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If I flag an answer as "not an answer" and Moderator X (whomever that may be) deems that flag invalid, the flag shows in my flagging summary as "Invalid".

If I later look at my flagging summary and see that the answer concerned has been deleted, by Moderator Y (Note: For all I know, X and Y could be one and the same, that's irrelevant) presumably as the result of flags from further users without the original answer having been changed, it would seem reasonable for my original flag to have its "Invalid" status cleared.

I'd suggest that a flag which is "cleared" wouldn have a neutral overall affect on a users overall weighting, i.e. it's excluded from calculating flag weight, rather than the -10 it garners as an invalid flag or the value between 10 and somewhere near 0 it gets as a valid flag.

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  • It is possible to flag a post for a problem incorrectly, but some action is still required. Thus the flag is actually invalid even though some action was taken. An edge case, probably, but something to consider.
    – DMA57361
    Commented Jun 28, 2011 at 11:14
  • I would have thought this is a rather infrequent edge case, if it is happening regularly then surely one's flag weight ought to go down as you are flagging incorrectly?
    – slugster
    Commented Jun 28, 2011 at 11:40
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    @slugster - I'd agree that it's rather infrequent, but if this specific scenario (one moderator disagrees with your flag on a post and then another moderator agrees with another flag on the same post) occurs, its surely better to neutralise the invalid flag. If there was no such thing as "flag weight" then it'd be a non-issue, but, as soon as you start measuring things any perception of "unfairness" can have a negative impact. After all, we want people to flag, right? =)
    – Rob
    Commented Jun 28, 2011 at 11:51
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    Should we subsequently clear the validated flags on posts that were originally closed, but then another moderator reopens the post because the closure was erroneous? Making the future acts of other flaggers affect your already-resolved flag weight can be a slippery slope.
    – Grace Note StaffMod
    Commented Jun 28, 2011 at 13:18

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