Discussion on question cleanup

5:41 PM

@RobertColumbia @Ward @RobertLongson @Pierre.Vriens @rene @SonictheAnonymousHedgehog

Hey there folks!

11

Q: What was the "invalid flag" flag? What was the "10k flag queue"?

Many older questions and answers here on Meta discuss or mention an "invalid flag" flag, often in the context of the "10k flag queue". However, right now, there's no such flag, and there's no such queue. What is the context of these posts? (In other words, what were these flags and this queue abo...

3

Q: If a topic gets closed for a different flag other than the one you raised does your flag get dismissed at cost of flag weight?

Lets say a topic is non constructive - off topic and there was no real question to answer and it was a rant-disguised as a question and you flag the post as off topic. but few hours latter you find the post to be closed as non-constructive. on some posts you find the opposite happen. What happens...

support flag-weight

1

Q: What happens to my flag weight if the author of the post I flagged got deleted before flag threshold reached? Ignored?

What will happen to my flag weight if user get deleted before flag threshold(6 flags) reached? Looks like flags are just get ignored, but shouldn't that plus to our flag weights? I am not serious about it, but just curious. Example posts (all are spam posts, need 10k to view it) http://stacko...

discussion flag-weight deleted-accounts

4

Q: Should I be able to gain flag weight for flagging my own questions?

I asked two questions which shouldn't have been asked in the first place. One question was a duplicate and another question was my own misunderstanding about how SO and MSO are counted separately from the remaining 58 SE sites. So, I flagged my own questions. I think that my flag weight increase...

discussion flags flag-weight

13

Q: Flag weight deputy badge bug?

I've been on "flag weight 500 (max)" on main for a while (probably the best part of a day, if not longer), but I've not been awarded the Deputy badge. Am I missing something or is this a bug?

bug status-completed badges flag-weight

14

Q: What causes a recommend closure flag to be marked disputed, versus helpful or declined?

I know that this type of question was asked many time, but I didn't find answers related to my specific questions anywhere. At this answer it is explained about disputed flags of types NAA, VLQ, offensive and spam, by there is no mention about off-topic flags. Here I found explanation that after ...

discussion flags off-topic on-hold disputed-flags

61

Q: I can dispute flags without 10k rep, and so can you!

So I sent this bug report to SE by e-mail, but they told me to post it here... It seems that anyone can create dispute ("invalid flag") flags on any post, even if they don't have the 10k "moderator tools" privileges, simply by modifying a normal "flag" link using standard developer tools in thei...

bug status-completed privileges security disputed-flags

We noticed a pattern of "clean up" on flag-related posts, particularly in posts about obsolete bits of the system

while we do appreciate a good community-driven cleanup, y'all know it's always a good idea to document these somewhere

maybe that was only that, and you had no intention of keepin' at it

but in case you do: please create a Meta post first, so it's both documented and everyone can have their say

Furthermore, if y'all do that, it's much more likely that we're able to build a proper list of the posts that need this sort of clean up... and then we can actually script the cleanup! Instead of you needing to do all the manual work ;)

Anyway, lemme know if you have any thoughts or concerns :)

rene

5:58 PM

As far as I'm concerned I review them in the close queue. Is that a problem @JNat?

JNat

You only voted on two of those, which is prolly not enough for you to notice a trend

but if you do notice a trend... yeah, better to try to have a more visible and coordinated process :)

rene

Well, I do notice that I'd rather not have them in the CVQ at all but if someone took the effort to bring it in front of me I might as well vote on it based on the today standards.

I think last week I saw flag-weight as topic

there is no "we" here. At least it is not coordinated or initiated by me.

Are you also addressing the initial flagger/close voter here?

JNat

@rene yup

rene

Going forward, what should be the preferred action for me as reviewer? flag for a mod if I suspect a clean-up? Post on meta? skip? something else?

JNat

Posting on Meta is prolly the best way to go about it, yeah

@rene and I guessed that might be the case too, by the way: folks just usually on the review queue might not be engaging in a coordinated effort for cleanup, but rather just doing what they always do

however, like I mentioned, if you notice a trend... see above :)

rene

6:12 PM

You don't know how much I hate process and rulez ;) .... I 'm here to escape from the SOCVR burden ;)

I'll pay attention.

JNat

Thanks! :)

Ward

6:46 PM

So instead of just voting in the review queue we should post something if we think someone's doing a cleanup? ie ask a meta-question to see if people think the questions (whatever they happen to be about) need to be cleaned up?

The problem I have with asking on meta is that a) I'm lazy: reviewing is easy, formulating a question is more effort b) by the time I notice a trend, I've already decided whether I think the old questions are worth closing or not, so it's too late to ask for guideance

The old flag-weight questions that someone's been bumping into the queue lately are the biggest batch of related questions I've seen, but it happens every couple of weeks: a few related questions show up in the close queue. Most of the time it's only a handful of questions and by the time it occurred to me to ask a question about them, they're done.

I see there's a concern that it's coordinated and I can't say anything about that - no one knows me or communicates with me online enough to coordinate anything with me!

Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog

7:19 PM

@JNat The only reason I vote to close those is because I see them in the Close Votes queue; in fact, a quick inspection of question timelines will show Close reviews corresponding to those close votes.

I might show up as the first close voter on some of those, but only because it came up there in response to a flag.

I believe @pppery may have flagged at least some of those; they let me know in a comment somewhere (can't find a link) that they're actively flagging them and their bio implies that they're going around and flagging them.

> Meta Stack Exchange has an unmanageably large number of no longer reproducible or site-specific questions that nobody has bothered to close. This is a big problem.

In fact, I pinged them previously letting them know that general etiquette is not to go around and hunt for them; only vote or flag if you happen to come across one (which for me, includes via the CV queue):

in Tavern on the Meta, Sep 5 at 1:30, by Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog

@pppery Just FYI, general site etiquette is not to go around and specifically look for site-specific or no-longer-reproducible questions and vote or flag to close them. Generally, we only vote or flag to close if we happen to come across one; we don't go about and hunt for them.

in Tavern on the Meta, Sep 5 at 1:30, by Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog

9

A: What should be done here on Meta in case the close vote queue gets filled with questions?

The problem arises from users who go on systematic hunts for questions that technically fit criteria to be closed, but aren't actually getting in anyone's way. For clarity, this means questions that haven't been recently bumped by organic activity don't have a tag that needs final burnination r...

It's also worth mentioning that I even reviewed a few of them that are sort of relevant today as Leave Open; it appears those were closed anyway.

Robert Longson

7:54 PM

There appear to be fewer flag weight items in the review queue today. Either the flagger has turned down the wick or they've run out of flag weight posts to flag.

rene

8:56 PM

@Ward well, you're now in this chatroom and you're being influenced right now. Welcome to the MSECVR! The chatroom to stop coordinated voting rings ... (jk, I see myself out)

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♦ Discussion on question cleanup