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In the moderator tools, is there a way for me to indicate that I've addressed a flag without flagging the post myself or marking the flag as invalid? For example, in one post, someone (I presume the OP) asked for clarification as to why the post was put on hold. I answered in a comment, but the flag is still left in the queue. I don't want to mark the flag as invalid, because it wasn't an erroneous flag, but I don't have any reason to flag the post myself either, and that appears to be my only other option.

After thinking about this more, I can understand why this isn't a feature (if it truly isn't) because it would mean someone besides a moderator could have the final say on a flag, which probably isn't the intent.

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  • Side note: Should I link to the question? Even though it's fairly obvious because there aren't many questions that are on hold on the front page, I'm not sure if I'm supposed to reveal flagging details directly, since flags are technically anonymous. In this case, however, it seemed a safe assumption that the flag originated with the OP.
    – John Bensin
    Jul 17, 2013 at 18:35
  • We know what you're talking about.
    – C. Ross
    Jul 17, 2013 at 18:42
  • @C.Ross I assumed so, but I figured I'd ask.
    – John Bensin
    Jul 17, 2013 at 18:43
  • What do you mean by "addressed?" (I'm not familiar enough with the limitations of the intermediate mod tools.)
    – George Marian
    Jul 18, 2013 at 20:35
  • @GeorgeMarian The more I think about this, the more I think it's 100% by design. Right now, if a flag shows up in the queue, I can take one of two actions: flag the Q/A myself, or mark the flag as invalid. I was wondering if there way a third option that indicated "this was a useful flag, but I didn't need to flag the post myself too because the action I took, e.g. leaving a comment, doesn't require a flag." Now that I really think about this, though, marking a flag as useful/helpful is possible for moderators, and a normal user shouldn't be the be-all-end-all for a flag.
    – John Bensin
    Jul 18, 2013 at 20:45
  • @GeorgeMarian (In short, it's a misunderstanding of the SE system on my part, since I'm confusing the intermediate mod tools with the full mod tools).
    – John Bensin
    Jul 18, 2013 at 20:46
  • Ok, that was my assumption. (Good thinking, though. Flex that analytic muscle.)
    – George Marian
    Jul 24, 2013 at 22:03

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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Moderators look at posts as they were when they were flagged, so if a moderator arrives to a question that looks perfectly fine yet has lingering quality related flags, they'll know that whatever action needed to fix the post was taken, and generally just mark the flag as helpful.

Most of the time, even if you manage to indicate that you fixed what was wrong, they'll still want to take a look just to see what the actual issue was, and if there's anything else that might need their attention or perhaps editorial love.

With that said, we ideally funnel most of this through review queues, where expiring flags once action is taken and peer reviewed makes a whole lot more sense. This would keep the moderator queue down to just the more serious issues, and high rep users won't have to spend much time looking at posts that have already been fixed.

As you note in comments, this is sort of by design, but the design can be quite a bit better - and will be in the very near future.

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  • Thanks for clarifying a lot of this; is there somewhere on the main meta that lists the changes coming in the near future? I came across the list of feature requests, but that's more about changes to the mod tools themselves and not the review queue.
    – John Bensin
    Jul 25, 2013 at 11:04
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    @JohnBensin There will be as testing of things wrap up. Right now very low quality flags are being directed through /review, and we're looking at how that's working and if it needs tweaking. Based on that experience, we may do more - it just really depends on a bit of a cascading series of trials. There's a lot of stuff that could conceivably be optimized, but it's hard to put a list together, because we don't know quite what's next until we see what works - if that makes sense?
    – Tim Post
    Jul 25, 2013 at 11:14
  • Makes perfect sense to me; thanks for following up!
    – John Bensin
    Jul 25, 2013 at 11:28

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