Good questions.

Good points.

In the grand GW tradition, can we still call it spam?

Well there was a post revived from a long time ago and as I scrolled through it, there was clearly a spam post (unless you're interested in getting fake IDs). So I flagged it and in the pop up one of the reasons for flagging it was that it was spam. I checked that and the post immediately disappeared....so I guess we can still do it.

Only thing that concerned me was that one of the reasons for flagging a post is that you just didn't like it. I can see any heated discussions disappearing quickly if everyone can just remove everyone else's posts!

The three options to choose from are:

spam

inappropriate or abusive

I just don't like it.

It's interesting, because they also have the "report" flags over on the Houzz topics side, but they appear to allow (and even encourage?) pros to solicit. If Houzz will allow solicitation be flagged as "spam" on the GW side, that would be great, but I can see where it might get confusing.

If the intent eventually is to merge the two topic sides, I hope Houzz will let everyone know the unified policies before that merge.

I believe if you flag a post, it only disappears for YOU, everyone else can still see it. I flagged an obvious spam post and, while I couldn't see it anymore, others were responding to it for hours afterwards.

I flag stuff on the Houzz side all the time when they get too obnoxious. There's a difference between, "Here's a project that we did that shows you what you're thinking about." and "We sell XYZ that you're asking about.", and "Your next project should be XYZ, and we sell that, so call us!". I always flag the last. Sometimes the second, depending on how blatant it is, but rarely the first.

I already had a Houzz Pro account, but I am not trying to sell anything and am not for hire, but I am a design professional, and I guess that's why I have that type of account. I've only had the Houzz account for a couple of month, but I joined GW in 2002, although I spent most of my time there on the Cooking forum.

I joined Houzz so that I could view photos of what other furniture designers are doing. At one point someone from Houzz called me at work and wanted to know more about me, possibly trying to get me to promote myself or the company I work for, but I told them that I was only in the design department, not the media and marketing dept, and they were okay with that.

"I believe if you flag a post, it only disappears for YOU, everyone else can still see it. I flagged an obvious spam post and, while I couldn't see it anymore, others were responding to it for hours afterwards."

Wow, really?

Sheeshareell, try flagging my post to see what happens.

I will let you know if it disappears for me too.

I deleted everything I had on Houzz. Didn't really have that much anyway - and took my profile down to bare bones. Garden Web community is far more important to me than Houzz, so figured why mix the two. I have plenty of other social media channels to use for my business.

~funcolors

Roarah I flagged it as "I just don't like it" and I no longer see it. It now says "Thank you for reporting this comment" and there's an Undo button I can click.

SheeshareII and roarah I still see the post, even after signing out, clearing history, and signing back in.

Interesting.

I just clicked undo and it was back. Then I flagged it as spam and still see I have the option to undo. I'm guessing that's the case for any flags.

I believe you are correct about the post still being seen by others , if it is flagged by you. If it is flagged by multiple people, Houzz will remove it, check it out, and either delete it forever or put it back where it was posted. It would be at their discretion.

I still see it, but for real spam and offensive posts it will quickly be pulled after a review.

I did hit the flag on a spam for false ids yesterday and I have not seen that post since even after refresh and a cookie clear.

I called someone out on the bathrooom forum last evening. I believe the post was in the category between the 2nd and 3rd example of solicitation that Sophie Wheeler parses for us on Wed, at 12:57pm. The accused responded, and felt very firm that their intent was to add help to the thread. My response was to reiterate that it's clearly a cultural difference between the 2 forums. I can see there will be more of this.

I was wondering about this, too, and couldn't find any rules for what is allowed vs. what is not. Gardenweb had the "no advertising" rules clearly posted. There was a thread yesterday where a Pro posted several times with a sales pitch of a product that he sells. If it is allowed, it is annoying.

Clicking the flag button for a post only removes the post for you, others can still see it. Click "undo" and it will return to your screen.

Rather than flagging the post, a comment to the effect that the above poster appears to be a professional trying to sell their product should suffice. Say it nicely, everyone will avoid the pitch and possibly learn from the information.