Duplicate prevention

With prevent_duplicates on (the default), a reporter — or a guest identifier — cannot file a second report against the same subject. The attempt throws DuplicateReportException carrying the existing report. Filings against one subject are serialized, so a double-submit can’t slip through:

use RoundlyConsulting\Reports\Exceptions\DuplicateReportException;

try {
    Reports::report($post)->by($user)->for(Reason::Spam)->create();
} catch (DuplicateReportException $e) {
    $e->existing; // the Report already on file
}

Scope

The lookup goes through the model’s default query, so soft-deleted reports never block a new one.

What is compared

• A signed-in reporter is matched by reporter type and id.
• A guest is matched by guest_identifier among reports without a reporter.
• A fully anonymous report — no reporter, no identifier — has nothing to compare and is never deduplicated.

Set prevent_duplicates to false to switch the check off entirely.