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As a +10k-rep user on SO, I use the various tools to identify a lot of spam. There are two lists (new posts by new users and new answers to old questions) which are especially useful for tracking down posts that are spam.

These lists are so useful, in fact, that I can reach 5 spam flags in under an hour. At this point I need to resort to using the flag for moderator attention option.

Now, I'm a fun-loving guy and when I'm given a prompt with a whole 140 characters, I'm going to fill it. If, after having reported the issue, I have characters left over, I fill the remaining space with little quips about various things. Some moderators have taken issue to me doing this. It is by this civil protest that I have gained support for my proposal.

And so I say that if I had more spam votes to complement my ability to find more spam I would not have so much opportunity to annoy the moderators with my poetic-albeit-terse reports.

The bottom line is that +10k-rep users have the ability to find more spam than we have flags to report it with. This is a problem as it's involving moderators when it doesn't need to.

Save the moderators from my writing: give us some more daily spam flags. That and Marc likes vanilla ice cream.

8
  • The "little" quips are fine; it is the long ones (that spam, oops, I mean span 3/4 flags) that take time to read. And re "gained support"; I proposed the same thing on uservoice a while ago... ;-p Jul 24, 2009 at 13:12
  • Well, when the message is "spam", I have a whole other 136 characters to use! Don't you like Ben Bernanke? youtube.com/watch?v=npP73QIApFE
    – Welbog
    Jul 24, 2009 at 13:13
  • I like the little quips. They brighten my day. Jul 24, 2009 at 14:30
  • I'll be sure to send you more, William.
    – Welbog
    Jul 24, 2009 at 14:48
  • @Welbog: Just be sure to put: "FOR BILL'S EYES ONLY" at the front, lest Marc see them and be filled with rage. Jul 24, 2009 at 15:00
  • 2
    @Welbog: Are you on Twitter? I could just follow you on there, instead of in the moderator alerts (now that I've drawn the comparison, the similarities are striking). Jul 24, 2009 at 16:33
  • 2
    It would be nice to see this be considered, or reconsidered.
    – Zoredache
    Sep 20, 2010 at 4:54
  • 2
    Do we at least get back the flags when the moderator nukes the offending post?
    – Benjol
    Nov 10, 2010 at 7:05

5 Answers 5

8

I have this same problem. My suggestion was to at least allow the admins to manually bump a user up when they see that a user is doing a good job flagging a lot of inappropriate content.

Overall, I am not sure I care how it is implemented, but it really should be implemented soon.

1
  • 1
    I like this idea best. I'm sure someone on the dev team can come up with a script that will tell us who is consistently using their flags, so we can easily find people who are using them well. Jul 24, 2009 at 14:22
4

This reminds me of another question asking for more close votes for users who have greater rep and I remember advocating for a sliding scale of close votes based on your rep level (every 1000 rep after 3000 would net you an extra three close votes on the day up until you hit 10k rep.

I don't see any reason why this shouldn't be expanded to flagging as well.

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A couple times recently on Serverfault we have had spammers that post links or posts on a dozen questions and then leave. It is somewhat annoying that I can only flag 5 of the many posts. On weekends, and other off-peak times there isn't really enough critical mass for flags alone to clear out all of the spammy posts.

It seems to me that anyone with over 10k of rep probably should be able to cast at least as many spam flags as they can cast close votes.

See:

1

I did have a uservoice on this (#231984); not sure where it went... but yes; personally I'm broadly in favour of a few more flags for people with a reasonable rep.

-1

I think a users “allowed spam flags” should be increased automatically when the moderators agrees with the flags and reduced when the moderators don’t agree with the flag.

Maybe a badge for “SpamFinder” that is awarded to people that flag at least n bit of span where at least 90% of the flagged items are deemed to be span.

Than anyone that has the badge could get a lot more span flags allowed.

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