How do I respond to chatroom flags for a site in non English language?

Question

I was faced today with a bunch of flags from Stack Overflow на русском. I don't speak or read Russian.

So... am I supposed to dig up Google Translate to evaluate the flag? Or wait for some users who understand the langauge to deal with the flags?

The same applies to any non-English Stack Exchange site.

The ideal scenario is that you don't see them, but that gets really complicated. It's an engineering issue for chat, and it severely limits the number of eyes on flags coming out of the room, which makes intervention in the case of something truly horribad going on less likely overall, or more likely to be delayed. — user50049, Commented Jan 18, 2016 at 15:08
I thought that everyone just randomly clicked buttons for chat flags... is that not what we're supposed to do? :( — enderland, Commented Jan 18, 2016 at 15:12
I agree with @enderland, but to be certain to eliminate any possibility of bias use a random number generator like random.org — Elva, Commented Jan 18, 2016 at 15:18
@gnat but this doesn't appear to be an issue related only to the ru.SO? — nicael, Commented Jan 18, 2016 at 15:37
Как пострадавший от небрежной проверки, прошу: проверяйте только то, что понимаете. Благодарю. — user340911, Commented Jun 13, 2017 at 10:56

nicael · Accepted Answer · 2016-01-18 14:38:44Z

23

If you don't know the site language, just don't review the flags. It's not obligatory - someone using the site will hopefully come and do it for you.

answered Jan 18, 2016 at 14:38

nicael

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Patrick Hofman · Accepted Answer · 2016-01-18 14:48:16Z

16

Usually I will follow this pattern:

If something is visually very obviously spam, I will handle it as such;
If Google translate yields something very disturbing, something that is again very obvious, I will handle it as such;
If the above rules don't apply, I will leave it to the users that know the language.

answered Jan 18, 2016 at 14:48

Patrick Hofman

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3

This is pretty much precisely what I was going to answer.
– user50049
Commented Jan 18, 2016 at 15:06
3

Huh, looks like you have a spot in SE if you'll ever need a new job, @Pat - you think like a CM. ;-)
– Shadow Wizard
Commented Jan 18, 2016 at 15:40

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2 Answers 2