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Currently, neither can comments be flagged from the mobile version of SE web pages, nor do moderators receive any notification of flags (most moderator tools are unavailable). The work-around is to switch to the desk-top version.

Furthermore, it'd be an undoubted boon for moderators to be able to learn about flags' being raised—high-priority ones at any rate—through the Android/iOS notifications system.

There have been several feature requests concerning these matters already, e.g. the following:

Moderator flag notifications should reach mobile

Please can we have mod functionality added to the android/ios mobile apps or the mobile browser

Do moderator flags exist as mobile app notifications?

Why is mobile version of the site missing flag comment functionality

Clearly it's good if rude or abusive comments in particular are flagged & deleted as quickly as possible. Given that inclusion efforts have been prioritized, will SE be looking again at these feature requests?

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    Considering that the mobile apps are on semi-permanent dev hiatus... I'm not holding my breath. They do seem to be working on the mobile view, though, so perhaps some improvement is possible there. Though, I default to the full site view regardless... it's too much of an annoyance to have three disparate UI formats.
    – Catija
    Commented Apr 30, 2018 at 14:17
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    @Catija: I've tried, but I lack the requisite visual acuity or fine motor skills to get along with the full-site view on a 'phone.
    – Scortchi
    Commented Apr 30, 2018 at 14:25
  • It vaguely works on 1080p/5.5 inch for me and they wouldn;'t need to be on the mobile app - just the site.
    – Journeyman Geek
    Commented Apr 30, 2018 at 15:10
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    Also. Not sure what this has to do with inclusiveness. Its a set of features I'd find handy tho!
    – Journeyman Geek
    Commented Apr 30, 2018 at 15:31
  • @JourneymanGeek: Have a look at the linked blog post. In fine, it discusses reasons for new users' feeling excluded from our communities; among those are unkind comments, which we're urged to flag & delete. I'm assuming the following: (1) New users who receive such comments will feel less excluded if they see them being promptly dealt with by other members of the community before they have to work out what to do themselves. (2) Some new users won't know that they can flag comments by switching to the desk-top version of the web page, or will struggle with using that version on a ...
    – Scortchi
    Commented May 1, 2018 at 9:33
  • ... mobile device. (3) A small proportion, I hope a very small one, of unkind comments are deliberate trolling, & the most discouraging outcome for a troll must be that their handiwork's destroyed before many people get upset by or respond to it.
    – Scortchi
    Commented May 1, 2018 at 9:35
  • I wouldn't describe these proposed features as "handy", by the way; it's not exactly convenient to be disturbed when someone raises an R/A flag, & there are other things I'd rather be doing than dealing with dealing with them.
    – Scortchi
    Commented May 1, 2018 at 9:40

2 Answers 2

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The mobile web interface already makes a little mod tooling available; the diamond menu lights up if there's a new meta question or mod message. It seems reasonable to me to make rude/abusive flags available through that same interface. We'd still need to be able to click on a "validate" control that handles the flag and deletes the content. Strictly speaking, dismissal could wait, especially since we want to give a reason in that case. The goal here is to get rude stuff off the site faster, so we can optimize that path without biting off the whole flagging problem.

An open question would be whether to do this for the diamond menu everywhere or to make this behavior specific to the mobile site. My gut feeling is to avoid code complexity/fragility and light it up on the desktop view too, even though that means a rude flag will be double-reported. But this is something that the team should think about. My sites get single-digit numbers of rude flags most days and other diamond notifications a few times a week; considerations might be different on trilogy sites.

(I'd really like to have access to flags more generally from the mobile web interface, but I understand that's hard. And while I understand that using the full-site view instead works for some, my vision is not good enough to do that on my phone in a usable way.)

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  • That sounds like a great idea. In fact I was thinking of asking another question about getting a special notification on the desktop view when a rude/abusive flag has been raised. (For non-moderators: the bar at the top of the screen shows us how many flags are pending, but not their type.) Any ideas on the other part of the question? - basically how to make my 'phone buzz when something's flagged as rude/abusive on a site I moderate.
    – Scortchi
    Commented Apr 30, 2018 at 16:07
  • @Scortchi making your phone buzz would have to come through the app's notification system, unfortunately; I'm not aware of a way for a site to get your web browser to do that. That buzz doesn't happen now; it would be reasonable to request it for any diamond notification which, combined with my proposal, gets you buzz on rude flag. Whether changes to the app are feasible at all, I don't know.
    – Monica Cellio
    Commented Apr 30, 2018 at 16:09
  • Oh, I think there was talk of using web notifications for the site, but that like quite a few other things got forgotten :(
    – Journeyman Geek
    Commented May 1, 2018 at 6:30
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When our responsive design changes roll out this will get a little bit better and a little bit worse. This first phase of responsive is not focused on mobile devices, though for a lot of uses the mobile experience will be great. We will leave the mobile skin in place. You can use the desktop version and many pages will now be responsive.

However, we need to do specific optimizations for full mobile support. AND, we need to overhaul mod/high rep users tools for the desktop to get it right.

This is all in the plans, but it will take a bit to get there.

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