@AnnZen The possible outcomes are: Helpful, Declined, Disputed, and Retracted. --- It's uncertain what "Helpful" and that link means. IF they are directing you to that link a neutral response is "Disputed" and a negative response (which is what that appears to be) is: "Declined - Just read this [link]".
@Rob Moderators can't manually dismiss custom flags as disputed, only the system can dismiss some canned flags (e.g. NAA, VLQ) as disputed. Marking as helpful with a reason is done if they believe you flagged in good faith and don't want to penalize you and push you toward a flag ban, but are choosing not to action the request in the flag.
There is also "Aged away", where no action is taken, that was happening on some of my DV fraud flags until a long period of time passed; then someone wrote that they found no evidence. Other "Aged away" replies for different flags simply aged away. Exactly how a flag is handled depends on where and who - a more helpful link for Ann could certainly have been offered, for someone with as high a reputation as her's that info is already known.
While I don't claim to know every moderator on SO what I can say from both my own experience and reading the writings of others is that they wouldn't hesitate to decline a flag, if that is indeed what they meant, and the link implies: 'Don't tell me, or you need to wait longer"; thus it is declined. IF they were prepared to wait on their end it would be ageing, then the outcome would be presented. --- It's a mixed message, that's (presumably) why she asked.
I just posted a Q&A that attempts to address why questions only relating to one site are considered off-topic here. Would be nice if others reviewed it:
This site seems to have a rule that "questions that are only about one site should be asked on the site's own meta", and such questions are nearly always marked "off-topic" here. However, I don't understand why this rule exists.
I checked the help center here, and I found this help page which exp...
@Rob unless it's some new feature, there's no "age away" for flags. I had flags pending for years, probably still have. At some point I stopped checking or being bothered by it.
@ShadowWizardWearingMask What they actually said was, there is the "aged away" status, and, separately, that they raised custom flags that were unhandled for months before eventually being declined as "no evidence".
@AnnZen if you keep getting serial downvotes that don't get automatically reversed after a while, and it's bothering you too much, try submitting "contact us" form, this reach SE staff who are better equipped to detect and handle complex cases. Moderator tools are quite limited on this regard as far as I know.
@SonictheK-DayHedgehog well, it should be mostly common sense: since the site is about the whole network, and each site in the network has its own meta, site specific questions are off topic. Fits as comment, clear enough, so not sure such a detailed post is required.
It's nice to have, of course - but bottom line, when you point people this way, comment with the above content will usually achieve same goal of explaining them the reasoning.
Um, I was thinking the exact same thing just when reCAPTCHAs became mandatory for searching here while logged out. It seems that in the meantime, China began blocking access to that domain. So unfortunately, that hack no longer works. — gparyani10 secs ago
So SE needs to check the location of the user, and based on it, include different JS files. Lots of work, doubt they have the time for such complex change.
With all due respect, it's not Stack Exchange place to fight China. If China blocks something, it's not SE problem.
@ShadowWizardWearingMask I wouldn't mind if only changing a single script resource solves that specific problem and doesn't break for the rest of the world.
StackOverflow itself is accessible, but Captcha won't work, and over 4% of the traffic is from China: en.greatfire.org/stackoverflow.comsimilarweb.com/website/stackoverflow.com --- How much more we'd get if it weren't for the inconveniences and Chinese based competing sites isn't something that can be accurately guesstimated.
@JohnDvorak sure, different thing. Accepting anyone doesn't mean they have to spend money and resources on making the site fully accessible to anyone. I can think of good analogy: trying to play some fancy game on old and slow computer. The game might load, but won't work that great.
Should the company that developed the game make it backward compatible to work flawlessly even on old computers? I don't think so.
Presumably loading a script from an alternate source costs less money than optimizing a game to gain 100x speed increase when the game had already run through several rounds of speed increase?
Also, from quick look in the code on recaptcha.net (turns out link to the code itself works fine), it's just wrapping the code from google.com itself. It's not serving any actual code. So for everyone outside China, it's one more useless step - waste of time. Multiple it by millions per day, and you get lots of wasted time.
@ShadowWizardWearingMask Before the recent hike in captchas, only very little of those would ever be served to real users. Even today, anonymous users usually search for and find things on Google, and don't normally use the site search.
@SonictheK-DayHedgehog That pattern looks like it's already caught by Potentially bad keyword in answer and Potentially bad keyword in body; append -force if you really want to do that.
@SonictheK-DayHedgehog That pattern looks like it's already caught by Potentially bad keyword in answer and Potentially bad keyword in body; append -force if you really want to do that.
Both URLs are identical, and you are allowed to answer your own question, if you agree that the answer is there; a cross-site duplicate can't be closed as a duplicate. — Rob4 mins ago
That was the only reason I repeated the link in my comment - but with inclusion of the title. (And I did not notice when I posted the comment that [meta.so] doesn't work - unlike [so] which gives Stack Overflow.)
@Rob Yes, I know that it links to the same question, but in this way the other users see also the ttle.
I will no object if you expand your comment to an answer - I might wait a bit whether somebody adds a bit more on that, if not I might accept it.
I did not want to create too long thread in the comments - that's why I responded here instead.
@Martin, on a good day in the upper right the "Linked" column would have grabbed the URL and listed it; if you want to search/file that bug too be my guest. --- I have work scheduled, without everyone knowing the which and how of what part of the other helps you (and makes your question valuable here) people need to take the time (each time) to read both. --- I've no objection you pinging here, but it might be a half hour before I answer. --- Thanks for asking your question on MSE.
Maybe using a different font or a small site-icon.
Hijack edit: ~~~~ jco - Based on this discussion: Hodofhod Asks About Intra-network Related Questions
Example. In the below answer from Justin is a link to a Super User post. The current "linked questions" box doesn't show the SU link, but it...
Another possibility is that the your post on MSE will be closed as a Duplicate of the FAQ - because the FAQ should clearly answer your question, making it unnecessary. It should be that a script runs and massages everything into place ...
In the last 90 days, there have been 1592 SO posts that link to other SE sites and 5537 comments (some of which might be to MSE). That's really a tiny number relative to activity on the site. Therefore the feature won't have much of an impact on the whole. But for those questions where cross link...
I didn't like NY while being there for a week, but I'll return just for the salmon bagels they have there. Didn't find anything like it anywhere else in the world/country.
No idea why, it should be pretty simple to make. But it's not, taste is just different.
> "According to popular mythology, the uniquely superb texture of the New York bagel has to do with New York City's water — specifically, its low concentrations of calcium and magnesium, which make it softer.".
> But while New York's water does play a role in influencing bagel texture, the effect is actually pretty minor, according to the ACS video. Harder water toughens the gluten in the dough, while super soft water can make it goopy.
@Tinkeringbell Yes, the reviewers got it wrong; and one has already been told for the last time to report themselves with the Contact Link. --- It's not the opinion queue (too cheap to vote), got to use good judgment and make correct decisions.