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I just want to clarify the procedure on people leaving a comment on a question that says like "bad question... flagged" or "-1 flagged" or other questions of that kin, rather then constructive criticism on the actual post or silently flagging said post.

I find it non-constructive, rude and most of all, off-topic to write such a comment, so I flag these.

But I have seen plenty of these comments instead being upvoted, which makes me wonder what the official standpoint on this is.

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    That's just pointless noise. Flag it. (And don't yell "Flagged!"). – Bart Sep 30 '13 at 15:35
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    @Bart Can I yell "YOU'RE IT!" or something? – jonsca Sep 30 '13 at 15:39
  • possible duplicate of Posting a comment about flagging a post – DanteTheEgregore Sep 30 '13 at 15:40
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    No @jonsca. At most "punch buggy no punch back", when the post is about a bug. – Bart Sep 30 '13 at 15:41
  • I've actually seen this behavior less on SO than I have elsewhere – Sam I am says Reinstate Monica Sep 30 '13 at 15:42
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    @ZachSmith I don't necessarily think that is a duplicate. That post is talking about people who tell users when a question belongs on a different site. This one is more about flagging comments about general flagging (i.e. "this post sucks, I have flagged it"). I think the handling of those is slightly different. – psubsee2003 Sep 30 '13 at 15:47
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    You can flag those comments as "too chatty." That comment flag reason is for short and pointless comments, so I think "-1 flagged" fits perfectly. Also, several SO mods check that flag category each day, so they should be cleaned up fairly quickly. – Bill the Lizard Sep 30 '13 at 16:08
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    @Bart, jonsca: FLAGGED – BoltClock's a Unicorn Sep 30 '13 at 16:17
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Upvoting non-constructive, off-topic, and/or rude comments happens all the time because people on the internet can just be rude. And since comment upvoting is 100% anonymous (except to the dev team), the users can be rude and not be called out by anyone.

So don't let the number of upvotes on a comment deter you. If you feel a particular comment doesn't belong, then flag away. The worst that will happen is a mod will decline your flag (which will only happen if they find the comment acceptable, constructive, and on-topic).

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  • Do those flags still go to moderators? Most of them will end up being evaluated by the community if I'm not mistaken ... – Bart Sep 30 '13 at 15:48
  • @Bart for comment flags, I thought they all go to the 10K queue, so a moderator of some sort (10K or diamond) will handle them. Unless of course multiple users flag it for the same and it is addressed automatically. – psubsee2003 Sep 30 '13 at 15:50
  • Ah, you count users as moderators. Okay. – Bart Sep 30 '13 at 15:51
  • @Bart If enough user flags come out the item will be auto-deleted. If there aren't enough flags for that to happen, then a mod will get to it and cast a binding vote. Since comments often aren't flagged enough for community action, the result is most comment flags are handled by a mod. – Servy Sep 30 '13 at 15:51
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    Comment flags never seem to be taken as seriously. Always bothered me that a "Not Constructive" flag of mine was declined on a comment "By hiring a developer, probably." on a post asking how to programmatically download .zip/.rar files from a site like Mediafire. – DanteTheEgregore Sep 30 '13 at 15:57
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    Comment flags are only seen by diamond mods. If enough people flag a comment it will go away on its own, but otherwise only we can see and handle them directly. – BoltClock's a Unicorn Sep 30 '13 at 16:15
  • @Zach Smith: Yeah, about that... – BoltClock's a Unicorn Sep 30 '13 at 16:17
  • @BoltClock'saUnicorn really? I thought they flags other than "Other" go into the 10K queue. That's good to know. – psubsee2003 Sep 30 '13 at 16:18
  • @BoltClock'saUnicorn What about it? – DanteTheEgregore Sep 30 '13 at 16:20

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