24
votes
Accepted
Why was my "rude or abusive" flag on a gibberish answer declined?
I have had a look at your links and you clearly flagged that post correctly. I handled the flag incorrectly - for that I apologize.
Worse, I had dismissed some other similar flags to yours - I'm not ...
bmikeMod
- 232k
10
votes
Why does Ask Different receive so much spam posts?
Yeah, for whatever reason spammers tend to become attached to specific sites. AD happens to be a lucky winner:
Detected spam over the last month
The system has some clever logic in place to block ...
- 1,994
6
votes
Why were these too chatty flags declined on some +1 comments?
I'm the 'culprit', so to speak, for declining the three comments you're asking about.
In summary:
The Huge "THANKS!". :) comment should have been deleted (I think that was a case of me hitting the ...
MonomeethMod
- 64.3k
6
votes
Accepted
Should answers shaped like this be flagged?
Answers which link elsewhere to answer the question should be flagged, but there's a bit more to it than that.
Answers which answer the question through quoting content from an external link or ...
grgMod
- 199k
5
votes
Accepted
Why can’t we flag as duplicate a question with no answer?
This restriction has a few exceptions: it doesn't apply
on Meta sites
when both questions are asked by the same user
for ♦ moderators
Therefore, using a custom moderator flag is a good option. ...
GlorfindelMod
- 4,024
5
votes
Accepted
Background colour of remaining flags/close vote count
The colour helps highlight the difference between the flag count and the vote count. It helps distinguish with a quick glance which of the two figures it represents without reading the word beside the ...
grgMod
- 199k
5
votes
Accepted
I’ve been banned from flagging, and I feel mortified!
As of now, expect 2 days for the time period to reset, but it could be sooner.
Flag bans are automatic based on recent flag history, both being put in place automatically after a certain threshold ...
grgMod
- 199k
5
votes
Accepted
Take back a flag
Click the flag link on the post you flagged to open the flag dialog. Without selecting any flag type, the blue button used to flag a post is now a Retract Flag button, which you can click to retract ...
grgMod
- 199k
4
votes
Accepted
Is this question on topic?
It's absolutely on topic. With a few exceptions there's an OR clause between the following:
Apple Hardware
Apple Software
Apple Services
See https://apple.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic
Even ...
bmikeMod
- 232k
4
votes
Accepted
What decides if a 'too chatty' flag results in immediate deletion?
It is most likely that the comment contained some key phrases which enabled it for deletion by only one flag, as described here. E.g. a comment containing just
+1, thank you very much
will ...
GlorfindelMod
- 4,024
4
votes
Why were these too chatty flags declined on some +1 comments?
Right on cue - a long discussion on how the “too chatty” standard was loose and unhelpful - we’ve done away with that flag across all sites effective immediately.
The problem
Comments are terrible; ...
bmikeMod
- 232k
3
votes
Why are comment flags declined if comments are obsolete and the obsolete flag was used?
Comment flags can only be acted upon (resulting in the deletion of the comment) or declined, there is no option to provide feedback (which is actually optional also for flags on post).
I didn't ...
nohillsideMod
- 98k
3
votes
There is a question here that is outdated. How can we flag questions?
That particular question was automatically protected by the site due to the quantity of ‘answers’ the post received from new users posting things which weren't answers. Protected questions are an ...
grgMod
- 199k
3
votes
Accepted
Cannot flag answer as low quality
"Very low quality" flags can only be raised within the first 7 days after a post got created, see https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/326585/unable-to-flag-as-very-low-quality-for-answers
nohillsideMod
- 98k
3
votes
Accepted
How do I respond to Mod question?
Basically flags are for things where the normal tools cannot fix the issue. In this case, an edit handled it which is why the flag was declined.
Keep in mind, when we review flags we see the current ...
bmikeMod
- 232k
3
votes
Accepted
What should we do if we misflag a post?
I didn't see any flags by you which seemed odd/wrong, so it probably got handled already. Also, there isn't a big difference between the flag types as far as moderator notification is concerned: we ...
nohillsideMod
- 98k
3
votes
Why does Ask Different receive so much spam posts?
The most powerful tool we have for immediate use is for everyone to flag as spam on those posts. That ensures the best improvement on the tools to detect and suppress spam.
You are right. The past ...
bmikeMod
- 232k
3
votes
The policy on flagging link-only answers should be made much more obvious
Both the first and the last paragraph of this answer to Why was my flag for "not an answer" declined? sum it up pretty nicely
TL;DR - moderators generally don't delete posts until they have ...
nohillsideMod
- 98k
2
votes
Should answers shaped like this be flagged?
That's definitively flag-worthy, as are all other answers which basically lead people offsite for the details.
nohillsideMod
- 98k
2
votes
Accepted
Feedback to OP when flagging question
Actually no moderator commented on the second question you've linked. The comments have been created automatically based on the actions the reviewers selected for the question in the review queue.
...
nohillsideMod
- 98k
2
votes
Why does Ask Different receive so much spam posts?
I really wish there was a one-vote ban-hammer on these - maybe like the gold badge one-vote close.
Maybe you could gain a spam-hammer badge after successfully flagging 100 with no false positives, or ...
- 114k
2
votes
Accepted
'Mod attention' flag declined for question marked as Duplicate
I probably would have accepted it, as did the mod who handled the second "duplicate" flag. It mainly shows that mods are humans too :-)
As for the declined flag: Declined flags can't be removed, see ...
nohillsideMod
- 98k
2
votes
Accepted
What do disputed flags mean?
Disputed flags are generally from the result of the post in the relevant review queue disagreeing with the flag you raised. In the example from the question, the post was flagged by you as a low ...
grgMod
- 199k
2
votes
Accepted
Community approach to legitimate quasi-astroturf answering trends
I would say - this is the perfect place to ask and make recommendations as long as you are here to answer all sorts of questions and help. When that happens, there's going to be lots of answers that ...
bmikeMod
- 232k
2
votes
Accepted
Dealing with repetitive spam
There is actually already an automated way to identify/remove spam when it hits our site.
It's a bot called Smoke Detector that currently has an accuracy threshold of 99.75%. So, most spam is dealt ...
MonomeethMod
- 64.3k
2
votes
Question under review this long abnormal? @nohillside♦!? An update on "This Q needs details or clarity." as the closure reason? IT IS SOLVED
The question was put on hold as requested by you. It is in the review queue for reopenings, things usually take a while depending on how many high-rep users find time to review the queue.
I've ...
nohillsideMod
- 98k
2
votes
Accepted
Flagged post didn't get re-edited
I should have been more carefully when handling that flag, thanks for following up (basically I forgot the rollback :-)).
nohillsideMod
- 98k
1
vote
Non-Answer Declined Flag, but Author agrees with me!
Thank you for raising this question. I see many people not understanding the not an answer flag. You are not alone to be confused here. Have you read through this post and the answers?
Why was my ...
bmikeMod
- 232k
1
vote
Question put on hold as off-topic yet previous off-topic flag declined
Not everyone sees on and off topic the same.
That's why we have votes and even a close or delete isn't permanent. I did cast a binding reopen vote to give that question a second chance and it's ...
bmikeMod
- 232k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible