DateableHow to report a Board listing that breaks the rules
Report listings that offer sexual services, trade on youth, show contact details, ask you to pay, or suggest meeting at home or a hotel room first.
If a Board listing breaks the rules, report it from the listing itself instead of replying to the host. A report reaches a reviewer right away; a reply only reaches the person who posted it, and they will see that you are interested before you know whether they are safe to meet.
What makes a listing against the rules
Dateable is a dating site. The Board is for invitations to dates, events, trips and ongoing arrangements between members. The site works because members can trust that listings follow the same rules everyone agrees to. A listing breaks the rules if it:
- Offers sexual services or implies sex is for sale.
- Trades on someone being young, new, or inexperienced.
- Shows a phone number, email, social media handle or other way to contact outside Dateable.
- Asks the guest to send money before you meet.
- Suggests meeting at the host's home or a hotel room as the first meeting place.
Some of these rules protect the guest. Others protect the host. A listing that shows outside contact details can spread to bad people you have never met. A host who asks for money upfront runs the risk of being reported as a scammer, whether that is true or not. When everyone follows the same rules, everyone feels safer.
Why these rules exist
The rule against sexual services keeps Dateable a dating site, not a transaction site. A transaction site brings people in for the wrong reason. The rule against trading on youth protects people who are easy to pressure. The rule against showing outside contact details keeps scammers from harvesting phone numbers and social media handles. The rule against asking for money upfront stops the most common scam on dating sites: someone asks for money before you meet, then disappears.
The rule against meeting at home or a hotel room first is simple: you do not know this person yet. Meeting in public, with a neutral ground, is the safest first step.
How to report a listing
The report button is on every listing. Open the listing you want to report, and press report. You will see a list of reasons that match the rules: sexual services, trading on youth, contact details outside Dateable, asking for payment, or suggesting an unsafe meeting place.
Pick the reason that fits what you saw. Then write a short note. Tell the reviewer what you saw and why you think it broke the rule. If the listing said "send money first", write that. If a photo or the words used made you think the host was trading on youth, say so. Specific details help the reviewer understand why you reported it.
Send the report. A person reviews it. They read the listing itself, read your note, and look at the host's profile to see whether there is a pattern. Then they decide whether to hide the listing until they have looked at it more closely, or to leave it up.
Why not reply
You might think: why not reply and warn the host? Two reasons. First, if the listing broke the rules on purpose, the host already knows. A reply from you will not change their mind, and it wastes your time. Second, if they broke the rules by mistake, you still do not know whether they are safe. Maybe they are careless about details. Maybe they will argue with you. You do not owe anyone a private lesson in how to follow the rules.
Reporting is quiet. It does not start a conversation. It gets the listing reviewed by someone whose job it is to make that call.
I saw this listing offered a place to stay that I do not feel safe visiting. It suggested meeting at the host's home for the first time.
When to report the host's profile too
Most people post one listing. If a host keeps breaking the rules, report their profile as well as each listing. A host who posts many listings that all ask for payment, or all suggest meeting at home, is showing a pattern. A pattern tells the reviewer that this is not a one-time mistake.
After two members report the same listing, it is hidden right away until a reviewer can look at it. That stops new people from seeing it and applying.
After you report
You will not hear back about what happened. That protects both of you: the host does not learn who reported them, and you do not get drawn into a back-and-forth.
If you want to understand the rules better, read the community rules. If a host ever replies to you in a way that makes you uncomfortable, report and block them. And if you see a listing you might be interested in but want to make sure it is safe, check whether the host is verified and read their profile before you apply.
You can also report through the report page, which has more ways to ask for help.
