Flag converted into close vote [duplicate]

Question

After reaching 3000 reputation points, I've been alerted of the fact that I may vote to close posts with low level quality -- and other possible reasons.

Since that, every time I flag a post, the flag seems to be converted into a vote to close, with the respective reason -- the same used to flag.

After being able to vote to close posts, does one's flagging activity stops, being converted into close votes? If so, how come some people have so much reputation, and considerably high levels of flagging activity?

Answer 1

Once you have 3,000 reputation you should be voting to close, not flagging to close. You have earned the privilege so you should use it. Flagging would be considered abuse of the system so, as you have noticed, if you attempt to flag it is automatically converted to a vote. So you can no longer flag for this reason.

There are other flags you can raise on posts (if they are appropriate) - such as spam, low quality (though you should be editing or down-voting here as your first action) so your flagging activity shouldn't stop.

However you should make sure you are raising the right flags. For example, don't use the "other" option to tell us that a post needs closing. Do so is an abuse of the flagging system.

Answer 2

There are lots of other types of flags that can be raised on a post, aside from "it doesn't belong here, or it is a duplicate" (the one that is automatically converted into a close vote when you have close vote privileges):