in comments when the user is not a contributor. #20202 (comment)

[Sharra-writes]

@0xdevalias The PR you linked was closed because the issue was addressed here, not because the solution proposed in the comment was rejected. There's still a "who can use this" box at the top of the article. I suspect that with that box there, the answer is going to be "leave it as it is, the information is there and it's prominent," but I can check to see if opinions have changed in the last few years, if you'd like me to.

[0xdevalias]

The PR you linked was closed because the issue was addressed here, not because the solution proposed in the comment was rejected.

@Sharra-writes I disagree. The user that opened #20202 also created #20204, which was rejected as per #20204 (comment), which is also mentioned with slightly more detail in #20202 (comment); and that last comment was the source for why #23050 was done in the first place.

---

There's still a "who can use this" box at the top of the article.

@Sharra-writes There is, but that's why I detailed how that is only useful when you enter the page at the top; not when you jump to a specifically relevant/focussed section.

The past issues I linked back to also show how this isn't really discoverable enough/useful enough, as there is a history of people being confused by this; even after the above changes were made:

See Also:

• Clarify reporting abuse in comments when the user is not a contributor. #20202
• Update reporting abuse or spam #20204
• Move line 14 into permissions statement frontmatter #23050
• "Reporting an issue or pull request", the documented feature does not exist on GitHub #34260
• Article assumes there are Report links on Issue comments #35070

I also believe there is precedent in the docs already for patterns where even if it is included in a generic box at the top; it is still called out in some way in the more specific sub-sections; as arguably, that is the more important place for that to exist rather than a generic banner at the top that attempts to add rules for various sub-sections (but that don't apply to all).

---

I suspect that with that box there, the answer is going to be "leave it as it is, the information is there and it's prominent," but I can check to see if opinions have changed in the last few years, if you'd like me to.

@Sharra-writes I would appreciate it; as I feel like with minimal tweaks this could be made a lot more user friendly / usable.

[Sharra-writes]

@0xdevalias Fair enough. I can see how getting linked to a particular section would pose a problem, and a page like that does seem like a prime target for linking only to particular sections. I'll point that out and see what the rest of the team thinks.

[0xdevalias]

@Sharra-writes Thank You, I appreciate it :)

[jonathansevoich8-crypto]

No problem, feel free to take action as well 🤠

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