What is flagging?
Flagging is a way of bringing inappropriate content to the attention of the community. The currently implemented flag types are the following:
- Requires ♦ moderator attention
- Not an answer (link only answer included)
- Very low quality (i.e. no amount of editing can salvage the post)
- Off-topic, not a real question, too localized, not constructive, duplicate question
- Spam (i.e. undiscriminated bulk advertisement)
- Offensive, abusive, or hate speech
If you are ever confused over which flagging reason to choose, please follow the links above.
When should I flag?
If anything happens on our site that makes you feel uncomfortable or that, in your opinion, clearly does not belong here, please flag it and bring it to our attention!
How do I flag?
Click the flag link under any post and you will see the pop-up dialog pictured below:
What happens when I flag something as Offensive or Spam?
The offensive and spam flags are designed to automatically eliminate truly offensive posts through the collaboration of the community.
- 3 flags -- post is banished from the front page.
- 6 flags -- post is locked, deleted, and the owner loses 100 reputation.
Users with the Moderator Tools privilege can see how many offensive flags a post has accrued, and may opt to flag it themselves.
What happens when I flag something as Requires ♦ Moderator Attention?
You'll be required to enter a comment briefly explaining what the problem is. After that, these moderator flags go in a special high priority queue visible to all moderators. We take moderator flags quite seriously; rest assured that they are all followed up on!
Is there any way to remove flags?
There is often no need, as offensive and spam flags expire after 48 hours if the thresholds aren't reached.
Rolling back a post to a previous state will revert to the number of offensive flags from that particular revision. This allows the OP (or someone else with edit rights) to rollback a post that someone else made offensive in a later revision. However as a general user, once you mark a post as offensive, you cannot take it back.
How many flags do I have?
When you start out, you are allotted 10 flags per-day. This number may increase to up to 100 flags per-day:
- You get one bonus flag per 2000 reputation.
- You are awarded additional bonus flags when you flag correctly.
