Is it possible to change the way reputation points are affected by a flagged post?

Question

I like the idea of being able to flag posts that are inappropriate, it helps keep the site clean, safe and an enjoyable learning environment. Unfortunately there are those who abuse this privilege. As a result of experiencing an unwarranted flag/spam myself, I have also come to find out that many people on this site have also been the victim of unfair flags. People work hard to develop their reputation and I don't think is fair that someone can come along and indiscriminately hurt a well earned reputation.

My question is: Can the site be set up in way that would allow a moderator to review a flagged post before reputation points are deducted? If the moderator agrees the post deserves to be flagged then the points can be deducted. I think this would still accomplish the goal of maintaining a safe and enjoyable environment while also protecting everyone from malicious flaggers.

What do you think?

Answer 1

Marianne

I guess what came out in my post "Lets see how many views we can get on a post." did not reflect my intent. My thought process was that someone had come up with a great game with thousands of views, hundreds of answers and something that was obviously enjoyed by a large number of people on the site.

In the original post I did say “Start a new thread or restart the game on the old thread and lets see how high we can make those numbers go!”

I did not realize that violated any policy. I just thought it would be fun to see how many people would get involved in the game. Kind of like the lottery, the bigger the jackpot, the more the excitement grows.

Also, in my own humble defense, I was not trying to do this to get points or anything else for myself, I made the suggestion that April, if she wanted to do it, start or restart the game. Any benefit of a successful game would have gone to her.

I did read Eddy's post about inappropriate posting. While I don't really see how my post conflicts wiIh that statement, considering I was encouraging a game about increasing our Spanish vocabulary, I will try to be more careful in the future.

April's idea was a hit! But there are plenty of more creative learning games out there waiting to be discovered. You may think of one yourself. And when you do, throw it out there. I'll play! :-) - chaparrito, Dec 16, 2009

True, and thanks, maybe I will. - elcielo, Dec 17, 2009

Answer 2

Elcielo said:

As a result of experiencing an unwarranted flag/spam myself...

I disagree. I don't think the flag on your post was unwarranted at all. Your post said something like "Lets see how many views we can get on a post." These types of frivolous "questions" are something that the administrators have been trying to deal with.

Take a look at Eddy's post on what an abuse of the General Discussions category is and then ask your self if your post fits that description. I think it does.

Answer 3

I think that your idea sounds like a good one, however, that could be possibly be a lot of work for the moderators to go through and look at every post that was flagged, to see if it was inapropriate. As nizhoni1 referred to, there was a poster a while ago who went on indiscriminately flagging posts, and if the moderators had to look through and decide about every single one of them, well, that would take a while.

Answer 4

Not sure Elcielo. I noticed the flag on one of your earlier posts and was somewhat puzzled by it.I know recently someone that has now been banned from the site was flagging everyone maniacally. My points were corrected after they were banned, so it must be able to be changed but that was a very particular/peculiar event.

I have been a member less than a month so obviously this kind of stuff is new to me. I don't want to step on any toes if this is not a big problem. Just trying to figure things out and offer some helpful ideas if possible. - elcielo, Dec 16, 2009