31

Per staff request, I'm posting this as a standalone feature request:

Please allow moderators to change the outcome of a handled flag, such as when they accidentally/prematurely decline a flag they ultimately want to mark as helpful, instead (or vice versa).

This is a minor issue, but is one that continues to crop up on a regular basis. As I'm not a moderator anywhere, I can't provide any kind of stats on this, but it's something that moderators ought to be able to do, especially given they are supposed to be "exception handlers".

Improve this question
20
  • 10
    If this is implemented, please make sure there is a statute of limitations. Mods shouldn't be able to retroactively decline flags after a certain period to impose flag bans or reduce one's flag count.
    – Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog
    Commented Oct 15, 2024 at 20:39
  • 1
    @SonictheAnonymousHedgehog Sure, something like 6 months is probably plenty of grace period. Ideally, there'd also be a log table accessible to moderators which records data for any ex post facto changes to flag outcomes, just to provide some kind of transparency into when moderators need to go in and adjust the flag outcome.
    – TylerH
    Commented Oct 15, 2024 at 20:52
  • @SonictheAnonymousHedgehog Maybe enabling mods to change the outcome of flags only after a user's action (something like flagging the flag?) would prevent this? Although that seems like a solution to change from declined to helpful but not the other way around
    – nalka
    Commented Oct 15, 2024 at 20:55
  • 3
    @nalka That would mean greatly limiting the usefulness of this feature, which makes it less likely it would be worth the dev hours to implement. It would likely just mean mods raising flags on content that's been flagged just to be able to fix something when they find it.
    – TylerH
    Commented Oct 15, 2024 at 21:38
  • Can you explain the benefit of this? I have made mistakes with a few flags over the years, but at worst, I dropped a chat message to a user letting them know that the flag was fine and I just miss-clicked. I've been a mod for slightly over a decade now, and I don't think I remember this happening more than once or twice in all that time. Granted, none of the 3 sites I've moderated had the flag load of SO, but I have moderated the 3rd and 7th largest SE sites by user volume.
    – terdon
    Commented Oct 16, 2024 at 12:30
  • @terdon Aside from the obvious case (which we see often on Stack Overflow) of a mod declining a flag and then after a Meta post is made asking about it, acknowledging that the declination was incorrect, but admitting they're unable to change it... you'd have to ask a moderator for other justifications. I just know it happens a lot on SO. So, maybe it wouldn't be particularly needed on other network sites, but I figure it's probably very little work to enable such a feature for all sites (even if rarely used) once it's built and enabled for SO.
    – TylerH
    Commented Oct 16, 2024 at 14:25
  • 4
    @terdon As for the benefit, correcting the record is its own reward, and I think sufficient enough reason, but that aside, not everyone uses chat, which is a clunky way, at best, to notify users of such issues. This would also allow for moderators to outright fix misclicks as well as correct any incorrect initial reviews, and it could have an impact on flag bans in some cases. Like I said in the question, it's a minor issue, but I think it's one that mods would prefer to be fixed than continue unchanged, given the option.
    – TylerH
    Commented Oct 16, 2024 at 14:42
  • But, even in that obvious case, where is the problem? So a flag was declined incorrectly. OK, so what? What does it matter? Personally, I still don't see any benefit in this. It is rare and very low impact. Very personal opinion, of course, which is why I urge you again to edit your view into the question and describe the benefit you perceive.
    – terdon
    Commented Oct 16, 2024 at 14:47
  • Even more minor but it also has an impact on the amount of net helpful flags (used to determine the number of available flags per day)
    – nalka
    Commented Oct 16, 2024 at 14:48
  • @nalka yeah, that's precisely my worry: that some users attach importance to that metric and I really, really don't want to encourage it as it puts undue burden on moderators. Flags are only useful as a way of alerting mods to an issue. Flag stats are completely irrelevant and shouldn't be treated as important. There are users who actually try to game their flag stats and get all upset if a flag is rejected. This is a waste of everyone's time and shouldn't be encouraged.
    – terdon
    Commented Oct 16, 2024 at 17:01
  • 4
    @terdon I'm surprised a moderator of all people doesn't see the inherent benefit in being able to correct mistakes. I don't think the arguments in the comments here being added to the question itself will make a difference in that regard. Like I said, you should ask some of your SO moderator peers how often this occurs on SO and what they view the benefits to be. I'm primarily posting this request here for the quarterly sprints out of sympathy of seeing moderators on Meta Stack Overflow opine repeatedly over the years about not being able to fix an incorrect flag outcome.
    – TylerH
    Commented Oct 16, 2024 at 21:49
  • 1
    2/2 because then I wouldn't have a "bad" feeling that I did something wrong. That the flag I raised was a waste of time for the mod handling it. Disregarding the fact, that declined flags can have negative consequences.
    – Lino
    Commented Oct 16, 2024 at 22:47
  • 1
    They should be able to change the handling on any helpful or declined flag to disputed.
    – CPlus
    Commented Oct 17, 2024 at 17:59
  • 1
    @terdon IMO the outcome of a flag sends a message. Depending on the outcome it encourages or discourages behavior. I.e. "Good job, flag more" or "Bad job, don't do it again". And this lead to many questions asking for clarifications on meta in the past, because as you said, you fat-fingered the outcome. That part would be cut entirely out with this FR, at least if the mod realizes the mistake. While I agree that dev-time can be spent on rather more pressing things, I think this feature request, would benefit the flaggers and curators.
    – Lino
    Commented Oct 18, 2024 at 12:29
  • 2
    @terdon There are situations where flag handling also has other consequences, like making a post possible audit. So being able to correct flag would be simpler way to remove bad audits than trying to do other actions in hope that they would be sufficient. While you may argue that situations where reversing a handled flag for a post is needed are not frequently encountered, they still do happen. For instance meta.stackoverflow.com/a/431758
    – Resistance Is Futile
    Commented Oct 18, 2024 at 13:38

0

Reset to default

You must log in to answer this question.

Start asking to get answers

Find the answer to your question by asking.

Ask question

Explore related questions

See similar questions with these tags.