Comprendere i flag dei post 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.

Flags from well-trusted users might automatically hide the post based on their trust level and flagging history.

Multiple flag actions

If a post receives multiple flags before staff handles it:

1. The post is immediately hidden if “enough” users flag it (e.g., 3 Trust Level 1 users or 2 Trust Level 2 users).
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. After 30 days, hidden posts are automatically deleted.

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 multiple posts in a topic receive flags from at least 5 unique users, the topic closes automatically for 4 hours, pending moderator review. This helps prevent heated discussions from escalating.

Trust level 0 users and spam flags

• Trust Level 0 users are new and less trusted.
• A post from a Trust Level 0 user receiving 3 spam flags will not only be hidden but will also silence the user, 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: No, once a flag is set, only moderators can resolve it.

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

Check document

Perform check on document:

[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]

Mi dispiace riportare in vita questa vecchia discussione. Sono solo curioso: lo staff sa esattamente chi ha segnalato un post quando lo segnalo?

[jomaxro (Joshua Rosenfeld)]

Sì. Il personale può vedere chi l’ha segnalato, il tipo di segnalazione e quando è stato segnalato.

[RPaladin]

Ciao, due domande relative ai flag:

• I moderatori ricevono notifiche sui flag in base alle priorità?
  Non sono sicuro se questo sia predefinito o personalizzato, ma segnalare con “Qualcos’altro” ottiene quasi sempre un moderatore per me, mentre segnalare con uno degli altri tre tipi di flag non sembra esattamente notificare un moderatore, almeno per me, e uso diversi forum Discourse da anni.
• I non moderatori possono rimuovere i flag che hanno segnalato?
  Ad esempio, se dovessi segnalare qualcuno, ma in seguito volessi ritirare quel flag, magari a causa di un malinteso, è possibile? Non sono mai riuscito a farlo, ma forse non sto guardando nel posto giusto.

[not-ethan (Ethan)]

@RPaladin

I moderatori ricevono notifiche di flag basate su priorità?
Non sono sicuro se sia predefinito o per uso personalizzato, ma segnalare con “Qualcos’altro” ottiene quasi sempre un moderatore per me, mentre segnalare con uno degli altri tre tipi di flag non sembra esattamente notificare un moderatore, almeno per me, e ho usato diversi forum Discourse per anni.

Per le opzioni di flag predefinite, dipende dalle impostazioni. Ma gli utenti non scriveranno sempre lo stesso testo in “qualcos’altro” flag, quindi credo che vadano in coda indipendentemente dalle impostazioni.

@RPaladin

I non moderatori possono rimuovere i flag che hanno segnalato?
Ad esempio, se dovessi segnalare qualcuno, ma in seguito desiderassi ritirare quel flag, forse a causa di un malinteso, è possibile? Non mi è mai sembrato di poterlo fare, ma forse non sto guardando nel posto giusto.

No, la funzionalità è stata rimossa. Argomento con alcune informazioni.

[rahim123]

@jomaxro

Se un post rimane nascosto per 30 giorni, viene automaticamente eliminato

Ciao, questo significa che viene completamente eliminato dal database, o solo nascosto a tutti gli utenti normali?

[jomaxro (Joshua Rosenfeld)]

@rahim123

solo nascosto a tutti gli utenti normali

Cancellazione standard, quindi nascosto agli utenti normali.

[rahim123]

Un’altra domanda, i motori di ricerca sarebbero comunque in grado di leggere all’interno di “Visualizza contenuti ignorati”? E in ogni caso c’è un modo per impedire agli utenti normali di poter visualizzare contenuti ignorati?

[rahim123]

@jomaxro

Se un post rimane nascosto per 30 giorni, viene automaticamente eliminato

È questa l’impostazione auto handle queued age? In tal caso, sembra essere 60 giorni per impostazione predefinita.

[VSCPlays]

Come facciamo a sapere quali utenti hanno segnalato il post quando riceviamo il messaggio privato?

[Lilly (Lillian Louis)]

@VSCPlays

Come facciamo a sapere chi ha segnalato il post quando riceviamo il messaggio privato?

viene visualizzato sulla segnalazione nella coda di revisione del moderatore.