Flags when people haven't done anything wrong

You’re right: there should be a way to bring a post to a moderator’s attention without flagging it. I suppose you could just PM them directly but that is cumbersome and inelegant.

What’s worse is if you do flag a post and it’s determined that the flag is unwarranted, you can lose “reputation” on the forum for that flag when it is overturned.

@Reaperoa’s the expert on this current forum system. I still feel like I’m fumbling around with it half the time. (I keep accidentally replying to the wrong person and still amn’t sure how to fix that).

Anyway, flags. https://meta.discourse.org/t/so-what-exactly-happens-when-you-flag/275 probably isn’t helpful? There may be something else on the discourse forum that is?

Do you have a link to the flagged post? I might be able to fix that. Or it might require the flagged user to just edit their post since editing a flagged post automatically clears the flag from it.

As for the best way to contact us, well I used to just message all of the mods in one big message. I’ve no idea if there’s a quick way.

Sorry not so helpful I know.

@Dashingdon We can just hit defer which doesn’t cause any negative reputation loss, instead of disagreeing with the flag.

I guess if you want to bring it to the moderator’s attention, you could just reply to the post in question and @ the moderators. It seems less cumbersome than a PM, anyways.

2 Likes

@Hell_Satan If you read the forum rules, and then chose to follow them, then perhaps you wouldn’t get so many flags. And don’t bump anymore inactive WIP threads.

@Mirabella Yeah that’s another idea. Of course it depends on what you want the moderators for.

1 Like

Oh, good to know that mistakes are that easy to fix. The post I was thinking of was awhile back, and it looks like it got unhidden. It was a more of a general issue, which @Mirabella’s suggestion would fix.

I usually have a good nose for what should be flagged and what shouldn’t be.

I’ve never been in a situation where I’ve been unable to successfully judge whether a post should be flagged or not, but I do have a contingency plan.

If I ever find myself in a situation where I don’t know if a post is acceptable or unacceptable:


I would create a PM that includes the name of the thread in the title.

I would place a link to the post (in the thread) in the body of the message and write out my concerns.

Then, I’d include all of the Moderators (and a few Administrators) as recipients of the PM.

After the issue is addressed, cue me talking the Moderators/Administrators to death in successive messages that span across several days.

Whatever the answer is, it’s not flagging. Flagging always ends up with someone getting smacked for it. If it’s not against the rules, don’t flag it. Best way, use the PM system, and just put a link to the post.

'Cause you have a high ratio of flags that mods have agreed with. In the case of your story, it was actually probably you that got a knock on your account (assuming whoever caught that one checked the right box).

That answer your questions?

The knock on reputation is really only going to affect you flagging people. It seems like you’d have to spam pointless flags for the system to do anything other than just ignore you. There’s really no negative for a flag getting rejected unless you’re doing it everyday over the course of months.

@Hell_Satan Regarding your phone problem, that’s probably better reported here: https://meta.discourse.org We only use the software, we don’t have much control over how it works, nor can we really bugfix.

1 Like

I once got randomly flagged for asking if anyone could help me with a question on coding ,not actually getting them to code for me, and someone flagged it because of that? Even though it never states you can’t ask questions on coding, really annoying when you haven’t done anything wrong.

@Cat_Raider If you disagree with a flag you’ve received then feel free to contact the moderators to speak about it. Especially if it’s something that’s going to bother you for months. We don’t actually dish out most of the flags though, and sometimes posts do get flagged mistakenly.

As you’ve said, you are allowed to ask for help on how to code something, you’re just not allowed to ask for coders.

1 Like

@FairyGodfeather I got flagged for asking if a game was still being made or if it was stopped, I am not sure if there is something wrong with asking that question and I dont want the flag to have a negative effect on my profile. So I thought to search on the forums unsure what to do.

1 Like

https://forum.choiceofgames.com/faq

“Don’t post no-content replies. (This includes “BUMP”ing dead threads.)”
“Don’t keep asking when a game will be released. Usually the author doesn’t know.”

WIPs are essentially the one topic that really aren’t supposed to be necroed, because authors don’t tend to forget their works. If they had something new to post, they would already be doing so.

1 Like

@Reaperoa So asking if a game is still being made still counts as asking when its being released? Also will it effect my profile negatively?

  1. Effectively the same thing. It’s a no content post either way.

  2. Essentially no. For any actual action to be taken, it’d have to become habitual.

Oh okay thank you for being patient with me I am new to the forums and still learning. I also deleted the comment.

1 Like

Jason’s made a couple of recent edits to the “keep it tidy” section of the FAQ, which will hopefully make CoG forum etiquette clearer to new members. There’s now a rule:

“Unless you’re the author, don’t post in WIP threads that are dormant for more than two weeks or so.”

And the “don’t ask when a game will be released” rule now also mentions asking for updates.

5 Likes

Hmmm…I’ll merely ask how’s Nepal been treating you and the pebbles then @Havenstone?

Make sure to wave hello too pagan min on your way there . :stuck_out_tongue:

I thought he got taken out when his helicopter crashed when it got hit by a rocket.
For some reason his pen disappeared as well