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When there are some special circumstances related to the mod's flags section (dashboard), it would be really useful if moderators could make brief notes concerning a certain flag right on the dashboard. Let me explain.

For example, there is a flag on an answer which is weakly substantiated. I handle the issue and leave a required comment. In order to remember to check if the answer was edited and hence upgraded, I do not mark the flag as useful and leave it over for some time. But my colleague can easily look through the flag, see that I left a comment and 'close the ticket'. (Then how am I supposed to find the post then? Per aspera ad astra?) This could be avoided if there was a place near the flag where moderators could leave brief notes, e.g. 'Need to check if the proofs are added; don't put it away.'

This is just one of the possible appliances.

One can say: you can have a special chat on moderation, don't clutter up the interface! But the thing is that, for example, we on Русский язык do not have a chat and my colleague does not want to use it. Moreover, if there are a lot of cases like the aforementioned, how to remember them all? Brief notes on the dashboard are stuck to a certain report and quite informative and rather moderator-friendly.

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    If your fellow mod(s) refuse to chat about moderation issues, that is a serious problem.
    – terdon
    Commented Feb 18, 2019 at 17:04
  • "...leave a required comment..." at the very least, you can find your comment on your profile
    – Meta Andrew T.
    Commented Feb 18, 2019 at 17:07
  • @Bookends yes, 'per aspera ad astra'.
    – Aer
    Commented Feb 18, 2019 at 17:08
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    @terdon maybe, but an ordinary case like that is a really strange ground for starting a special discussion with another mod.
    – Aer
    Commented Feb 18, 2019 at 17:10
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    Related: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/119096/… .
    – Discrete lizard
    Commented Feb 18, 2019 at 18:33
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    Even with chat being used regularly, a moderator could look through flags and clear them and then check their inbox notifications, or otherwise not see your chat ping about leaving the flag until it's too late, or misunderstand which flag you meant because e.g. there's two similar to your description.
    – doppelgreener
    Commented Feb 18, 2019 at 18:46

1 Answer 1

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Well, there is a way of doing this.

Just flag the question/answer yourself with the "in need of moderator intervention" and put your note into the custom flag reason.

Then it's there and visible for you and your fellow moderators, right there in the flag dashboard, right next to the applicable question/answer.

Or is that too simple in some way?

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  • Well, it's a good suggestion but a) you should engender a situation when there are two flags instead of the only one possible: b) you'll have to make superfluous steps; c) the log of user's report will be marred by 'technical' flags. And yep, maybe there are some hypothetical cases when your suggestion is too simple, just have to think up.
    – Aer
    Commented Feb 18, 2019 at 16:25
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    If the volume of these "technical" flags would be enough to cause problems, then I'd suggest that there's a larger problem that needs resolving here.
    – user351483
    Commented Feb 18, 2019 at 16:27
  • We do this sometimes on sites I moderate. It puts the information where it's needed (with the flag and with the post history), and it's pretty infrequent so it doesn't junk up the flag history.
    – Monica Cellio Mod
    Commented Feb 18, 2019 at 20:26

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