So sometimes we have annoying members that report content without saying anything (so we don't know whether it's a legitimate or founded report). Would be great to make it mandatory for members to add a comment when reporting something. It would save moderators some time, especially when report is about a file (which may be a document with lots of text).

Yes, please do add this as an option. It is incredibly annoying when a member reports something that they think is obvious, but isn't.

In the meantime you could change the language which may help:

Optionally enter a message with your report.

to:

Please tell us what you are reporting. It is not always evident.

22 minutes ago, chilihead said:

In the meantime you could change the language which may help:

Optionally enter a message with your report.

to:

Please tell us what you are reporting. It is not always evident.

Yeah, I'll do this for now, but I feel like it can't be that hard.

The counter argument for requiring a comment is, often it is evident and admins will be leery of making it an annoyance for members to report content as they may be less likely to do so. I know the next argument will be "make it a setting."

Before we overthink this, would changing the verbiage help?  

5 hours ago, Lindy said:

The counter argument for requiring a comment is, often it is evident and admins will be leery of making it an annoyance for members to report content as they may be less likely to do so. I know the next argument will be "make it a setting."

Before we overthink this, would changing the verbiage help?  

Alternatively, why not make it really simple for members and let them pick from some presets (obviously configurable by the admin).

Quote

• Spambot
• Needs moving
  • Optionally select where it should be moved to
• Offensive or overly agressive
  • Optionally add a message with your report
• Other
  • Add a (mandatory) comment with your report

That way, it's easy for members, but the staff get the information that they need. It would even be in a computer-legible format, so you could to things like adding a one click "move" button in the report if the member suggested that it should be moved somewhere else.

I think anything but a spambot should have an explanation. Maybe a checkbox below/above with "This is spam" which would disable the need for filling in the box.