# Automatically remove posts if they receive too many flags
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/automatically-remove-posts-if-they-receive-too-many-flags/293326
**Category:** Support
**Tags:** moderation
**Created:** [January 29, 2024, 5:34pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/automatically-remove-posts-if-they-receive-too-many-flags/293326 "2024-01-29T17:34:04Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@anon36555649](https://meta.discourse.org/u/anon36555649)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2024, 5:34pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/automatically-remove-posts-if-they-receive-too-many-flags/293326/1 "2024-01-29T17:34:04Z")
Is there a way for flagged posts to be automatically taken down completely from public view if there are a lot of flags or any other settings?
With the current system to hide flagged posts, they are still visible if anyone clicks the “see ignored content” link, so that only really seems to be effective for anyone who just skims over without bothering to investigate why something was flagged.
This might not be too critical at sites where there is active moderation being done, but with some sites with no moderators posts will still exist for all of infinity if there is no administrator or moderator response to the flags.
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### Author:  [@Moin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Moin)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2024, 6:06pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/automatically-remove-posts-if-they-receive-too-many-flags/293326/2 "2024-01-29T18:06:52Z")
> [@anon36555649](#):
>
> With the current system to hide flagged posts, they are still visible if anyone clicks the “see ignored content” link,
They are only visible to users, who are author of the post, staff or member of a group, which was allowed through the “hidden posts visible group” setting. You can see it here [https://try.discourse.org/t/spam-post-to-flag/1482](https://try.discourse.org/t/spam-post-to-flag/1482)
You can read more about the change here [The persistence of posts hidden by flags are a bane to our community - #28 by ted](https://meta.discourse.org/t/the-persistence-of-posts-hidden-by-flags-are-a-bane-to-our-community/109969/28)
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### Author:  [@anon36555649](https://meta.discourse.org/u/anon36555649)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2024, 6:11pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/automatically-remove-posts-if-they-receive-too-many-flags/293326/3 "2024-01-29T18:11:02Z")
Oh good to know, that is a change with the more recent version then looks like.
> [@The persistence of posts hidden by flags are a bane to our community](https://meta.discourse.org/t/the-persistence-of-posts-hidden-by-flags-are-a-bane-to-our-community/109969/28):
>
> As of [this change](https://github.com/discourse/discourse/pull/21052) we have changed the behaviour as described by @mcwumbly above, and regular users (including the flaggers themselves) will no longer be able to expand the ignored content. This is the new baseline behaviour, and doesn’t require any additional setup. We didn’t include the ability to configure whether TL4 users should be able to as part of this change to keep the scope manageable. By default TL4 users can still expand the hidden content.
Had noticed this happen at an older site that must be using a previous version of discourse, flagged posts are still visible to the public not just logged-in users.
That other topic that was linked has been closed, could continue talk from there if anyone wants to talk more about this here is quote of original post:
Continuing the discussion from [The persistence of posts hidden by flags are a bane to our community](https://meta.discourse.org/t/the-persistence-of-posts-hidden-by-flags-are-a-bane-to-our-community/109969):
> [@The persistence of posts hidden by flags are a bane to our community](https://meta.discourse.org/t/the-persistence-of-posts-hidden-by-flags-are-a-bane-to-our-community/109969/1):
>
> Community moderation is great – if enough people flag a post to hide it, moderators don’t need to get involved. What’s better is that the user who made the post is given an opportunity to improve the post so that it abides by the rules. But what if the user opts not to improve the post, and just lets it sit? The post remains “hidden” for all eternity.
This isn’t always necessarily true, overall I would say respecting freedom of speech is much more important to most people than for flagged posts to be censored. However it can be important for there to be active leadership in talks and not let things descend into chaos, which usually happens when there is no leadership.
Lastly would say for this flag system could help if there is a setting (if there isn’t already) for posts to be fully removed just initially/temporarily if they are flagged past a certain threshold, until they can be reviewed by mods/admins who can then decide if anything needs to be edited/censored.
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### Author:  [@Moin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Moin)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2024, 5:53am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/automatically-remove-posts-if-they-receive-too-many-flags/293326/5 "2024-01-30T05:53:17Z")
> [@anon36555649](#):
>
> flag system could help if there is a setting (if there isn’t already
If you don’t know which features are already there, you can try to find a (#Documentation) topic and read about it. Then you can find for example [Managing user reputation and flag priorities](https://meta.discourse.org/t/user-reputation-and-flag-priorities/123464) which explains some settings.
> [@anon36555649](#):
>
> overall I would say respecting freedom of speech is much more important to most people than for flagged posts to be censored.
> [@Limitations of freedom of speech?](https://meta.discourse.org/t/limitations-of-freedom-of-speech/177045/40):
>
> Freedom of speech affords people the right to say what they like. **It does not give them the right to say it wherever they like.** That’s a very important distinction.
> [@Limitations of freedom of speech?](https://meta.discourse.org/t/limitations-of-freedom-of-speech/177045/7):
>
> Sidenote that moderating something because it doesn’t fit within your [community guidelines](https://meta.discourse.org/guidelines) is in no way a limitation of someone’s freedom of speech. This is my go-to comic that I use for replies when people complain about this:
>
> 
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### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2024, 5:54am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/automatically-remove-posts-if-they-receive-too-many-flags/293326/6 "2024-01-30T05:54:35Z")
> [@anon36555649](#):
>
> Had noticed this happen at an older site that must be using a previous version of discourse, flagged posts are still visible to the public not just logged-in users.
Can specify who can see the hidden posts. From the topic you linked:
> [@The persistence of posts hidden by flags are a bane to our community](https://meta.discourse.org/t/the-persistence-of-posts-hidden-by-flags-are-a-bane-to-our-community/109969/37):
>
> Thanks to @nat’s guidance, I submitted a PR to core. Now you can customize who can see hidden posts. partying_face[https://github.com/discourse/discourse/pull/21853](https://github.com/discourse/discourse/pull/21853)
> [@anon36555649](#):
>
> This isn’t always necessarily true, overall I would say respecting freedom of speech is much more important to most people than for flagged posts to be censored.
I would disagree - from what I’ve seen, most forums prefer to have posts that are against forum rules to be flagged and moderated, as opposed to a free for all of “free speech”.
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### Author:  [@anon36555649](https://meta.discourse.org/u/anon36555649)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2024, 7:20pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/automatically-remove-posts-if-they-receive-too-many-flags/293326/7 "2024-01-30T19:20:01Z")
Well indeed, private communities do have the right to enforce their own rules and policies in addition to public laws.
There is always a cost to speak, or write, even typing comes at a cost of the energy to manually type letters in addition to the cost of what people will think of what has been said or written.
For public realm sites meant to provide opportunity for people to be able to speak and write freely without their words being changed or censored unreasonably is what I was talking about, especially if they are government funded then they represent the tax-payers and therefore must respect their freedom of speech if they are to be considered a lawful branch of government.
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### Author:  [@ondrej](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ondrej)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2024, 12:17am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/automatically-remove-posts-if-they-receive-too-many-flags/293326/8 "2024-01-31T00:17:59Z")
> [@anon36555649](#):
>
> opportunity for people to be able to speak and write freely without their words being changed or censored unreasonably
I agree with @Lilly here. People can say quite nasty things and claim its freedom of speech 🤷
For example… I login to a community to read and contribute about its purpose eg. Meta = Discourse. If people began posting things under the argument ‘freedom of speech’ discussions would derail and quickly become off topic/inappropriate. I’d much rather those posts be moderated.
But ultimately, it all comes down to what the staff allow on a community. When a user creates an account they are agreeing to comply with the sites terms of service, in which somewhere (hopefully) are content guidelines.
> [@anon36555649](#):
>
> government funded then they represent the tax-payers and therefore must respect their freedom of speech
You would definitely expect a professional approach if it was a branch of the gov but again my points above stand.
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### Author:  [@anon36555649](https://meta.discourse.org/u/anon36555649)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2024, 5:13am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/automatically-remove-posts-if-they-receive-too-many-flags/293326/9 "2024-01-31T05:13:04Z")
> [@ondrej](#):
>
> If people began posting things under the argument ‘freedom of speech’ discussions would derail and quickly become off topic/inappropriate
Well that certainly can happen, but I don’t agree that anytime people can speak freely the conversation is always going to go completely off the rails like that. If that does start to happen that can be a good time for there to be some moderating or statements made by leadership in regards to [community guidelines](https://meta.discourse.org/guidelines).
Marked this topic as solved but there is more that could be talked about.
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### Author:  [@JammyDodger](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JammyDodger)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2024, 4:42pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/automatically-remove-posts-if-they-receive-too-many-flags/293326/12 "2024-01-31T16:42:54Z")
This seems to have noticeably drifted from the original question. Let’s close it off now it’s solved to stop it drifting further off-topic. 👍
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### Author:  [@JammyDodger](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JammyDodger)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2024, 4:43pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/automatically-remove-posts-if-they-receive-too-many-flags/293326/13 "2024-01-31T16:43:34Z")