A user, dandv, flagged their own post to update a dead link and a moderator intervened to prevent a strike against them. HAWK believes that agreed flags against a user’s own posts may not negatively affect their promotion to TL3 status, but acknowledges that a @tech-advocate would need to confirm this. However, jomaxro found in the spec file that a user flagging their own post does count against them if the flag is agreed with, unless a moderator ignores or disagrees with the flag.
…will that count as a strike against the user?
Saw this from a forum moderator after I flagged an old post of mine to update a dead line (since the edit window expired):
I’m going to disagree with your post flag to prevent discourse from counting strikes against you!
That’s very nice of the mod, but is it necessary, or does Discourse not count flags by a user of that user’s own posts?
I think that the only negative result of having an agreed flag against your name is the inability to be promoted to TL3 within a certain time period, and I don’t think that counts if the flag is yours, but one of the @tech-advocates will be able to check the code and confirm (or not).
Looking at the spec file it does appear that a user flagging their own post counts against them, if the flag is agreed with. Moderators can ignore or disagree with the flag to ensure it doesn’t count against the user. Personally I use ignore, as the flags intent is usually to get the moderator’s attention, not “flag” bad content, and thus there’s nothing to disagree with.