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There is an existing question How is it possible that a single user who is not a moderator can delete a comment? 4 years old about a post a year prior, that focuses on a post containing the word(s) 'accept', 'accepted' and/or 'accepting' I do not believe this is the same.

I am a 10k+ user on a beta site, saw a new post that was not a good fit, down voted it, voted to close and left a comment while the view count was at 2. I moved on.

Link to post in question at outdoors.stackexchange.com enter image description here

The OP posted a comment and I came back when I got the notification. The comment contained profanity and I flagged it as Rude, and the comment instantly disappeared (screen shot above is after it disappeared)

I looked at the Privileges page and it does not seem to be a documented feature.

How did a non-admin delete a comment with a single flag?

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    @gparyani I don't think it is a duplicate of that question. Your poroposed dupe is related to the "accept" filter I mention in the opening paragraph. The answer below by 'ArtOfCode' with the related link seems to address the question clearly. While the second answer on you proposed duplicate does have an answer by 'Jeff Atwood' that hints at the same, it is not clear.
    – James Jenkins
    Dec 30, 2017 at 12:30
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    That is linked from the comment flagging FAQ, under "comments containing certain keywords can reduce this amount".
    – Sonic the Save Ukraine-hog
    Dec 30, 2017 at 12:31
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    @gparyani, I agree with James here. The two questions are totally different, and although Jeff's answer hints at the answer to this question, it is by not means clear. Most importantly, people looking for the info this question is seeking are not very likely to pick up that other thread, or if they do, think it relevant.
    – hat
    Dec 30, 2017 at 12:40
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    @Who: That's what closing as duplicate is for. It's to point this people to that question, for searchability. It's not a negative marking against this question, as downvoting and closing as other reasons are.
    – Sonic the Save Ukraine-hog
    Dec 30, 2017 at 12:43
  • Also, it's common here on MSE to close questions as duplicates if the answers are similar, even though the questions are merely related.
    – Sonic the Save Ukraine-hog
    Dec 30, 2017 at 12:44
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    @gparyani, I know what marking as duplicate is for. I just think that the other thread is less relevant, so directing people over there is not the best idea. This thread is already more helpful than the other one IMO.
    – hat
    Dec 30, 2017 at 12:47
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    @gparyani Being common and being good policy are two different things. Personally, I don't like the practice at all and would much rather we only close based on questions, not answers.
    – Catija StaffMod
    Dec 30, 2017 at 14:55
  • @catija I agree with that. Marking the question as a duplicate when it just has a duplicate answer doesn't make sense to me. It marks the wrong post as duplicate, and I don't see any reason for pointing out duplicate answers anyway.
    – hat
    Dec 30, 2017 at 15:48
  • @kiamlaluno why did you reopen? The answer is given in those other questions as well.
    – Shadow Wizard Says No More War
    Dec 31, 2017 at 7:12
  • There was, at some point, an answer where someone did some comprehensive testing to figure out what the exact triggers were, and posted an answer here about it. Where did that go?
    – Sonic the Save Ukraine-hog
    Dec 31, 2017 at 16:18

1 Answer 1

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This is by design. There is, somewhere in the SE software, a blacklist of keywords - if a comment contains one of these keywords, any flag on the comment will delete it. It's only tangentially related, but Community deletion of comments should raise a moderator flag contains some details on how this system operates.

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