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I recently got over the 10k rep limit and therefore have access to the 10k tools. Of course, this makes me really happy because I can now contribute to SO in ways I was unable to before.

So, I'm happily sitting at the Review page, and I go for the flags first. However, I notice that a lot of the questions that are flagged are flagged for reasons that are commonly reasons for closure (eg. too localized).

What is causing these "flags"? How do I handle them?

I thought that the user who flagged the post with this reason might have done so due to insufficient rep to vote to close. Since I don't have access to who flagged the post, I can't confirm this (can anyone confirm/deny?). But then, I can't flag it for that reason either and am therefore forced to disagree with their flag and vote for closure.

How/Should I propagate the same flag reason that was used to create the flag?

If I feel that the question should indeed be closed, is disagreeing with the flag and voting to close the correct thing to do? My rationale is that the voting system will take care of the closure while reducing the load on the moderators (disagreeing with the flag should remove it from their queue).

Am I going about this right? Am I interpreting the flags correctly?

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1 Answer 1

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What is causing these "flags"? How do I handle them?

I thought that the user who flagged the post with this reason might have done so due to insufficient rep to vote to close. Since I don't have access to who flagged the post, I can't confirm this (can anyone confirm/deny?).

Yes, you are correct. Those flags were cast by users with less than 3k rep.

  • If you agree with the flag, then cast your close vote.
  • If not, you can either leave it alone or cast an "invalid flag" flag.

When you do any action, (cast a close vote, or cast a flag), it removes it from the queue for you since you have "reviewed" it.

From what I've seen, the only flags the moderators are quick on act on are the "Not an Answer" flags. They usually leave the closure flags for the 10ks and the review queue to handle.

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  • If I agree with a close-vote flag, should I cast an invalid flag flag? Does casting an invalid flag add a new flag to the flag queue for the mods?
    – inspectorG4dget
    Nov 30, 2012 at 21:58
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    No don't. "invalid flag" means that you think the flag is wrong. If you agree with it, then vote to close and it'll disappear.
    – Mysticial
    Nov 30, 2012 at 21:59
  • My understanding now is that if I cast invalid flag, it means that I disagree with the original flag. But does this then create a new flag for the mod-queue (user inspectorG4dget disagrees with user <someone>'s flag. Please review the disagreement)?
    – inspectorG4dget
    Nov 30, 2012 at 22:01
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    When a mod processes the flags, they see all the flags on the same post together. So if you cast "invalid flag", it hints to the mod that the original flagger is wrong.
    – Mysticial
    Nov 30, 2012 at 22:02
  • Spam flags seem to get quick action as well
    – WebChemist
    Nov 30, 2012 at 22:18
  • @WebChemist I'd imagine they are the fastest. But they don't show up in the 10k queue. So we don't see them.
    – Mysticial
    Nov 30, 2012 at 22:19

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