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We just got a question on Academia SE (now deleted).

Obviously, it's an abusive question. At the time it happened, there was no on-site moderator available. It took 11 minutes and ten downvotes and possibly 6 abusive flags to get rid of it.

How can we get urgent help from a moderator from other Stack Exchange sites or somebody who has the deleting power to delete this kind of question as soon as possible?

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  • For those who could not see the post, I am not going to repost it here because it's too abusive. I am posting this question hoping that somebody can offer a better solution other than seeing it staying there for longer than ten minutes.
    – Nobody
    Jul 7, 2017 at 7:44
  • For context: The question described a person asking for help in committing a serious crime. So, the question here should probably read "how do we best report a person/post planning a serious crime?"
    – malexmave
    Jul 7, 2017 at 7:50
  • 3
    Considering how long such posts usually stays active on the rest of the Internet, 11 minutes are extremely good. I do not think there is any reasonable way to speed this up.
    – Wrzlprmft
    Jul 7, 2017 at 9:14
  • @Wrzlprmft I used to see spams persisting there for hours.
    – Nobody
    Jul 7, 2017 at 9:15
  • Ey boss, pls can I have a picture of the post pls
    – user1228
    Jul 7, 2017 at 15:59

1 Answer 1

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Flagging as rude/abusive is the first step, and definitely helps. Just one flag will send it to the moderator queue; six of them will nuke the post automatically. As @Tensibai notes, questions disappear from the front page and the /questions list once they have 3 or more red flags.

Chat is the best option in the Stack Exchange network for real-time collaboration. You can check the main Academia chatroom and see if a moderator is active there (or at least more users to cast rude/abusive flags). Another option is to report the post in Charcoal HQ; we usually do spam detection, but we occasionally help cleaning up abusive posts. As @rene mentions, you might find some helping hands in the Tavern on the Meta as well.

You don't need ♦ moderators from other Stack Exchange sites per sé; on Academia, they will just be regular users. But getting rid of these kind of posts is something the community can do on its own; it's one of the reasons we have an association bonus.

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  • And after 3 flags the post doesn't sow up on home and question page IIRC.
    – Tensibai
    Jul 7, 2017 at 7:51
  • Alternatively hopping into the Tavern might help as well. Some SE staff is ping-able there.
    – rene
    Jul 7, 2017 at 7:58
  • @Glorfindel Yes a -3 sore remove the question from the home page, but not from the question list pages, 3 flags makes it findable only by search. Details here
    – Tensibai
    Jul 7, 2017 at 8:14
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    I am a long time user on Academia SE and currently have over 1200 helpful flags. I was 100% sure there was no on-site moderator available at the time it happened. That's why I asked the question. I had the experience that some spams persisted there for hours before it got 6 flags. I will consider the other options Charcoal HQ and Tavern on the Meta next time. Thanks for the answer.
    – Nobody
    Jul 7, 2017 at 8:31
  • Alternatively, use "contact us" on the footer to have SE notified about the issue.
    – Meta Andrew T.
    Jul 7, 2017 at 8:43
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    @Disney that's a good way to contact SE staff, but practically it's way too slow for this situation.
    – Glorfindel Mod
    Jul 7, 2017 at 8:48

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