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I found a user's profile, where the user puts another (already suspended) user in the pillory in his description. It is not me, but I think this behavior is not ok.
So I flagged it, but my flag got declined

this user puts another (already suspended) user in the pillory on his profile page. I think that is not ok. – 7 mins ago

The response was

declined - flags should only be used to make moderators aware of content that requires their intervention

I think this is lynch law and should not be practiced on Stack Overflow.

So how to deal with it if moderators decline those flags?

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  • 11
    If the mod declined the flag then they didn't feel there was a problem...without a link to the user we don't have enough information to really disagree with them.
    – Servy
    Apr 29, 2013 at 15:08
  • if I post the user's link, I put him in pillory…
    – vikingosegundo
    Apr 29, 2013 at 15:09
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    If you don't want to post a link, you don't have to, I'm just saying that, unless I'm given reason to think otherwise, I'll assume the moderator was correct in thinking that there was nothing inappropriate worth acting on. If you want to convince me that something was wrong, you'll need to provide more information.
    – Servy
    Apr 29, 2013 at 15:11
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    If you don't post it, nothing can be done about it. If someone does go on a mass downvote-question-spree the fruad filter will kick in and his rep will return to normal. He may also not see an issue with what he is doing.
    – tombull89
    Apr 29, 2013 at 15:11
  • Meh, it's all a bit ranty-mac-ranterson, but not offensive enough (IMHO) to warrant any action.
    – Bart
    Apr 29, 2013 at 15:14
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    The person that's been "pillored" is suspended for a year. That's some major rule infringement to warrant that. So IMHO the user should take out the ranty stuff now that the issue has been dealt with (I guess suspened users can't vote?)
    – tombull89
    Apr 29, 2013 at 15:16
  • I think that the user should be asked to remove his rant, as it is up to moderators to deal with something like this — as they did. Especially since the pillored user has no means to take action because of his suspension.
    – vikingosegundo
    Apr 29, 2013 at 15:23
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    Is it bad that my first instinct was to edit the profile to correct the grammar and punctuation?
    – Daniel Fischer
    Apr 29, 2013 at 15:25
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    wth does "pillored" / "pillory" mean?
    – Sathyajith Bhat
    Apr 29, 2013 at 15:26
  • @Sathya: "to name and shame somebody"
    – vikingosegundo
    Apr 29, 2013 at 15:27
  • @vikingosegundo The general idea has always been that the profile is the only place where almost anything goes, unless incredibly offensive. See for example this discussion as well as this statement by Jeff.
    – Bart
    Apr 29, 2013 at 15:29
  • @Bart: The user page is a reflection of that user. Does that really include rants?
    – vikingosegundo
    Apr 29, 2013 at 15:31
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    @vikingosegundo Do you think rants reflect on that user? I do. Sometimes it's positive, sometimes it's not, but in both cases it is a reflection of that person.
    – Servy
    Apr 29, 2013 at 15:32
  • @vikingosegundo I leave that up to the user to answer. I could give you several examples where the response would be a definite yes. :)
    – Bart
    Apr 29, 2013 at 15:33
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    I sometimes wonder with people like this if there is something else negative in their life and we are all like their virtual punching bags.
    – Engineer2021
    Apr 29, 2013 at 15:36

1 Answer 1

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You deal with it by going about your life and letting go.

You can't control people, only your reaction to them.

There's nothing in the profile that's particularly offensive, and if they think ranting in their profile will help, let them rant, as long as it's not crossing boundaries. They'll learn it won't help for the same reason.

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    The first two sentences should really be the accepted answer to 99% of the questions asked here and in RL.
    – GEOCHET
    Apr 29, 2013 at 18:39
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    @GEOCHET Heh; that's pretty much true--and much easier to say than do. We all have our hooks.
    – Dave Newton
    Apr 29, 2013 at 18:43

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