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I am talking about moderator attention Flags

I have flagged many questions, some of them were reviewed very soon but some still remain active. I have some active flags that are older than a month.

Is there no one on Stack Overflow to look at these ignored flags?

I think providing Reputation benefits may solve this

like as we have for edits

I am not sure weather it is already in systems but AFAIK its not the part but it could be the part which will definitely increase the rate

On Stack OverFlow

These 7 ranges from 15-30 days I know this is not much but at which speed usually the flags are being reviewed these have been so long.. enter image description here

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    There are currently 77.8k posts with close votes pending review. Yep. A big backlog. Do you have anything constructive to say? Perhaps a suggestion to improve matters? Or is this simply a complaint?
    – Oded StaffMod
    Commented Sep 15, 2013 at 13:19
  • do these get processed by date, or number of flags per Q/A, or some other importance?
    – James
    Commented Sep 15, 2013 at 13:21
  • Do you have a lot of declined flags by any chance?
    – asheeshr
    Commented Sep 15, 2013 at 13:21
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    @James - it's not a FIFO, but the exact rules depend on the type of the flag.
    – Flexo - Save the data dump Mod
    Commented Sep 15, 2013 at 13:22
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    please Don't use random formatting elements when posting. bold and italics are for Emphasis Only (so use sparingly) and only use backticks For code and > for Quotes. Only Use capitals where Appropriate. Thanks!
    – ben is uǝq backwards
    Commented Sep 15, 2013 at 13:22
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    I agree - a month or two is too long. Do you have any suggestions on how to improve matters?
    – Oded StaffMod
    Commented Sep 15, 2013 at 13:23
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    Problem with that is robo-reviewers. People who will just go through the review queue approving (or rejecting) everything without any care, because they want teh repz.
    – Oded StaffMod
    Commented Sep 15, 2013 at 13:25
  • @Oded: agree, what about manually selecting users with lower rep than current auto requirement (say 500k) who have a very good accept to decline rate and decent Q/A? The current auto allow rep limit (2k?) doesn't mean they'll be any good. I know manual work gives people nuclear goosebumps, but it's only a case of nominating users you already see are decent from your travels of Q/A and flags etc
    – James
    Commented Sep 15, 2013 at 13:30
  • @Hi-TechKitKatAndroid can you give an example for such a flag?
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Sep 15, 2013 at 14:36
  • Some screenshots would be nice too. Do all those flags still say "active" in yellow next to them?
    – Manishearth
    Commented Sep 15, 2013 at 14:37
  • Also, how many declined flags and how many helpful flags do you have? This could be an auto flag hellban.
    – Manishearth
    Commented Sep 15, 2013 at 14:42
  • see also: Should I worry about flagging too much?
    – gnat
    Commented Sep 17, 2013 at 12:27
  • @Hi-TechKitKatAndroid I really doubt these are the same flags from months ago. I was asking for a screenshot of the flag list. These active flags could be recent, not a month old.
    – Manishearth
    Commented Sep 18, 2013 at 15:53

2 Answers 2

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In case of mod attention flags; this seems like a bug to me, probably with the flag autodismissal.

The moderator attention flags are only looked at by our elected diamond moderators. Since these are supposed to be confidential, we can't let more people handle them (or bring rep into the picture). However, these flags usually don't take more than a day to get cleared. If some are being ignored for a month, then we need more mods.

In addition, if you have many declined flags, your flags may not be showing up in the mod queue at all. In this case, look at the declined flags and learn from them (iirc one can now pull oneself out of a flag hellban, but I'm not so sure.)

For close flags:

Is there no one on Stack Overflow to look at these ignored flags?

There are currently nearly 80k posts in the Close Vote queue, so there's a chance that many of your flagged posts are buried in there.

A month is a bit too long, but as long as that's not the case for most of them, it's OK.

I think providing Reputation benefits may solve this

Please, no. Badges for reviewing have already led to robo reviewers, rep benefits will make it even worse.

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    I know the current policies, but some of them should be updated now. This is a prime example (once you earn a badge it's not taken away). If your flag reviews are bad, you should have your access to them stripped and any badges earned removed. It should only be people who do it well and for the sake of helping, and badge is a meh-bonus.
    – James
    Commented Sep 15, 2013 at 13:59
  • @James Yep, that's one thing. The audit system should be smarter, too. I'm also working on a couple of userscripts that let one quickly track robo reviewers.
    – Manishearth
    Commented Sep 15, 2013 at 14:02
  • @Manishearth: good algos will help. This is about moderating Stack, & is beyond the simple community driven things like up/down votes & flagging for spam etc. As such, it should be treat like this & harsher punishment for abusing it. If your reviews are bad you lose the ability & badges earned are lost. I don't agree moderator tools at this level should be auto allowed based on rep, but as this site is all about that, at least implement some stricter checking at this level before giving [potential monkeys] access.
    – James
    Commented Sep 15, 2013 at 14:18
  • @Manishearth Flags not showing up has a pretty high threshold.
    – asheeshr
    Commented Sep 15, 2013 at 14:44
  • @AsheeshR That used to be the case, they changed the system. Hellbanning is iirc now a more local effect; so consecutive declined flags can do it to you too (again, i think it can be escaped too).
    – Manishearth
    Commented Sep 15, 2013 at 14:48
  • This user has only 8 active flags, all of them close vote ones. All other direct moderator attention flags they left over the last couple of weeks were handled within hours. I don't see any evidence of a flag ban here.
    – Brad Larson Mod
    Commented Sep 15, 2013 at 18:28
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There are the Community Moderators who handle those flags.

I am pretty sure they try their best to handle as many flags as they can in the time that they commit to the site. Of course, on a site the size of Stack Overflow, the number of flags is pretty high and some of these may slip through the cracks and stay unhandled for long periods.

Community moderation is the best way to improve the effectiveness of moderator as then they can be where they are really needed.

  • As custom Mod flags generally require more attention and time than other flags, I would suggest to use them only when none of the other flags fit the case.
  • Also, try to use close votes and downvotes and post comments as often as you can rather than flagging for mod attention. That is all that is needed in the majority of cases.

Also, Moderators are intrinsically motivated to participate and help in the sites functioning. They dont need rep bonuses or badges to motivate them. What they do need, are more effective tools.

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    Mods don't see close flags anymore. I doubt the question is about non-close flags, these get handled pretty quickly.
    – Manishearth
    Commented Sep 15, 2013 at 14:26
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    @Manishearth I am talking about moderator attention Flags-- That kind of rules out close flags the way I see it. Mods don't see close flags anymore. Where do I suggest otherwise?
    – asheeshr
    Commented Sep 15, 2013 at 14:29
  • Ah, didn't see the edit.
    – Manishearth
    Commented Sep 15, 2013 at 14:35

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