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Is there any way to know how useful are the flags of a user? I read that flagging - weights used to exist (were visible) before, which would indicate this. However, what indicator is there now?

Is percentage of accepted flags a good measure of useful flagging, so to say? If yes, then what percentage would indicate that a user is flagging correctly or in a useful way?

I am asking about interpreting the numbers in terms of how useful you are. Is a 80% good or a 90% good? Or does the percentage even matter?

This contains some explanation regarding the issue.

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    Flag weight used to be there but now helpful flags is displayed on your profile.
    – Aziz Shaikh
    Dec 4, 2012 at 10:51
  • And it is only visible to you. There is currently no way for you to get this information on another user (unless they choose to make it public).
    – Lix
    Dec 4, 2012 at 10:52
  • Why would you need to know how helpful the flags of another user are?
    – user200500
    Dec 4, 2012 at 10:55
  • With respect to your own flags, what percentage of helpful flags is a useful rate, for the improvement of the site ?
    – asheeshr
    Dec 4, 2012 at 10:57
  • see: How to read the flagging summary?
    – gnat
    Dec 4, 2012 at 12:11
  • @gnat I understand what the numbers say, i am asking about interpreting the numbers in terms of how useful you. Is a 80% good or a 90% good ? Or does the percentage even matter ?
    – asheeshr
    Dec 4, 2012 at 12:23
  • @AshRj this is explained in flag-weight tag wiki "a measure of how well a user raises flags. Users with a history of flagging helpfully — as judged by moderators who act on those flags — earn high flag weight, and vice versa.."
    – gnat
    Dec 4, 2012 at 12:27
  • Since flag weight is not used anymore, number of helpful flags determines how high (or low) your flag is displayed in the moderator's flag queue. There is no good or bad rate.
    – Aziz Shaikh
    Dec 4, 2012 at 12:39
  • ... 'Speculations about the formula are in What's the flag weight formula in the 500-750 range? The rationale is basically "with greater power comes greater responsibility." Once you're established as a good flagger, another good flag doesn't provide much more information about how good a flagger you are.' (quoted from this answer)
    – gnat
    Dec 4, 2012 at 12:40
  • possible duplicate of Good ratio of helpful / declined flags
    – gnat
    Dec 4, 2012 at 13:10

2 Answers 2

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Flag weight used to be there but now helpful flags link is displayed on your profile which is private. This flag summary page displays your flagging history. On the left side it also shows flagging summary (sample screenshot given below).

enter image description here

As such there is no rate against which you can compare your flagging effectiveness. The higher the number in front of deemed helpful the better, meaning you are flagging correctly in a useful manner.

If there are too many declined flags then your flags may not appear in the moderators' flag queue.

Ben Brocka posted:

The threshold should be: (helpful+10)-(declined)>=0

So if I have 1 helpful flag and 11 declined flags (in that order) my flags will be suppressed. That's the only "bad thing" aside from flags appearing in lower priority in the Queue (irrelevant for non-SO sites).

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  • I had 5 helpful ones and 3 declined ones. So am I allowed to continue flagging posts? I am currently suspended from flagging with this record by the way.
    – Anthony Pham
    Dec 23, 2014 at 1:53
  • @PythonMaster Latest logic related to flagging suspension is mentioned in this post: meta.stackexchange.com/a/175405
    – Aziz Shaikh
    Dec 23, 2014 at 7:54
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There are no statistics, but I think as long as the number of rejected flags are less than 5% you are doing fine (although moderators may disagree on this).

If you have a high number of rejected flags you might change your flagging strategy. Try to focus on quality not on quantity.

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    That's actually not a bad example percentage once someone has over 100 or so flags. If we see someone continuously flagging incorrectly, we'll typically decline one (or more) of the erroneous flags with a custom message telling them specifically what they're doing wrong. If it persists, we may contact them privately to discuss it (via chat, or other venues available to us).
    – Tim Post
    Dec 4, 2012 at 13:23
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    "or other venues available to us" ... why does this sound as if some wrong-flaggers could suddenly get visits from big, brutish guys with unfriendly faces?
    – Joachim Sauer
    Dec 4, 2012 at 13:36

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