# Topics automatically closing due to flags?
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/topics-automatically-closing-due-to-flags/40275
**Category:** Feature
**Created:** [February 28, 2016, 3:40am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/topics-automatically-closing-due-to-flags/40275 "2016-02-28T03:40:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@anon34394924](https://meta.discourse.org/u/anon34394924)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2016, 3:40am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/topics-automatically-closing-due-to-flags/40275/1 "2016-02-28T03:40:43Z")
> This topic is temporarily closed due to a large number of community flags
How is the threshold by which this event happens set? How can I change that threshold or disable this completely?
---
### Author:  [@Mittineague](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Mittineague)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2016, 4:14am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/topics-automatically-closing-due-to-flags/40275/4 "2016-02-28T04:14:51Z")
Admin → Settings → Spam
**BUT** if this is happening I think you probably have an underlying problem that should be addressed, not by tweaking the threshold values, but by evaluating just what kind of community you want to have and why this is happening. .
To highlight my opinion, the settings and their default values are
> num flaggers to close topic - default 5
> Minimum number of unique flaggers that is required to automatically pause a topic for intervention
> num flags to close topic - default 12
> Minimum number of active flags that is required to automatically pause a topic for intervention
IMHO these default values are not insignificant.
This means if a topic was closed at least 5 _different_ members saw a problem with it that they felt was bad enough to make them Flag
And that at least 12 Flags were given.
Not every community is “all work and no play” or “all fun and games”
That is, _why_ are members Flagging?
Does the community have different ideas as to what is OK and the more “conservative” are Flagging the more “liberal”? (i.e. are the forum policies spelled out clearly)
Are some members “ganging up” on other members? (do moderators need to become more involved)
---
### Author:  [@anon34394924](https://meta.discourse.org/u/anon34394924)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2016, 4:30am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/topics-automatically-closing-due-to-flags/40275/5 "2016-02-28T04:30:27Z")
awesome yes this is exactly what i was looking for.
five people is not a large number given the sheer size of the site i manage. i am using wp-discourse for a blog with 2.5 million monthly unique viewers. i have 48 gigs of ram dedicated to discourse now. on a busy night there’s going to be at least 5 people flagging at least 12 times in every single thread on the site. they aren’t illegitimate flags, we just get a lot of terrible trolls trying to disrupt our community unfortunately.
---
### Author:  [@riking](https://meta.discourse.org/u/riking)
#### Post date: [February 29, 2016, 6:28am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/topics-automatically-closing-due-to-flags/40275/6 "2016-02-29T06:28:17Z")
> [@anon34394924](#):
>
> they aren’t illegitimate flags, we just get a lot of terrible trolls trying to disrupt our community unfortunately.
~~That sounds like a contradictory statement to me 😉~~
Oops - just realized what you meant there - the users are flagging genuinely bad posts, but there’s a lot of them and a lot of flaggers.
In that case, that’s what the configurable thresholds are there for.
---
### Author:  [@Mittineague](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Mittineague)
#### Post date: [February 29, 2016, 6:35am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/topics-automatically-closing-due-to-flags/40275/7 "2016-02-29T06:35:36Z")
I was thinking that because it’s _Active_ Flags, it might be a good idea to recruit a few more Moderators to deal with them more timely.
With such a large membership, surely there are a few prospects, no?
---
### Author:  [@system](https://meta.discourse.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2018, 11:54pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/topics-automatically-closing-due-to-flags/40275/8 "2018-12-23T23:54:45Z")
---
### Author:  [@system](https://meta.discourse.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2021, 2:03am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/topics-automatically-closing-due-to-flags/40275/9 "2021-11-19T02:03:25Z")