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I think that the scope of a flag is to make moderators aware of content that request their intervention. And also I think that this site really only support English. Now, some of moderators can find helpful if I flag a non-English question and some of them send me to translate the content (I will not do this because I'm not an English speaking):

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My question: does it make sense to flag in the future non-English questions?

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1 Answer 1

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mod roles.

Mods are glorified janitors - we try to do our best to cleanup where things are drastically/dramatically need our intervention. Examples - spam, bad language, etc etc.

However, we - like you - are users of the site who can edit and fix-up questions and answers with gramatical errors, typos, poor headings etc.

Language issues fall in the latter category IMHO. Anyone can translate. Anyone can also use google-translate or other translation tools.

Whilst there are a few mods with multiple language skills, most of us are native english speakers and at best would use google-translate.

Thus - its not for Mods to edit these sorts of questions. This task is for all of us - all editors of Ask Ubuntu. Hence, flags shouldnt really be used for this editor task.

If you dont feel comfortable doing the translation - just drop a comment, reminding the OP of the FAQ and pointing out the use of English. Other members of AU who do speak the OP's language will do the translation.

TL;DR: Do not flag language issues. Translate them yourself.

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    So, the simple answer is no, do not flag non-English questions? Jun 11, 2013 at 22:17
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    @RaduRădeanu Yes. There is no need to flag this. If you can do it then there is no reason to flag
    – Seth
    Jun 11, 2013 at 22:18
  • @Seth Thanks, that's what I wanted to know. Jun 11, 2013 at 22:21
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    @fossfreedom I always thought translating the question is not a good idea because if they can't ask a question in English how are they going to understand the Answer if its in English? If they didnt think to use transate to pose the question then why would we assume they will use transslate on the answer?
    – Meer Borg
    Jun 18, 2013 at 17:00
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    @MeerBorg of course they can use google translate themself ;)
    – Rinzwind
    Oct 19, 2014 at 17:44

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