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I recently made an "oops" when I flagged a valid comment as off-topic, when I had meant to flag the question as an off-topic question that should be migrated. Unfortunately, unlike upvotes, downvotes, and other such features, there doesn't seem to be a way for the original flagger to remove an accidental flag.

Is there any mechanism to do this? Since human error is always a factor in any system, it seems like there should be a way for a flagger to undo such a mistake, especially in cases where the error is immediately recognized.

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    No, there's not. Enjoy your last 5 minutes of StackOverflow before you get ultra-banned for making such a mistake.
    – Matt
    May 16, 2012 at 19:59
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    ... but on a serious note, I wouldn't worry. Mistakes happen.
    – Matt
    May 16, 2012 at 20:01

2 Answers 2

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Relax.

Removal of a valid comment as off-topic would be a mistake of moderator, not your - it's moderator who removes, not you.

It is reasonable to expect moderator to be capable of quick, competent and independent judgement of a situation which naturally includes ability to find out when flag was submitted incorrectly.

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  • About that moderator thing: Enough flags will automatically delete a comment, and in some cases 1 is enough.
    – a cat
    May 16, 2012 at 20:42
  • @lunboks doesn't really change things, only shifts my target a bit - if a system is designed so that one flag submitted by mistake removes valid comment, it's the mistake of the system, not one of the user... And taking into account the context of off-topic flag that naturally involves subjective judgement, I'd say automatic removal like that would mean even more - severe mistake of system designer - which is quite unlikely (softly speaking)
    – gnat
    May 16, 2012 at 21:35
  • It seems true that "It is reasonable to expect moderator to be capable of quick, competent and independent judgement of a situation", but not 100% of the time. It would be great there could be a mechanism to let them know if a mistake has been made. Oct 23, 2012 at 6:56
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I'm not sure if you're able to raise a second flag on the same comment, but if you can — and if you're so concerned — you can raise a custom flag asking that your "off-topic" one be ignored.

If you can't do that... well then you'll have to hope and pray with all your might that we won't delete the comment on sight.

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