10

The new change to show all the posts which I have flagged when I click on "flag-weight" link in my profile is awesome. This is one step in forward direction to atleast keep track of which posts I had flagged.

However it does not show which of my flags were correct and which ones were wrong. I would request if that feature can also be added to flag-weight summary page, it would just be like icing on a cake.

Am I too early in asking this question since the flag-weight summary page is just released to the SE site.

Improve this question
10
  • 1
    I agree; it's awesome. But how does it not show which were correct? When you see "Post deleted" or my favourite so far "♦ Post Closed, Post Locked, Post Undeleted, Mod Deletes Migration History, Post Unlocked, Post Reopened, Post Closed, Post Migrated, Post Locked" then you know somebody took action because you flagged. When you see nothing then you know they either ignored or dismissed - and it probably doesn't matter which.
    – Kate Gregory
    Mar 29, 2011 at 10:33
  • 1
    @Kate - hmm... I was expecting in terms of either RED or GREEN coloring schemes for posts which are wrong or correct, which would be more explicit and user-friendly.
    – Sachin Shanbhag
    Mar 29, 2011 at 10:43
  • 1
    Can I beg the URL for the summary page? My flag weight isn't visible so I don't have anything to click on. Thanks!
    – Rup
    Mar 29, 2011 at 10:43
  • @Rup - Add your user-id at the end of this url - meta.stackoverflow.com/users/flag-weight/<userid>
    – Sachin Shanbhag
    Mar 29, 2011 at 10:45
  • @Kate: What you see as the status is the status of the post, regardless of whether it got that way due to your flag.
    – Gabe
    Mar 30, 2011 at 16:29
  • @Gabe I suppose in theory you could flag something, your flag could be dismissed, and then a moderator could take action on the post. I just don't find that very likely. Surely as part of investigating your flag, they would discover whatever it is that leads them to take action?
    – Kate Gregory
    Mar 30, 2011 at 16:32
  • @Kate: I flagged a locked post to ask for a tag to be removed. The action just says "Post locked". I know they didn't lock the post in response to my flag because it was already locked. I have to actually look at the post to see if my flag was ignored.
    – Gabe
    Mar 30, 2011 at 16:34
  • @Gabe That message mimics what we moderators see on our flag resolution, which is the list of actions that have been taken on the post after a flag was made. Note, however, that it's not necessarily your flag that starts the recording. Perhaps it was flagged earlier by another individual, which led to the locking.
    – Grace Note StaffMod
    Mar 30, 2011 at 16:44
  • @Grace: So if we flag a post saying "Commenter XYZ is being abusive", we'll never be able to tell whether our flag was ignored. At best we can go looking for abusive comments by XYZ to see if they're still there.
    – Gabe
    Mar 30, 2011 at 16:55
  • @Gabe Apart from the fact we can't really ignore flags, yes, some forms of action are not recorded in that action list.
    – Grace Note StaffMod
    Mar 30, 2011 at 16:57

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
16

  1. Stop worrying about it. If your flag weight is taking a plunge into the depths of irrelevance, then individual flag results are kinda irrelevant - you're obviously making a habit out of flagging stuff that doesn't need to be flagged. So, cool it. OTOH, if your flag weight is healthy, who cares if a few flags are dismissed as invalid here and there? Everyone makes mistakes - could be you, could be the moderators reviewing your flags... Could be neither.

  2. Look at the actions taken in response to your flags. If you flag a post and it's deleted, you can probably feel good about it. If nothing happened (or a comment was left, but no more), you might have been overzealous. Or not. Maybe the author fixed it after you flagged, or maybe the moderator who addressed it was feeling soft-hearted. Again, you probably don't need to worry unless almost everything you flag is being left as-is.

  3. Don't sweat the details (or, Stop worrying about it, redux): Flags are supposed to be a way for you to draw a moderator's attention to something they need to be concerned about. It's not a dialog between you and someone else. The response to a flag will be addressed to the content you've flagged, and the specific actions taken will be at the discretion of the moderator. Unless it's painfully obvious that you're consistently wasting moderator time, you really don't need to fixate on it.

  4. Don't waste moderator time ok, so if it is obvious that your flags are being ignored, stop and consider that you might be a bit over-sensitive. Flags aren't a substitute for down-votes, and a polite comment addressed to the author of the content you're flagging might go further toward resolving the issue.

Improve this answer
5
  • 5
    +1 for advocating downvotes. Even though I hear Jeff et. al. talk about how downvotes are important, I still see many, many, many more upvotes than downvotes.
    – George Stocker
    Mar 30, 2011 at 16:35
  • 5
    These points (and the many many questions regarding flag weight coming up on Meta recently, the apparent effect of people hesitating to flag out of fear to decrease it, and the fact that it is yet another competitive metric that begs looking after) makes me think the number should be hidden again. Introduce a gold badge instead to motivate people to flag well
    – Pekka
    Mar 30, 2011 at 16:39
  • 3
    @Pekka The fact that it's even considered a competitive number is actually pretty bad.
    – Grace Note StaffMod
    Mar 30, 2011 at 16:43
  • @Grace yeah. Although to some extent, it's probably just human... There's a number rating you, you want it to go up.
    – Pekka
    Mar 30, 2011 at 16:46
  • Personally, I'm not too concerned with it if I can get it comfortably above 100, though it would certainly be nice to get over 500 on some sites...
    – SamB
    May 15, 2011 at 23:23
2

The summary page now shows which flags were helpful to the mods and which were not.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .