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There is this question Can a flag that attracts moderator action be treated as invalid?
which deals with the general idea behind the validity of any flag.

What i am asking is the specific flag option when we hit the flag button. The area in which we address the moderator regarding the type of attention that is required. Can this flag be dismissed as invalid? Meaning who ever raised it Did not need to and it did not warrant a mods attention?

For instance this topic https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/73667/mobile-games-paid-vs-ad-supported I was unable to define the exact nature of the problem, as i was unable to find its duplicate here. IMHO it needed a mods attention. Hence i flagged it using the inform moderator flag stating that it could be migrated to gamedev.stackexchange.com - the idea in itself is valid. and it is valid topic. Mod attention was required and the topic was closed as duplicate.

Leaving me miffed as to why this type flag was dismissed as invalid. specifically when this was not defined In absolutes as off topic or duplicate or does not belong here.

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  • Don't worry so much about the valid/invalid dismissal. Your flag was dismissed before the duplicate was found and the action you called for in the flag wasn't warranted. I'm guessing that's why it was dismissed that way. It's not a big deal.
    – Adam Lear StaffMod
    Commented May 4, 2011 at 19:11
  • I am asking about the feature implementation. Well In case any one else comes across this atleast now they would know even this can be dismissed as invalid.
    – Aditya P
    Commented May 4, 2011 at 19:14
  • @Anna it is because people were concerned about this 1 the flag weight was shown 2 Now we can see the summarized details of the flag weight. specifically the counts of total flags,valid,invalid, and no action taken. At least people will be able to understand This feature better.
    – Aditya P
    Commented May 4, 2011 at 19:19

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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For the most part, any moderator flag can be dismissed as valid or invalid. Comment flags can only be dismissed. There is no explicit valid/invalid distinction, but comment flags that aren't acted upon can decrease the flag weight as Mark described here.

"It doesn't belong here" flags from users with enough rep to vote to close will get converted to close votes, so there's nothing to dismiss there. For users with less than 3,000 rep, they will appear as normal flags for moderator attention.

I don't recall off-hand how spam flags I handled, but I believe those can be dismissed as valid or invalid as well.

As Mark said, we look at all flags, so flag weight on Programmers doesn't carry as much value as it would on busier sites.

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  • +1 for more detailed and better answer :)
    – Aditya P
    Commented May 4, 2011 at 19:22
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Any individual flag can be dismissed as valid or invalid. In this specific instance, your flag was:

Kindly Migrate to expert site gamedev.stackexchange.com

The question, as explained in my comment on the question, did not warrant migration to GameDev.SE and as such, was dismissed as invalid. It was later found to be a duplicate of an earlier-asked question on Programmers.SE and was closed based on that.

To quote myself on an earlier question about flagging:

[P]lease don't put too much weight into flag...weight, especially on Programmers.SE. We don't get so many flags per day that having a low flag weight actually matters: we act on everything, even if that action is to take no action right away.

Flag weight determines the sorting of flags on the moderator tools screen. We don't get so many flags as to not be able to act on every single one in due time, and your flag weight is so high (currently 602.4794) that you are almost certainly at the top of the flag list regardless of a few false positives.

Keep flagging when you think you see something wrong: we appreciate it.

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  • +1 for answering the direct question.It never hurts to understand a feature better. Certainly This Point will be useful to people who are flagging.
    – Aditya P
    Commented May 4, 2011 at 19:21

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