The "Flag As Inappropriate" link is not a toy. It exists for a VERY important reason...to allow *YOU* to help *US* keep the site fun and safe.

To give you some insight on the technology we use, I'll explain how anything you type or upload ends up on the site. For blogs, comments, text in your profile, tags, photo/video titles and descriptions, it automatically passes through a "bad words" filter. We have quite an extensive "dictionary" we check each word against. In the blink of an eye, your text passes through the filter and winds up live on the site. Photos and videos are different though. Every time you upload a photo or video, it is placed into our moderation "queue," where it waits in line to be reviewed by a live moderator. Even while it is waiting in line YOU can see your photo or video...after all, it's yours. No other Member can see it though.

Then a moderator looks at the photo or plays the video and either approves or rejects it based on its adherence to or violation of the Community Standards. Videos take longer than photos for 2 reasons: 1) the moderators watch every second of them and 2) when they are uploaded, before they enter the moderation queue, they enter the transcoding queue. All videos must be "re-purposed" into different formats and viewing media, and this is what transcoding accomplishes.

Here's where the "Flag As Inappropriate" link comes in. It is a *TOOL* (remember...not a *TOY*) for you, me and the moderators to use to get anything that slips through the initial moderation process queued up for further review. When you click on that link I get an email and the moderators get an email, letting us know something on the site needs our attention. The email contains the content owner's Member name, the "flagger's" Member name and a direct link to the questionable item.

With that being said, the only reason you should flag an item is if it violates the Community Standards. Flagging something merely because it differs from your opinion or because you don't like another Member are NOT appropriate reasons. When you do things like that, all you get is negative attention drawn to YOURSELF.

So please...help us out and use the "Flag As Inappropriate" link _APPROPRIATELY_. :)

*~Jacqui Gazi, Director of Community, NASCAR.COM*