40 votes

Thank you to whoever removes spam from Ask Ubuntu

Not to put down Mithrandir's answer or Charcoal which indeed does a terrific job, but it's not only the awesome Charcoal folks and SmokeDetector who keep Ask Ubuntu clear of spam, it's also site ...
Zanna's user avatar
  • 70.4k
33 votes
Accepted

How do I flag correctly?

The following are some guidelines for flagging on Ask Ubuntu. These guidelines are derived from existing policies set out in the help center, Ask Ubuntu Meta and Meta SE, and were further refined by a ...
terdon's user avatar
  • 100k
33 votes

Thank you to whoever removes spam from Ask Ubuntu

You're welcome! ;) We're an organization known as Charcoal, or Charcoal-SE. Check out our website https://charcoal-se.org for some amazing spam detection! But seriously.... yeah, we're Charcoal, ...
Mithical's user avatar
  • 129
19 votes

How do I flag correctly?

First off, read the section on flagging in the help center - there's a ton of good information there, and links to more. Second... Don't think too hard. Flagging is something that's made available to ...
Shog9's user avatar
  • 101
15 votes
Accepted

At 10k rep, can you flag still?

Yes, you would still have the ability to flag when you hit 10k, however, the system does not allow you to review your own flags.
Thomas Ward's user avatar
  • 74.4k
14 votes
Accepted

You are currently banned from flagging - view flags declined in the last 7 days

As Thomas Ward puts it We are a bit harsh when it comes to the use of the VLQ flag. We reserve the VLQ flag for totally, completely, unsalvageable crap, not for unclear questions. [...] VLQ has some ...
pomsky's user avatar
  • 68.3k
13 votes

How strict should off-topic questions be flagged as such?

This is 100% about using a command line tool that ships with Ubuntu as part of the coreutils package. There aren't many tools that are more Ubuntu. In the same way that we answer Ubuntu users' ...
Oli's user avatar
  • 293k
13 votes
Accepted

Should a post be flagged as spam if an author is clearly *not affiliated* with the promotion?

OmgUbuntu is not Spam; it is a much frequented Ubuntu blog and links to it pop up occasionally, and I don't believe we want such posts being Spam-flagged when we use links to it in chat or on the site,...
Videonauth's user avatar
  • 33.3k
12 votes
Accepted

Why am I able to flag my own questions?

Because flagging is better than deleting most of the time¹... A duplicate is a placeholder for the next person googling an answer. An off-topic question points to StackOverflow, Unix & Linux, ... ...
Fabby's user avatar
  • 34.2k
12 votes
Accepted

A VLQ flag invalidated by a minor edit

The answer was indeed not helpful since the ~ are absolutely fine, as you pointed out. I have now deleted it. Next time, if a post requires attention and none of the standard flags fit (or are ...
terdon's user avatar
  • 100k
11 votes

Should "try this" or "x doesn't work, use y" type answers be flagged?

I am going to take the opportunity to say I personally dislike that Yoda comment a lot! Here is a completely awesome answer framed as a suggestion... However, when the person answering actually ...
Zanna's user avatar
  • 70.4k
11 votes

How can one retract or undo a flag on a post?

Following this longstanding request on Meta Stack Exchange you can now retract flags you have cast. Simply click the "flag" button again on the post you flagged and the "Flag Answer" (or "Flag ...
Seth's user avatar
  • 58.1k
11 votes
Accepted

Why does my name not appear while flagging posts?

That's because flagging a post is not the same as casting a vote to close (commonly abbreviated as VTC around here). Everyone with at least 15 reputation can flag a post but only users with 3000 ...
edwinksl's user avatar
  • 23.8k
11 votes
Accepted

Flag declined because OP edited their answer in the meantime and I wasn't notified

Moderators only get "Helpful" or "Declined" for flag states. In this case, I marked it as "declined" because at the time of the flag being reviewed, it was not valid, and I didn't find the flag to be ...
Thomas Ward's user avatar
  • 74.4k
10 votes
Accepted

What should I (or we) do about answers that obviously miss the point of the question entirely?

Yes, that post should have been deleted and has been deleted now. No matter what we claim, mods are humans too and sometimes, we overlook posts (just like that answerer) and mistakenly act on flags. ...
jokerdino's user avatar
  • 41.3k
10 votes

Why my spam flag has been declined?

The answer in question is not considered spam for several reasons. I will be quoting from Seth's answer on the related post about what constitutes spam to analyze this. Advertisement Is this an ...
Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy's user avatar
10 votes
Accepted

How to deal with "feature request" questions?

If someone asks how to do something that can't be done, and you know it can't be done and you can explain why or at least demonstrate that it cannot, then you can answer the question. If it can't be ...
Eliah Kagan's user avatar
10 votes

You are currently banned from flagging - view flags declined in the last 7 days

I recommend reading How do I flag correctly? if you have not yet done so. If an answer should be deleted because it does not attempt to address the question that was asked, that's not an answer. If ...
Eliah Kagan's user avatar
10 votes
Accepted

Make it possible to retract flags on comments

This is a status-deferred request on Meta SE.
muru's user avatar
  • 197k
10 votes
Accepted

Why not an answer flag declined?

It seems to have been a mistake, I think. I would agree with your flag. As others pointed out, it got deleted via community vote now anyway. Thanks for reporting and sorry for the confusion and ...
Byte Commander's user avatar
  • 107k
10 votes
Accepted

How to find posts I had flagged?

In the Activity tab of your profile, click on the helpful flags item in the IMPACT box. Despite the name, this is the place where you can find all your flags, both helpful and declined.
BeastOfCaerbannog's user avatar
9 votes
Accepted

My flags have been waiting for review for 10+ days?

All the flags you have currently pending are close flags (flags for the closure of questions). These aren't shown to moderators directly, but are placed in a queue for users with 3,000, or more, ...
Seth's user avatar
  • 58.1k
9 votes

How strict should off-topic questions be flagged as such?

General usage of command line tools available on Ubuntu is usually on-topic here, as is shell scripting. On the other hand, I see no particular reason why that question should belong on SO; there is ...
muru's user avatar
  • 197k
9 votes

Flags shouldn't be "declined" as if they were always invalid if they were valid when they were cast

So you have a situation where someone (you don't specify if it's the original author or some passing editor) takes the time to follow the link, suss out whatever is relevant on the other side, and ...
Shog9's user avatar
  • 101
9 votes
Accepted

Should "try this" or "x doesn't work, use y" type answers be flagged?

Thanks for bringing this up. I will add my voice to Zanna's and also state my, rather intense, dislike of that comment. First of all, it is very often wrong. Words like "try" and "might" are ...
terdon's user avatar
  • 100k
9 votes

Which flag should be raised for answers about Kali Linux?

The OP wrote in the first sentence of his answer: We tried Kali & Ubuntu Linux on Crouton with Enlightment desktop and got the same error. The OP also posted the following comment below his ...
karel's user avatar
  • 114k
9 votes
Accepted

Seeking support/feedback about closure flags not resulting in a page closure

I am not debating the validity of your individual flags. The validity of each flag can be debated for a lot of flags. I think this question is based on a lack of information and feedback due to your ...
Mark Kirby's user avatar
  • 18.5k
9 votes

Why not an answer flag declined?

Sometimes I don't feel self-confident enough to flag an answer without commenting below it to explain the reason why I flagged it to other reviewers, but I think it's safe to flag link-only answers ...
karel's user avatar
  • 114k
8 votes

Flags shouldn't be "declined" as if they were always invalid if they were valid when they were cast

Yes, this is essentially what Shog9 said, with added emphasis, catering more to the string of now-deleted comments than the question as it stands. High-quality answers are the most important thing ...
Oli's user avatar
  • 293k
8 votes
Accepted

One-line response: what flag?

One line answers themselves aren't necessarily bad. "To fix this foo the bar" is an answer. Not the most descriptive answer, but is one. Don't flag these. I don't downvote these, but you are free to ...
Seth's user avatar
  • 58.1k

Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible