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I am aware this has been brought up before.

I'm also aware it has been brought up specifically for edits before.

However, new features on the site may warrant a fresh look. Specifically, suggested edits on tag wikis.

I've recently hit 10k on the main site and have been reviewing a lot of suggested edits. Today I ran across a user that seems to be making edits with spam content. The ones I found today were for xml related tags in the tag wikis and the suggested content was about buying cheap shoes from china.

Previously the answer to this was "flag their posts!" which was very reasonable. Now, however, users like this are able to cause issues without ever posting a question, answer, or comment to flag.

Does the ability to flag a user need to be added? Alternatively, should we be able to flag suggested edits?

For clarification, here are the edits suggested by this user:

to the xml-parsing tag:

   The US markets opened just minutes ago,china shoes wholesale now

let's cross over to our correspondent Natalie Carney in New York, factory shoes wholesale cheap to see how it's reacting to the downgrade.

Q1. It was pretty ugly today on from shoes wholesale the Asian markets. And it doesn't look like Wall Street will be much better off today, its first session since the downgrade. Tell us, how are investors there reacting?

Q2. There's panic selling on the equity china wholesale markets, but yields on US Treasury bonds have been moving rather modestly, though the risks are supposed to be higher. Looking ahead, will Treasuries remain a safe haven in all this uncertainty?

Website: http://www.igshox.com MSN: [email protected] Yahoo: [email protected]

To the excerpt for the same tag:

How can I found the cheap shoes from china factory or chinese wholesale supplier

EDIT TO CLARIFY:

This user only posted a suggested edit to a tag wiki and a tag wiki excerpt, and there is no way to flag those for moderator attention.

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  • 2
    I think that you can still flag a user by flagging their post. Enter appropriate comments to draw moderator's attention towards the user as well.
    – user162697
    Commented Aug 9, 2011 at 18:14
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    @Siva - the point is there is no post to flag. It's a suggested edit on a wiki and you can't flag wikis or suggested edits themselves.
    – JNK
    Commented Aug 9, 2011 at 18:16
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    I agree with this, nice catch. The flagging model should be updated to account for the new suggested edits feature, for wikis or otherwise.
    – user154510
    Commented Aug 9, 2011 at 18:22
  • Point taken. May be we need flagging on suggested edits instead of the user. My thought is that SO should be about the content and not the users.
    – user162697
    Commented Aug 9, 2011 at 18:22
  • @siva - I agree, that's why I put in the question Alternatively, should we be able to flag suggested edits?
    – JNK
    Commented Aug 9, 2011 at 18:23
  • I updated the title to reflect that too
    – JNK
    Commented Aug 9, 2011 at 18:24
  • I think Siva's point was that you can still flag the user account of the person who suggested those tag wikis and ask the moderator to look into their suggested edit history. Just find any of their questions or answers, and use the flag link there.
    – Cody Gray
    Commented Aug 10, 2011 at 5:03
  • possible duplicate of Add a flag link on the user's profile page, Flag abusive users
    – Cody Gray
    Commented Aug 10, 2011 at 5:04
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    @Cody - This user had no other activity besides the suggested edits. That's the whole point. It's not obvious now because the user was deleted.
    – JNK
    Commented Aug 10, 2011 at 10:19
  • Okay, so then flag one of your own posts and include a link to the problematic suggested edits. It isn't particularly relevant what you choose to flag. The important thing is that the information reaches a moderator who can do something about it (like permanently deleting the account).
    – Cody Gray
    Commented Aug 10, 2011 at 10:20
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    I know that's possible but it's extremely counter-intuitive. There should still be a way to deal with this that isn't a hack.
    – JNK
    Commented Aug 10, 2011 at 12:02
  • This would still be nice to have (example). Any progress?
    – jtbandes
    Commented Aug 15, 2011 at 7:13
  • I guess this guy is exhibiting the behavior you are talking about. I have had moderators reject my wiki edit, subverting the vote process, but this person can get dozens of wiki edits approved? How can he know what the tag is about if it has only been around for a day?
    – artless-noise-bye-due2AI
    Commented Dec 10, 2013 at 3:08
  • 1
    Why wouldn't we flag one of our own posts for moderator attention and explain the situation? Is this situation really so common that we need a separate flagging ability for it?
    – ColleenV
    Commented Mar 15, 2021 at 14:22

4 Answers 4

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My concern would be that if every user's profile page had a "Flag this user" link, then minor squabbles and disagreements would be (mis)flagged to moderators all the more easily.

How about adding a "Flag this user for moderator attention" link to the user profile page, but only for users with zero questions and zero answers?

That gives the community the ability to flag such spam puppet accounts, but without placing such a link on every user's profile for misflagging.

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  • 8
    Curses! This kind of restriction would actually get through to my otherwise flag-invincible downvote-invincible Game Dev account!
    – Grace Note StaffMod
    Commented Aug 9, 2011 at 18:26
  • I think the real correct answer will be the ability to flag the content. The only reason I brought up the user themselves is it's extensible - otherwise the devs will need to add a flag option to EVERY new type of content that gets added to the site, which I imagine will continue to grow.
    – JNK
    Commented Aug 9, 2011 at 18:27
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    Well, just for Grace I'd amend my suggestion to read "but only for non-moderator users with zero questions and zero answers?"
    – razlebe
    Commented Aug 9, 2011 at 18:27
  • @Grace - I flagged that unflaggable account for you.
    – JNK
    Commented Aug 9, 2011 at 18:28
  • True, though adding a feature to flag the user means we don't have to remember to make any future content types flaggable.
    – razlebe
    Commented Aug 9, 2011 at 18:28
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    What about only showing the "flag this user" link to users that have a high flag waiting, this should stop most false flagging
    – Ian Ringrose
    Commented Sep 7, 2011 at 12:03
  • @Ian A great suggestion. Why not post as an answer so I can upvote it?
    – razlebe
    Commented Sep 7, 2011 at 12:08
  • "My concern would be that if every user's profile page had a "Flag this user" link, then minor squabbles and disagreements would be (mis)flagged to moderators all the more easily." - Isn't this an admission that there's already of issues regarding retaliation? I have complaint about this and flagged obvious retaliatory downvotes in SO and nothing has been done about it; thus allowing these users to continue the practice. You might be right, but I think this will only be a short-term issue.
    – hfontanez
    Commented Mar 20, 2021 at 13:14
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From the FAQ on edits:

What about abuse?

There are strict limits enforced. If a user (anonymous or registered) submits many rejected edits they will be automatically banned from suggesting edits. The fixed size queue also helps protect us from abuse.

If enough tag edits are rejected, the user won't be able to submit more.

Concerning the ability to flag users: In theory, flagging a user would be useful in cases like this. In practice, it will probably end up being abused. People would flag users they didn't like (or had objectionable profiles) rather than their posts. Remember that issues should be with content, not personality conflicts. Flagging is intended to be objective. I think this would open a huge potential abuse of the flagging system. Granted, potential is not justification, but SE is optimized on posts, not users.

If spammers or other problem users pop up unnoticed by mods or SE, you can flag their posts (if possible), raise the issue on meta as you did here, or email [email protected].

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    I understand about the automatic systems in place. My concern is, this account which provides absolutely no value to the site is using up for other users to review and reject their edits. I think accounts like this are likely to increase in numbers as the google-fu of SE grows.
    – JNK
    Commented Aug 9, 2011 at 18:31
  • @JNK True enough - I still don't like the idea. I'd rather have all posts (whether edits, questions or answers) be able to be flagged.
    – Ghost User
    Commented Aug 9, 2011 at 18:49
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After reading all answers, I think this system could work.

Flagging revisions SHOULD be possible, ~~and as an addition comments~~ (wait, that exists).

User flagging should only be reserved for their about me/username, as the rest of the flaggable stuff is already flaggable/I proposed above.

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We don't need a new type of flagging for these situations. When we notice a user that is doing something that the normal systems don't allow the community to handle, the correct course of action is to flag for moderator attention. Any post can serve as the conduit for that flag, although I think it would be best to flag one of your own posts.

It would be nice to have a link on our own profile where we could raise a "moderator attention" flag without having to attach it to a post so we could more easily communicate privately with the mod team. I can think of a lot of nice features that could be built starting from that one, like giving the moderators the option to respond to that message by creating a private chat room.

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