What is the policy on flag review?

Question

If not deemed helpful flags can be declined or disputed. What flags should be declined and what flags should be disputed?

Answer 1

If your flag is dismissed by somebody, it might be for one of several reasons:

This list is incomplete of course

• You could have simply misunderstood a post. For example, an answer might not seem to answer the question, but it does if read it more carefully

• A seemingly duplicate question might have merit if the differences are subtle but important (think Python 3 questions, or Compiz vs Mutter)

• The reviewer took care of the post in some other way. E.g. a down-vote instead of deleting the post, where the flag indicates something unnecessary

• The user invalidated your objection by improving their post

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If you object to a reviewers decision, you can always just leave a message to one of the moderators, and/or start a discussion about the disputed post in the chat room.

We use our best judgement when approving or declining flags. If you disagree, help us do a better job by discussing the flag specifically.

Answer 2

This is covered in the privilege pages:

• https://askubuntu.com/privileges/flag-posts
• https://askubuntu.com/privileges/moderator-tools

It's pretty straight forward, the scope of the site is listed in the FAQ so it's not like we're making judgement calls all the time.

Though every once in a while I might mark a flag as invalid when someone flags an answer that might be not-very-high-quality but isn't so bad that it should be deleted. In those cases IMO it should just be a downvote. I usually decline the flag and then read the answer and it usually just needs a down vote.