If I click on that little triangle with the exclamation point and type into the comments field "This guy is a spammy dork," does that alert the authorities that this guy is a spammer?
I wouldn't waste my time reporting the obvious spammers here. We (the spam patrol volunteers and CC moderators) are pretty viligant about deleting spam as soon as we log in and see it. However, it a post isn't quite so obvious, then yes, that would highlight the post. I don't think an email goes out to moderators though. Maybe to the head admin, but I'm not sure.
I only say not to bother because you'll drive yourself nuts clicking buttons and reporting spammers that we already can easily see and identify. Just wait, you'll see a day where the forum gets bombarded by spammers - it's not unusual to have days where you wake up to 200+ spam messages. If you take it upon yourself to report each of them, you'll spend loads of time clicking and reporting something that we already know about or will know about as soon as we sign in. Save yourself the grief . If spam gets back out of control, let Ed, Jrichards, or David (Constant) know you'd like to volunteer for helping delete spam.
Usually I will report a spam post, even on vigilante forums. It's not like everyone is patrolling the forums 24/7, mainly because you may be editing and/or writing. So that little report button can send an email alert (if you have them) to let you know. It can be helpful