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Until recently, comment flag type did not matter very much and as moderators we basically processed them regardless of type.

As a reminder when flagging there are the following options:

enter image description here

From here:

  • rude or offensive — comments that violate the “be nice” rule
  • not constructive / off-topic — comments that do not contribute to improve the post are ripe for deletion
  • obsolete — for example, criticism of a post that has been satisfactorily addressed by the author
  • chatty — anything that's not really relevant (e.g. “+1” comments)

The reason I am mentioning this is that Stack Exchange now automatically generates a flag for moderators if anyone has a fairly low threshold of rude/offensive and/or "not constructive" comment flags. For example, if someone flags enough of my comments, as moderators we will have to review an automatically generated flag.

Because of this, the moderation team would appreciate if comments are flagged based on the above categories. Understandably, the difference between "chatty" and "not constructive" is fairly subjective and generally speaking, it's fine to error on the side of "not constructive" if you aren't sure.

But if comments are primarily "too chatty" please use this flag type.

Any questions, feel free to ask.

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  • 1
    I'm not understanding. It generates new flags when someone receives a LOW number of flags? How come and what is the new flag for? – Chris E Oct 26 '16 at 16:27
  • @ChristopherEstep I clarified. Poor wording on my part. – enderland Oct 26 '16 at 16:28
  • People actually use the flags? – Kilisi Mod Oct 27 '16 at 14:26
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    @kilisi - If you visualize the flags your comments it would look like a putting green with them all over everywhere... See now that was not constructive. Your comment was probably more of the too chatty. – IDrinkandIKnowThings Oct 27 '16 at 19:01
  • @IDrinkandIKnowThings ahhh, I get ya, I don't use them myself, they're only comments – Kilisi Mod Oct 27 '16 at 21:01
  • I still don't quite get it. Do you mean that the system automatically approves flags (i.e. takes action) once a post gets a few of the same flags in those categories? Generating new flags doesn't make sense to me. – Lilienthal Mod Oct 28 '16 at 10:46
  • I hope Enderland will explain more, but it could be one of those under the hood things that SE would prefer not fully explained. – IDrinkandIKnowThings Oct 28 '16 at 15:42
  • My apologies, I didn't see this until now. (Oh, it's "not constructive" that generates the flag) – BSMP Oct 28 '16 at 19:15
  • I tend to use "too chatty" for conversations that are developing in the comments and for answers in comments (that's what answers are for). Is that consistent with your approach? If so, you might want to add these two common use cases to this post. Thanks. – Monica Cellio Oct 31 '16 at 19:11
  • @MonicaCellio, enderland, do comment flag declines count towards a flag warning or ban? – user30031 Nov 8 '16 at 23:25
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    @DoritoStyle no, just post flags. – Monica Cellio Nov 9 '16 at 1:39
  • This should be required reading for all uses of this site/forum. – Neo Mar 3 '17 at 17:26
  • @enderland , it's not clear in your question/post whether you're saying the SE team is reviewing one person who flags several comments incorrectly, or if you're saying the SE team is reviewing one person who's received many flags of a certain type. Additionally, it's unclear what the purpose of that review is, and what actions might be taken as a result. Because of this, it leaves a lot of ambiguity here... Could you explain in more detail? Of course we don't need to know everything but it's pretty unclear as is (in my opinion of course) – schizoid04 Jun 25 '17 at 1:57
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This would be much easier if SE permitted us to correct erroneous input. Unfortunately once you have made a suboptimal choice, intentionally or accidentally, you are stuck with it until/unless the question is frozen and thawed.

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