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I am noticing my notification queue getting flooded with comments on my questions and answers containing derogatory remarks from a specific user account.

I am flagging the comments as I see them, stating they contain harassment, bigotry, or abuse. But it may take a while before site the moderators may notice.

What additional action can I take here? (The comments continue to pour in as I am writing.)

Apparently, I am not alone, and the user is flooding the site with similar comments, targeted towards other users too.

Update 1.: I am flagging all the comments as quickly as I can.

Update 2.: It appears that the attacker has been posting comments for around 45 minutes now as of this writing.

Update 3.: The moderators have noticed my ping in the site's chatroom and have taken down the comments and temporarily suspended the account.

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    I'm sure once a mod sees it, they'll be destroyed, but depending on the site, that could take some time (none have logged in in a couple hours), and this is the sort of thing that needs action immediately. Newish users shouldn't have the ability to post so many comments at once.
    – CertainPerformance
    Apr 25, 2020 at 5:55

3 Answers 3

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If you raise the issue on your own site's meta or here as you have done, then any user with 15 rep can flag the post. 6 flags will delete it.

While raising it on your site's meta will get your sites mods and users involved more directly, those of us here who also have accounts on Ask Different are happy to flag such comments.

Don't forget to flag the comments yourself of course.

There's also an Ask Different chat room. Your site moderators may hang out there and even if they're not there other Ask Different users will likely be there and help with flagging.

All the commments you referenced are now gone and your site mods have taken action and suspended that account.

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    Thank you for the edit. I was able to get the assistance of the mods via the Ask Different chat room. 🙏🏻
    – Nimesh Neema
    Apr 25, 2020 at 6:24
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Flag as rude/abusive. Considering the sheer volume, flag your own post, and let a mod know exactly what's happening. Unfortunately while the correct flags will get rid of the problem quickly, they may not surface where a mod can see it, and sometimes, its better to use a custom flag and explain what's the issue quietly.

Something like " Hi, this user is harassing me with comments - please take a look and assist" goes a long way.

On one of my sites - at best the offending user would have his account deleted. At worst, I'd call in a CM for firesupport. Ask for help.

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I hope you flagged these as rude/abusive. You can flag as many as possible, then go to a Smoke Detector chat room (or any other active chat room on meta) and tell those folks. A lot of them haunt their chat room, so they can help flag these comments (perhaps with their bots too) to get them deleted faster by an automatic quorum without a moderator's attention. Then, a mod can come and destroy the account later, at their own leisure (a custom flag would alert them of that situation; it helps them when you share your observations of a user's pattern). It's reasonable to suspect that the vandal in question got most of their rep through multiple answers on a post by their sock. That's a straight ticket to deletion if it turns out to be true.

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  • Thanks. I am flagging them as containing harassment, bigotry, or abuse (i.stack.imgur.com/roALQ.png). Let me share in the Smoke Detector chat room.
    – Nimesh Neema
    Apr 25, 2020 at 6:00
  • I couldn't access the Smoke Detector chat room. It looks like it's renamed to The Fire Department, and is read only.
    – Nimesh Neema
    Apr 25, 2020 at 6:02
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    @NimeshNeema The primary room for SmokeDetector is Charcoal HQ. The Fire Department is an auxiliary room which contains only SmokeDetector reports. It's convenient for use if one is wanting to only go through SmokeDetector reports, but it's also sees some activity from other users when the other SE chat servers go down (rare, but it's happened).
    – Makyen
    Apr 25, 2020 at 6:27

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