14

I flagged a post last week. The post is off-topic and it was answered by another user soon after it got posted. So, I flagged the answer as a spam.

Here is a snap of the answer:

Deleted answer

The question and both the users(OP and answerer) were removed by moderators. But, the flag remains without result:

Flag overview

Flag history

13 spam flags and 12 of them are helpful, what about the 13th one? I have waited for a week. What is the result of my spam flag?

If it is not useful, it should be shown declined or disputed like below.

Declined flag

EDIT


Again my spam flags unhandled

More deleted posts without feedback on the flag (1) More deleted posts without feedback on the flag (2) More deleted posts without feedback on the flag (3) More deleted posts without feedback on the flag (4) More deleted posts without feedback on the flag (5)

This time it's on meta

More deleted posts without feedback on the flag, on meta (1)

And I flagged a comment(first comment) to this answer as offensive, that comment got deleted after sometime then my flag had same result(ie, no result).

Now I can assume the reason, ie, I flagged the post as not an answer or off topic or... and then I flag that post as a spam, when that post got deleted, the spam flag of those posts got unhandled. But, this is not by design see the posts below to which I had flagged two times

More deleted posts without feedback on the flag, on meta (2) More deleted posts without feedback on the flag, on meta (3)

Surely, it's a bug.

13
  • If you see 1 waiting for review toward the right then your flag hasn't been reviewed yet.
    – user206222
    Commented Apr 9, 2013 at 5:36
  • @Telthien, for spams it won't show waiting for review
    – Azik
    Commented Apr 9, 2013 at 5:38
  • The question got deleted. then there is no need to review your spam flag. Hence it won't show as "waiting for review" Commented Apr 9, 2013 at 5:39
  • @Krishnabhadra, that's what I asked "What is the result of my spam flag" declined or disputed?
    – Azik
    Commented Apr 9, 2013 at 5:40
  • +1, i agree, answer looks like Spam
    – Lucifer
    Commented Apr 9, 2013 at 5:54
  • @Lucifer, I did not argue that the answer is a spam or not, I just need the result either it was helpful or not
    – Azik
    Commented Apr 9, 2013 at 5:56
  • I think the flag was not noticed by the moderators
    – Azik
    Commented Apr 9, 2013 at 5:56
  • The thing is that I believe spam/offensive flags can't be marked as "declined" so it's either "helpful" or nothing. Commented Apr 25, 2013 at 7:29
  • @ShaWizDowArd, see my edited question, spams could be declined
    – Azik
    Commented Apr 25, 2013 at 7:33
  • @Azik - What happened to your previous spam flags? Does it say helpful or anything else?
    – Himanshu
    Commented Apr 25, 2013 at 7:36
  • @hims056, nothing, now totally 4 spams without any results
    – Azik
    Commented Apr 25, 2013 at 7:36
  • now it's 5 without results
    – Azik
    Commented Apr 25, 2013 at 10:21
  • 1
    @Azik I recently noticed I have the same problem with one of my spam flags on a beta SE site. I suspect it is a bug and has something to do with the post being deleted before a moderator has a chance to review the flag.
    – THelper
    Commented May 8, 2013 at 18:56

2 Answers 2

19

The users asking and answering the question seem to have been destroyed. I'm not sure exactly why the flags weren't validated, but this happens often to red flags.

Perhaps the asker's user account was destroyed first, leading to the removal of the question (by the community user) and therefore its answer, but the system only dismissed the flags on the question while failing to handle those on the answer. That is just my guess. If my guess is right, then this could well be considered a bug, but again, I can't say for sure since I'm not a dev.

Your ability to flag should not be affected at all, plus the question and answer are already gone anyway, so I'd say don't worry about it.

7
  • Doesn't that happen when you clear any spam or offensive votes? The flag will always stay unhandled.
    – slhck
    Commented Apr 9, 2013 at 8:02
  • @slhck: Good point, although I'm not sure that was what happened here. Commented Apr 9, 2013 at 8:13
  • Again a spam unhandled
    – Azik
    Commented Apr 19, 2013 at 6:50
  • @BoltClock'saUnicorn, see my edited question
    – Azik
    Commented Apr 25, 2013 at 13:43
  • 2
    @Azik: Can you not ping me every time this happens? I can't explain everything. I don't handle every flag. Commented Apr 25, 2013 at 14:30
  • @BoltClock'saUnicorn, I can understand,but you are a mod, where should I report
    – Azik
    Commented Apr 25, 2013 at 14:32
  • @Azik you've clearly established that it's happening, you don't need to report more occurrences. Besides, the SE devs are nearly done with a massive refactoring of the flagging code so this bug is likely to be moot/fixed/replaced with more bugs soon.
    – Kevin
    Commented May 5, 2013 at 3:59
2

You can see a flag result in "Flag History", see the image below; it shows flag summary on the right hand side.

enter image description here

If your spam flag was not helpful, then it will not be shown there. And for flags like Spam, Offensive and Flag on comment, it doesn't show its detailed information.

Each flag's result is shown as follows, either helpful/declined or disputed.

enter image description here

4
  • pls, see my edited question
    – Azik
    Commented Apr 9, 2013 at 5:43
  • 12 spam flags are helpful, but the rest one should have declined or disputed, but the result was not there, that's what I asked
    – Azik
    Commented Apr 9, 2013 at 5:47
  • I wouldn't call it as spam. The question is closed as off topic and later on it was removed by the Community.
    – Lucifer
    Commented Apr 9, 2013 at 5:49
  • I flagged the answer, the flag to question is deemed helpful
    – Azik
    Commented Apr 9, 2013 at 5:51

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