Understanding post flags in Discourse

[Discourse]

This guide describes what happens when a post is flagged in a Discourse forum. It covers various flag scenarios, including single and multiple flags, along with their impacts on posts and users. This information is particularly relevant for administrators, moderators, and users with a high trust level.

Required user level: All users (Administrators and Moderators for some actions)

Flagging posts is an essential moderation tool in Discourse forums. Flags help maintain community standards by allowing users to report inappropriate content. When a post is flagged, it enters a review process that involves several possible automatic and manual actions.

Summary

This documentation covers:

• The flagging process
• Actions triggered by single and multiple flags
• Impact on trust level 0 users
• How editing flagged posts works
• Automatic topic closure due to multiple flags
• Additional considerations and best practices

Flagging process

When a user flags a post, several actions can occur:

Single flag actions

When a single user flags a post:

1. The post appears in the review queue.
2. Staff and category moderators can review the flagged content.
3. Actions available to the staff include:
   • Agreeing with the flag.
   • Disagreeing with the flag.
   • Ignoring the flag.
   • Hiding the post, triggering an automatic private message (PM) to the user encouraging an edit.
   • Silencing the user.
   • Suspending the user.
   • Deleting the post.

When high_trust_flaggers_auto_hide_posts is enabled (the default), a single spam flag from a Trust Level 3+ user will automatically hide a Trust Level 0 user’s post.

Multiple flag actions

If a post receives multiple flags before staff handles it:

1. The post is automatically hidden when the accumulated flag score exceeds a threshold determined by the hide_post_sensitivity site setting. Flag scores are calculated based on the flagger’s trust level and flagging accuracy — higher trust users contribute more score per flag.
2. Different views:
   • The post author sees a message indicating the post was flagged by the community.
   • The community sees a message that the post is temporarily hidden.
   • Staff sees the actual post dimmed to indicate it is hidden for others.
3. A friendly PM is sent to the author explaining the next steps, indicating that editing can un-hide the post.
   
   

Editing flagged posts

• Author edits flagged post: The post is immediately un-hidden and remains in the review queue for moderation.
• Author does not edit flagged post: The post stays hidden indefinitely unless a moderator intervenes. If the delete_old_hidden_posts setting is enabled (the default), hidden posts are automatically deleted after 30 days.

Re-flagging a post

If a post hidden by flags is flagged again after being edited, the flags require manual handling by a moderator. No further automatic editing opportunities are given to the user.

Automatic topic closure

If the accumulated flag score across a topic exceeds the auto_close_topic_sensitivity threshold, and the flags come from at least num_flaggers_to_close_topic unique users (default: 5), the topic closes automatically for num_hours_to_close_topic hours (default: 4), pending moderator review. This helps prevent heated discussions from escalating.

New users and spam flags

• Users below Trust Level 1 are new and less trusted.
• If a user below Trust Level 1 receives spam flags from at least num_users_to_silence_new_user unique users (default: 3) and the accumulated spam score exceeds the silence_new_user_sensitivity threshold, the user will be automatically silenced, preventing further posting until a moderator reviews the flags.

Best practices

• Encourage users to flag inappropriate content responsibly.
• Regularly review flagged posts to ensure swift and appropriate actions.
• Educate your community about the flagging process to foster a proactive moderation culture.

Common issues and solutions

Q: Do likes affect flags?
A: No, a flagged post will be hidden regardless of the number of likes.

Q: Can users who flag see who else flagged the post?
A: No, only moderators can see who flagged a post. This protects user privacy.

Q: How quickly do flags need to be applied to prevent email notifications?
A: Flags must be applied rapidly to prevent email notifications. This depends on the site’s email notification settings.

FAQs

Q: Can non-moderators retract their flags?
A: Yes, users can retract their own flags within the post_undo_action_window_mins window (default: 10 minutes). After this window expires, only moderators can resolve the flag.

Q: Does editing flagged posts override admin site settings for minimum trust level to edit?
A: No, flagged posts follow specific flag settings regardless of the site-wide edit settings.

Additional resources

• Discourse Moderation Guide
• Notification to flagger(s) when a flagged post is edited?
• How can you undo a flag?

Last edited by @hugh 2024-06-18T02:42:28Z

Last checked by @hugh 2024-06-18T02:42:35Z

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[wolftune]

I actually really prefer the approach where you don’t need mods to step in. That’s the best part of Discourse’s approach to flagging. But the concern about getting notified about edits is spot on. However, it should be the flaggers who flagged in the first place getting the notification IMO, not the mods getting notified:

I opened this: Notification to flagger(s) when a flagged post is edited?

@AdamCapriola

Allowing a post to be flagged a second time seems like an unnecessarily added step to me; let it take one flag and be sure the issue is resolved.

I disagree about that. That pushes against the learn-by-editing approach. The goal is not just that one post is fixed, the goal is that people learn to avoid the bad patterns overall, and if it takes some people more than one edit to learn what’s acceptable, fine.

[codinghorror (Jeff Atwood)]

@AdamCapriola

I really think mods should get a notification when the user edits their post so they can view and make sure it’s ok. I will flag a post + hide a post and think it’s done with, but then maybe I come back later and see all the user has done is add one of these to their post:

Yes, agreed, this has bugged me for a long time.

The sad reality is that so few posts get flagged to threshold, and then edited, that we have precious little signal to work with.

[faujidoc1 (Kabir Bakshi)]

I have a question regarding the other person in the exchange viz… the person the flagged post was addressed to.

Let’s say that X posts a reply to Mr Nice. A moderator / the community notices that X has made a hateful post, flags it and the post is hidden. We know that X will get a email as described above, we know the post will be hidden on the forum… that’s all described above. But what about Mr Nice? Will Mr Nice still receive the hateful post as an email, (if our forum is set to send emails about new posts) despite the post having been hidden? What if the post was flagged and hidden in a timeframe less than the timeframe set for email notification of replies?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[codinghorror (Jeff Atwood)]

Unfortunately, no – but when they visit the site they will see that the post has been hidden through flagging, or that a staff member has opted to remove the post.

[faujidoc1 (Kabir Bakshi)]

Thanks Jeff! It’s great to hear that the flagged post will not be delivered as an email to the adressee.

[codinghorror (Jeff Atwood)]

Sorry if I was not clear. The flagging would have to happen very rapidly to prevent an email notification from being sent (and remember that Discourse won’t mail you if any device has pinged the website recently to avoid double notifications). It just depends how fast the flags come in.

[Erik_Gundersen]

Do Likes have any affect on the system response to flags?

[jomaxro (Joshua Rosenfeld)]

They do not, no. Even a post with 50 likes that hits the flag threshold will auto-hide.

[Gordon_Lu]

Sorry to bring this old thread up. I’m just curious - does staff know exactly who flagged it when I flag a post?

[jomaxro (Joshua Rosenfeld)]

Yes. Staff can see who flagged it, the type of flag, and when it was flagged.

[RPaladin]

Hi, two flag related questions:

• Do moderators receive flag notifications based on priorities?
  I’m not sure if this is by default or by custom usage, but flagging with, “Something Else,” almost always gets a moderator for me, while flagging with any of the other three flag types doesn’t exactly seem to notify a moderator, at least for me, and I’ve used several Discourse forums for years.
• Can non-moderators clear flags that they’ve flagged?
  For example if I was to flag someone, but then later wish to retract that flag, perhaps because of a misunderstanding, is this possible? I’ve never seemed to be able to do so, but perhaps I’m not looking in the right place.

[not-ethan (Ethan)]

@RPaladin

Do moderators receive flag notifications based on priorities?
I’m not sure if this is by default or by custom usage, but flagging with, “Something Else,” almost always gets a moderator for me, while flagging with any of the other three flag types doesn’t exactly seem to notify a moderator, at least for me, and I’ve used several Discourse forums for years.

For the default flag options, it depends on the settings. But users won’t always write the same text in something else flags so I believe they go in the queue no matter the settings.

@RPaladin

Can non-moderators clear flags that they’ve flagged?
For example, if I was to flag someone, but then later wish to retract that flag, perhaps because of a misunderstanding, is this possible? I’ve never seemed to be able to do so, but perhaps I’m not looking in the right place.

No, the feature was removed. Topic with some info.

[rahim123]

@jomaxro

If a post stays hidden for 30 days, it is automatically deleted

Hi, does this mean that it’s completely deleted from the database, or just hidden from all normal users?

[jomaxro (Joshua Rosenfeld)]

@rahim123

just hidden from all normal users

Standard deletion, thus hidden from normal users.

[rahim123]

Another question, wouldn’t search engines still be able to read inside “View ignored content”? And at any rate is there a way to prevent normal users from being able to view ignored content?

[rahim123]

@jomaxro

If a post stays hidden for 30 days, it is automatically deleted

Is this the auto handle queued age setting? In that case it appears to be 60 days by default.

[VSCPlays]

How do we know the users who flagged the post when we get the private message?

[Lilly]

@VSCPlays

How do we know the users who flagged the post when we get the private message?

it shows up on the flag in the moderator review queue.