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This is the answer that was flagged: Passing data to a bootstrap modal

Flag declined

Is this because of another user flagging this as spam, and the tool for community moderator doesn't allow for flexibility in declining flags?

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1 Answer 1

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Yep, that's exactly what happened. There were two "not an answer" flags and one "spam" flag.

At the time, moderators could only mark all the flags on a post as helpful or mark them all as declined.

Normally a moderator would probably dismiss the lot as helpful, but spam flags have more lasting penalties than a normal flag, so they show up in angry red letters in the flag queue... and are typically dealt with first.

The spam/offensive flag queue doesn't show any other flags the post has, so it's possible/likely that the moderator didn't see that the post had other flags at all. In the process of declining the spam flag, the other flags were declined too.

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  • 3
    I don't think I'll ever get used to this.
    – user102937
    Commented Dec 17, 2012 at 4:39
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    I do sometimes wish we could dismiss flags per flag type, but it seems like verging on micromanaging something that ultimately doesn't matter that much.
    – Adam Lear StaffMod
    Commented Dec 17, 2012 at 4:40
  • Moderators don't have a way to dismiss a single flag as declined. I guess that is not even possible with spam flags, as it is not possible to see who flagged the post.
    – avpaderno
    Commented Dec 17, 2012 at 4:41
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    The only one that really needs to be separated out is the spam/offensive flag. Give it its own entry in the queue. We can dismiss with the same button, and other flags on the post are not affected.
    – user102937
    Commented Dec 17, 2012 at 4:42
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    @AdamLear In this case, it would be useful, as the OP is getting a funny message ("use the 'not an answer' flag," which is what he did. :))
    – avpaderno
    Commented Dec 17, 2012 at 4:43
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    Wrong spam flags bother me in that "someone is wrong on the internet" way and cases like this are a weird edge case that at best looks odd, so I personally wouldn't mind seeing spam/offensive flags split into their own "queue" where they can be handled separately. But, there are only about 3200 deleted and locked posts on Stack Overflow with 6+ spam/offensive flags. My theory from that is that while the penalties on the post (such as the automatic downvote) are unfortunate, the truly major penalties (the 100 rep hit and deletion/lock) are unlikely unless the post truly deserves it.
    – Adam Lear StaffMod
    Commented Dec 17, 2012 at 5:09
  • Wow didn't know moderatorship was SO complicated. :P
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Dec 17, 2012 at 8:13
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    @ShaWizDowArd: Did you really think it was going to be any simpler than what you get as a 10k/20k user?
    – BoltClock's a Unicorn Mod
    Commented Dec 17, 2012 at 8:53

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