How does flag work?

February 14, 2008 6:25 AM

What exactly happens when you flag a post? I know what the general response is, but how does it alert management? Does the post get highlighted, like what us plebes see when something on ask.mefi gets tagged "correct answer"?
posted by crapmatic to MetaFilter-Related at 6:25 AM (41 comments total)

Flags show up in a couple of dedicated area of the admin pages we use to keep track of the site; it doesn't cause any highlighting on the normal site view or anything, just manifests as a ordered list of items with a link to the flagged content.

There isn't currently any active alert system, though we've talked about the idea a little; generally, one or more of use will just glance at the admin interface every so often, look for any new flags, check out what's going on on the other end, and then dismiss the flags once we've made a decision about what to do (delete or not, etc). Or, if one of us sees something kind of dicey but isn't sure what call to make, they'll leave the flags around for someone else to take a look at.
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:34 AM on February 14, 2008

We have an admin interface that shows us who flagged something, what they flagged it as, and a link to the post/comment itself. We also have an aggregated view which has like the top ten flagged items which is most of the time what we pay attention to. Our view of the regular site looks the same as yours except that we can see IP information and have little links to delete stuff and/or close threads. When we remove something from a thread, we remove it from our view of it as well, but the comment is visible on an admin view of the user's information page. Mathowie has a super blurred out version of the admin page with his Flickr pix.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:38 AM on February 14, 2008

Maybe Matt should get his prescription updated?
posted by Dizzy at 6:44 AM on February 14, 2008 [1 favorite]

I'm going to continue to imagine something like this.
posted by Wolfdog at 6:51 AM on February 14, 2008 [8 favorites]

"Maybe Matt should get his prescription updated?"

No, just close one eye and the page will be clear...
posted by Jahaza at 6:58 AM on February 14, 2008

Is there any point whatsoever in tagging stuff in MeTa?
posted by waraw at 7:08 AM on February 14, 2008

Dear amigo, dear partner.

Listen, uh - I just want to say thanks.

So...thanks.
posted by popechunk at 7:42 AM on February 14, 2008 [1 favorite]

Well, that was the wrong thread.
posted by popechunk at 7:43 AM on February 14, 2008

Can we merge this thread with 15788 so that my comment makes sense? Kind of like a MeTa mashup?
posted by popechunk at 7:44 AM on February 14, 2008

I've always wondered how people post in the wrong thread - do you have multiple tags open, read through them, then while reading another one a response comes to mind and you forget to flick back or something?
posted by benzo8 at 7:53 AM on February 14, 2008

Is there any point whatsoever in tagging stuff in MeTa?

Sure. Some things are still out of bounds even in Meta (tossing in people's personal information, crazy racist screeds, aggressive threadshitting, user in trouble) and people's HTML can still break or they can double post a comment. The noise and derail flags in MeTa are rarely something that is followed up by deletions, but we do take a peek just in case. More to the point, all of us read MeTa pretty regularly, so the flags' purpose of "alerting the mods" is sort of redundant in MetaT
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:58 AM on February 14, 2008

Yeah, multiple tabs, multiple Spaces and multi-tasking.
posted by popechunk at 7:59 AM on February 14, 2008

When I flag a post, I hear a tiny bell ring, followed by the sound of Jessamyn's silvery laughter. Then a bluebird drops a chocolate truffle on my head. Why -- what happens when you flag a past?
posted by ottereroticist at 8:02 AM on February 14, 2008 [5 favorites]

I think the only screenshot in the wild is the one I used for a slide background in this presentation. Check out slide 45 to see a page full of flagging metrics.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 8:02 AM on February 14, 2008

I always imagined flashing lights and sirens going off as Matt slides down a pole into an underground bunker where he meets up with cortex and jessamyn to use three keys that they keep around their necks at all times to open up a huge steel door behind which is a big red delete button.
posted by studentbaker at 8:21 AM on February 14, 2008 [2 favorites]

popechunk, I think Laurie would approve mightily of her lyrics being displaced. Something weirdly Burroughsian about it.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:23 AM on February 14, 2008

What's 'user in trouble'?
posted by box at 8:27 AM on February 14, 2008 [1 favorite]

The "think safety" badge on the admin interface is brilliant.
posted by ook at 8:33 AM on February 14, 2008

I think the only screenshot in the wild is the one I used for a slide background in this presentation. Check out slide 45 to see a page full of flagging metrics.

Are posts co-flagged "fantastic post" and "it breaks the guidelines" often?
posted by shothotbot at 8:35 AM on February 14, 2008

Admin dashboard: Bark!
Jessamyn: what is it girl?
Admin dashboard: Bark! Bark!
Jessamyn: ShotHotBot is in trouble? He fell in the ice?
posted by shothotbot at 8:37 AM on February 14, 2008 [14 favorites]

user in trouble;

"Well, I think that the commenter in question is completely in the wrong here; the "@" symbol may be popular on other sites as a form of denoting a quote, but here at Metafilter we have numerous other alternatives that are simply not as distracting. Now, I'm sure people will disagree with me on this point, but I may not be able to respond for a while, as the front of my car is slipping below the hole in the ice and I think my battery may short out and shut off my laptop. But rest assured, when I regain consciousness and get my hypothermia treated, I will have much more to say on this subject."
posted by quin at 8:47 AM on February 14, 2008 [4 favorites]

Are posts co-flagged "fantastic post" and "it breaks the guidelines" often?

Posts, not so often; but comments? I'd guess nary a week goes by without at least one. And it's usually an askme comment; and it's usually pretty funny; and it's always deleted, because, seriously, wtf.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:01 AM on February 14, 2008

"No you stupid bitch I want a biscuit"
posted by Wolfdog at 9:08 AM on February 14, 2008

cortex: "I'd guess nary a week goes by without at least one. And it's usually an askme comment; and it's usually pretty funny; and it's always deleted, because, seriously, wtf."

The flag is usually deleted? Or the comment?
posted by pineapple at 9:22 AM on February 14, 2008

How does flag work?

Have you never heard the sirens? The constant wailing through the night? The relentless pounding... pounding... pounding of the administrator drums? The screams, constant, and peircing? Have you never gazed into the face of one who has been flagged, been covered in their blood, seen the fear in their eyes? Have you never laid awake in the deep stillness of the night, heart pounding, drenched in sweat from the howling of the alarms? Do you not see the signs as you travel to your work each day; the children who lay bleeding in the streets, the emaciated corpses of animals thrown on the trash heap? Have you never received a mysterious letter written on parchment without a return address, predicting your doom? Have you never glimpsed a movement out of the corner of you eye, but when you turned, nothing but shadow was there? Have you never known what it is to be truly, and utterly alone?

These are but a few ways that flagging works in our lives. The signs are there, you just need to open your eyes.
posted by blue_beetle at 9:28 AM on February 14, 2008

Mathowie has a super blurred out version of the admin page with his Flickr pix.

It looks so professional!
posted by davey_darling at 9:31 AM on February 14, 2008

I don't know how flags work on MetaFilter, but I can tell you how they work in general. You step off a ship and place a flag on a bunch of land, and you have declared ownership of that land for your nation. I've also found that it's sometimes fun to put flags of friendly nations on your pirate ship, but, at the last possible moment, when it is too late for the other ship to beat a hasty retreat, to suddenly run up the jolly roger to let them know that no quarter will be taken. And, if I am in a war movie, and the standard bearer gets shot, I will race across the burning sands of some Pacific hellhole, dodging the ack-ack attack of machine-gun fire, to lift the flag from the ground, and wave it in the air as our troops turn the tide of the battle behind me.
posted by Astro Zombie at 9:39 AM on February 14, 2008 [3 favorites]

Does it annoy the admins when people flag posts just for being sucky?

I regularly flag really lame MeFi front page posts, single-link newsfilter and the like. It's my way of saying "this sucks" without going to the thread and snarking, and I'm totally happy for the MeFi admins to accept or dismiss my judgement. I used to flag them "Noise" but that option was removed, so now I flag them "Breaks the guidelines". I do this about once every two days.

Is this kind of flagging useful, or is it just wasting your time?
posted by Nelson at 9:54 AM on February 14, 2008

I think you can pretty much guarantee that an individual flag will only waste your time. I doubt the admins spend much time checking into FPPs that are only flagged once. Accidental flags, outlier jerkwads, etc. If a whole bunch of people flag them, though, then no one's time is wasted, since if a dozen people think it's sucky, it's probably pretty bad.
posted by Plutor at 10:01 AM on February 14, 2008

It's my way of saying "this sucks" without going to the thread and snarking... Is this kind of flagging useful, or is it just wasting your time?

Nelson, either you're more of a newbie than your join date indicates, or that is a truly impressive display of straight-faced sarcasm.
posted by ottereroticist at 10:24 AM on February 14, 2008

Does it annoy the admins when people flag posts just for being sucky?

And do you have some metacritic-style weighting mechanism to account for the hair trigger flaggers and those only flag in extreme circumstances?
posted by shothotbot at 10:25 AM on February 14, 2008

I will race across the burning sands of some Pacific hellhole, dodging the ack-ack attack of machine-gun fire, to lift the flag from the ground, and wave it in the air as our troops turn the tide of the battle behind me.

You...magnificent...bastard...

*dies*
posted by middleclasstool at 10:54 AM on February 14, 2008

The flag is usually deleted? Or the comment?

The comment. If it's a jokey non-answer in askme, adios. Five bonus points for hilarity, infinity demerits for being hilarious in the wrong place.

Does it annoy the admins when people flag posts just for being sucky?

No, it's actually pretty useful as a barometer of how much people actually think something sucks. All three of us have different tastes and different senses of humor, and that goes ten-thousandfold for the userbase, so a little bit of reinforcing data to check our instincts against can be handy; besides which, a flag is often better than an in-thread comment for expressing suckness, if that's all the comment is doing.

And do you have some metacritic-style weighting mechanism to account for the hair trigger flaggers and those only flag in extreme circumstances?

There hasn't been a clear need. People have asked before about whether there's a history of agenda-flagging or flag abuse, and I honestly haven't seen it either in the daily course of working through the queue or in the occasional data-mining experiments I've conducted. I'd love to do a more thorough analysis of it some time when I get my thoughts together on the subject, but in general most of the noise is normalized out by a pretty decent volume of daily flagging.
posted by cortex (staff) at 11:44 AM on February 14, 2008

Flagged.
posted by lohmannn at 11:50 AM on February 14, 2008

Mathowie has a super blurred out version of the admin page with his Flickr pix.

Whoa. The trippy thing is, if you back up far enough from your monitor, you can totally read that screen!
posted by LordSludge at 1:06 PM on February 14, 2008

I just assumed when i flagged a post or a response an email was sent to the cabal. Then they took appropriate action after meeting in a dark wood paneled smoke filled room.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 1:32 PM on February 14, 2008

*A waving flag is seen in the horizon, calling for the MeFiburo to investigate if revisionist comments divert the Filter from the way to best-of-the-web*

Isn't that how it works?
posted by ersatz at 1:42 PM on February 14, 2008

I regularly flag really lame MeFi front page posts, single-link newsfilter and the like.

I do the same, and sometimes I wonder whether I flag too much.

However, I figure the moderators can always choose to ignore my flags if I'm the only one who thinks the post is filled with suck.

Enough of those terrible posts get deleted, though, to make me believe that I'm far from the only one flagging them.
posted by dersins at 3:13 PM on February 14, 2008

It looks so professional!

I think I recognize my name, sneaking on up the list of the top ten candidates for the banhammer.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 4:18 PM on February 14, 2008

No, that list is on a separate page.
posted by cortex (staff) at 4:19 PM on February 14, 2008

"Another flag!"
posted by ctmf at 4:53 PM on February 14, 2008