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I could not help but notice that at times, a few of the other flags which I'd raised used to take a touch more time than the others to be processed. The latest one of them being a flag on this particular answer. I'd raised an other flag on this answer stating a reason that it wasn't an answer, but a comment as it did not really answer the question(after going through this discussion on Meta).

That flag was raised on Nov 23 at 7:24 and its still in active state. So my question is whether the moderators consciously take that little bit extra time to handle a few edge-case flags? I know that the size of the other flags queue is, most of the times, a bit on the larger side and the mods are trying their best to handle them ASAP. But I would just like to confirm whether it is just the size of that queue which causes the delay in the handling of other flags or do the moderators(at-least a few) really take some time to analyze the flag in depth before acting upon them?

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  • I've noticed something like that too - I still have many active flags, one of which goes all the way back to Nov 18, and 4 of them from Nov 24. Usually they don't take that long to be resolved... – Krease Nov 30 '13 at 9:24
  • @Chris - Were those flags some edge-case flags, where there could be a possibility that one moderator would approve and the other would decline? Because there have been many such cases where the difference in opinion of moderators have been seen, and honestly, its a very valid scenario as even the mods are different from each other. – SudoRahul Nov 30 '13 at 9:27
  • They don't seem like edge cases - this, this, and this are examples that seemed pretty obvious to me at least. – Krease Nov 30 '13 at 9:35
  • [Off-topic]: You seem to have answered the question Can you work on a 128-bit and yet flagged it? I don't quite understand that actually. Can you throw some light on it? I think I'm in for some learning here! :) – SudoRahul Nov 30 '13 at 9:38
  • Possibly some other time in chat (once i figure out how to talk to specific people there); I'm way past due for sleep as it stands right now. – Krease Nov 30 '13 at 9:45
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    Depends on what you're writing in the flag as well – random Nov 30 '13 at 14:43
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    @R.J - I updated my answer for you. – Krease Nov 30 '13 at 17:16
  • I somehow do not get how my question is a duplicate of this question. That was a very generic discussion on moderation and flag handling whereas mine was focused on the other flags and also regarding if the moderator tend to take more time with these than others. – SudoRahul Dec 1 '13 at 12:18
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Yes, "Other" flags take longer to process because each one is a unique reason. We can go through "not an answer" flags (for example) much more quickly because we only need to read the reason once, and can quickly decide if each flagged post fits in that category or not. We've all seen thousands of non-answers before, so most of these flags are easy decisions. "Other" flags take time to mentally process both the flag reason and the post itself. Often they'll sit in the queue until moderators have a block of time they can dedicate to them.

Flaggers can help by being very clear in the flag reason about what the issue is and exactly what moderator action should be taken.

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  • And is that one of the reasons why the other flags can take even a month's time or so, to be attended by a moderator? Is there nothing which can be done to help the moderators in this? – SudoRahul Nov 30 '13 at 14:03
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    @R.J Yes, that's the reason other flags can take so long to process. The developers are working on new mod tools to help us with these flags. Flaggers can help by being very clear in the flag reason about what the issue is and exactly what moderator action should be taken. – Bill the Lizard Nov 30 '13 at 14:44

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