# When you Disagree with a "Something Else" flag the message doesn't reflect this
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/when-you-disagree-with-a-something-else-flag-the-message-doesnt-reflect-this/61379
**Category:** UX
**Created:** [21.Апрель.2017 08:17:56 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/when-you-disagree-with-a-something-else-flag-the-message-doesnt-reflect-this/61379 "2017-04-21T08:17:56Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@1101010](https://meta.discourse.org/u/1101010)
#### Post date: [21.Апрель.2017 08:17:56 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/when-you-disagree-with-a-something-else-flag-the-message-doesnt-reflect-this/61379/1 "2017-04-21T08:17:56Z")
I hope I’m being clear here?
So if someone flags a post and chooses ‘something else’
but as a moderator you elect to ‘Disagree’ it still sends the standard message:
> Thanks for letting us know. We agree there is an issue and we’re looking into it.
Which is obviously not accurate.
Here’s an example:
(I should point out this flagging was joke to me by another member hence the content may look weird, but that’s not the point.)
---
### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [21.Апрель.2017 08:22:03 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/when-you-disagree-with-a-something-else-flag-the-message-doesnt-reflect-this/61379/2 "2017-04-21T08:22:03Z")
That’s intentional. People would not react well if the reply was
> Your flag was wrong. You are a bad person and you should feel bad.
We generally want to _encourage_ flagging, even if we don’t agree with it. So a positive message is necessary in all cases.
If you _really_ disagree with a “something else” flag, smack the reply button on the flag, and explain in detail..
---
### Author:  [@1101010](https://meta.discourse.org/u/1101010)
#### Post date: [21.Апрель.2017 08:46:29 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/when-you-disagree-with-a-something-else-flag-the-message-doesnt-reflect-this/61379/3 "2017-04-21T08:46:29Z")
Well I’m not suggesting you write something like that! It would be harsh! 😃
You could just say, “The moderating team understands your concerns but we don’t agree with this flag at this time”? Or maybe disagreeing with a ‘Something else’ flag should prompt you to write a response message.
Otherwise from a user point of view they flag the post for ‘something else’, say “can you please move this post as the start of a new topic”, you as a moderator disagree and click ‘disagree’, then you go off and do other stuff. Meanwhile the person who flagged it gets a message saying, “Thanks for letting us know. We’re looking into it” but then no action is taken which prompts them to message you eventually.
Out of interest, is there a way to alter these message templates anywhere in the system if we should want to?
Thanks
---
### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [21.Апрель.2017 08:49:35 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/when-you-disagree-with-a-something-else-flag-the-message-doesnt-reflect-this/61379/4 "2017-04-21T08:49:35Z")
Sure, to alter the message visit, Admin, Customize, Text Content.
---
### Author:  [@fefrei](https://meta.discourse.org/u/fefrei)
#### Post date: [21.Апрель.2017 08:53:33 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/when-you-disagree-with-a-something-else-flag-the-message-doesnt-reflect-this/61379/5 "2017-04-21T08:53:33Z")
If the message is the same, for _Something Else_ flags, is there any difference between agreeing and disagreeing?
---
### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [21.Апрель.2017 08:55:06 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/when-you-disagree-with-a-something-else-flag-the-message-doesnt-reflect-this/61379/6 "2017-04-21T08:55:06Z")
It is tracked internally as a disagree. Longer term we had planned to disable people’s ability to send flags if you disagree with their flags enough.
In reality, there are never enough flags and flag signal for that to matter – at least I’ve never seen it on any Discourse site – so we didn’t do anything with it yet.
---
### Author:  [@1101010](https://meta.discourse.org/u/1101010)
#### Post date: [21.Апрель.2017 09:02:14 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/when-you-disagree-with-a-something-else-flag-the-message-doesnt-reflect-this/61379/7 "2017-04-21T09:02:14Z")
The message isn’t actually the same I have realised. It doesn’t say ‘we agree’ but semantically (in my view) it still conveys the moderating team haven’t disagreed with the flag.
Thanks for the help in finding the text and the info. 🙂 I’m happy to close this .
---
### Author:  [@riking](https://meta.discourse.org/u/riking)
#### Post date: [21.Апрель.2017 09:31:06 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/when-you-disagree-with-a-something-else-flag-the-message-doesnt-reflect-this/61379/8 "2017-04-21T09:31:06Z")
Yup, the “we agree there is an issue” is subtly removed; easy to miss when scanning.
The text on Defer/Disagree could be replaced with “We’ve received the report and are looking into it.” but I’m not quite sure the change is worth the effort?
---
### Author:  [@1101010](https://meta.discourse.org/u/1101010)
#### Post date: [21.Апрель.2017 10:08:58 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/when-you-disagree-with-a-something-else-flag-the-message-doesnt-reflect-this/61379/9 "2017-04-21T10:08:58Z")
I don’t really understand the difference between defer and disagree, to be honest.
Recently got caught out by one aspect which is that if someone flags a post as problematic you can ‘agree’, ‘disagree’, or ‘delete’.
At the time I just presumed that I should hit ‘agree’ as this would cause the post to be deleted whereas ‘delete’ wouldn’t confirm with the person who flagged it that we agreed.
Unfortunately it just hid the post and then I ended up in a weird place where it would no longer accept flags to delete it because it was hidden (but any user could unhide it).
It was only later I spotted the Spanner tool in the thread view had the ‘select posts’ option that allowed you to delete an individual post. 🙂
---
### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [21.Апрель.2017 20:17:55 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/when-you-disagree-with-a-something-else-flag-the-message-doesnt-reflect-this/61379/10 "2017-04-21T20:17:55Z")
Defer simply makes no decision and dismisses the flag, agree is thumbs up, disagree is thumbs down.
---
### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [31.Март.2018 06:34:12 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/when-you-disagree-with-a-something-else-flag-the-message-doesnt-reflect-this/61379/11 "2018-03-31T06:34:12Z")
Note that defer was changed to ignore to make this distinction more clear.
---
### Author:  [@tophee](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tophee)
#### Post date: [31.Март.2018 08:57:09 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/when-you-disagree-with-a-something-else-flag-the-message-doesnt-reflect-this/61379/12 "2018-03-31T08:57:09Z")
I suppose “Ignore” only applies to me so that other staff will still see the flag? In that case maybe “Dismiss” would be clearer, though still not entirely unambiguous.
---
### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [31.Март.2018 09:06:09 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/when-you-disagree-with-a-something-else-flag-the-message-doesnt-reflect-this/61379/13 "2018-03-31T09:06:09Z")
You suppose incorrectly!
---
### Author:  [@tophee](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tophee)
#### Post date: [31.Март.2018 09:59:15 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/when-you-disagree-with-a-something-else-flag-the-message-doesnt-reflect-this/61379/14 "2018-03-31T09:59:15Z")
Okay, in that case the ambiguity is even more consequential because misinterpretation will lead to the flag to be entirely forgotten, even though the user only ment to let other staff decide.