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Currently, when choosing to view retracted flags, the title of the page becomes something like this:

Image of title which reads "Retracted Rude/Abusive flags raised by [name]" on flag history page

Or in words: (bold emphasis mine)

Retracted Rude/Abusive flags raised by [my name here]

I don't think "Retracted" and "raised" can go together like that. The title should be just "Retracted Rude/Abusive flags by..." or "Rude/Abusive flags retracted by...", in my opinion.

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  • maybe related to this fix: meta.stackexchange.com/a/332008/158100 ?
    – rene Mod
    Commented Aug 13, 2019 at 11:09
  • 1
    @rene don't think so, it's not a new behavior, I just never bothered to ask changing it. :-)
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Aug 13, 2019 at 11:12
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    The flags were raised. Retracting them doesn't change that.
    – Catija Staff
    Commented Aug 13, 2019 at 17:57
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    @Catija but for me it reads as "raised a new flag, of type retracted".
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Aug 13, 2019 at 20:00
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    It's English... we can't fix it completely. I do assure you, it means what it should. I'm not sure where you're seeing this, though? Screenshot?
    – Catija Staff
    Commented Aug 13, 2019 at 20:03
  • @Catija sure, added.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Aug 14, 2019 at 6:29
  • If you remove "raised" it is no longer clear that it are your own flags you retracted. It could then be anyones flag. I think it's fine as is.
    – Luuklag
    Commented Aug 14, 2019 at 6:55
  • @Luuklag there's still the "by" part, and even a mod can't retract a flag cast by users, at least not in the way the user can.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Aug 14, 2019 at 7:01
  • the by part would then reference the retraction solely, not the ownership of the flag. Which could lead to confusion.
    – Luuklag
    Commented Aug 14, 2019 at 7:04
  • Making it more verbose could make it clearer, such as "Rude/Abusive flags raised by [my name here] which have been retracted". While the primary interpretation of the original wording means what's intended, it could be misinterpreted as described in the question. Interpreting it correctly is easier with the supplemental information that it's not possible to raise a retracted flag, but that's available from the fuller context. Perhaps the issue is that it's not as understandable to those who are not as proficient in English? In some cases, a bit more verbosity helps to make the meaning clearer.
    – Makyen
    Commented Jun 26, 2022 at 19:21

1 Answer 1

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The root title is Rude/Abusive flags raised by foobar. The [Helpful / Declined / Retracted] text in the respective subdivision is simply appended to the beginning of the root title.

So the titles should be read as such:

  • [Helpful] [Rude/Abusive flags raised by foobar]
  • [Declined] [Rude/Abusive flags raised by foobar]
  • [Retracted] [Rude/Abusive flags raised by foobar]

But not as such:

  • [Helpful Rude/Abusive flags] [raised by foobar]
  • [Declined Rude/Abusive flags] [raised by foobar]
  • [Retracted Rude/Abusive flags] [raised by foobar]

So in the case of retracted flags, the title is not referring to the retracted flags that have been raised, rather, it's referring to the raised flags that have been retracted.

Hence, the current wording conveys what it is meant to convey, although it could be made a bit clearer to avoid said confusion.

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