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I flagged a comment by the OP of this question (now deleted) as "rude or offensive".

I don't have access to the comment any more (and don't know if it was eventually removed), but for the <10K+ users it basically was OP's rant about the response the question got (a link to Where to Start?) and how asking a bunch of "computer nerds" was a waste of his/her time and how he/she shouldn't have expected a "socially acceptable response" from the users here. I was moderately surprised when I checked back and found the flag was declined.

Now, I personally don't think that this was overly rude; I just felt it crossed the line of respectable behavior and could be reasonably construed as rude by another user. Now that I think about it, "rude or offensive" could be a bit of a stretch, as this is probably pretty mild compared to some other stuff people have left...

I'm not particularly worried about the declined flag itself; I would just like to know where I went wrong so I can avoid making the same mistake again.

Would flagging as "Not constructive" have been a better choice? Should I be saving "Rude or offensive" for the more vile comments some users might leave?

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  • Don't worry to much about it. The large majority of flags are handled by the moderators. Only flagging for spam triggers an automated response. Jul 19, 2014 at 19:57
  • @BartvanIngenSchenau Your comment made me realize that I forgot to include my actual question in my question. Oops... Edited, hopefully makes more sense now.
    – awksp
    Jul 19, 2014 at 20:11

1 Answer 1

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I fat fingered this.

The conversation in the comments had definitely taken a non constructive turn, and your flag was helpful (~ it pointed me to the right direction). The type of the flag is secondary, and it didn't play a role here.

Apologies. I owe you a helpful flag ;)

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    No worries about the mistake; happens to the best of us. Thanks for the quick response! Just for future reference, though, is there ever a time where the distinction between "not constructive" and "rude or offensive" would be important? Or is just getting something bad flagged the overriding concern no matter the specific type?
    – awksp
    Jul 19, 2014 at 20:34
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    @user3580294 With comment flags, the specific type of the flag doesn't really matter. Pick the one you think best describes what's going on (nc is broader than rude/offensive, it may be the safer choice between the two). With post flags, on the other hand, the type of the flag sometimes matter, as it will enter the flag in one of our review queues (e.g. close flags -> close queue, very low quality flag -> low quality posts queue)
    – yannis
    Jul 19, 2014 at 22:51
  • All right, that clears everything up, and the bit about post flags is a great addition. Thanks again!
    – awksp
    Jul 19, 2014 at 23:08
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    @user3580294 if one more person (I've got the same declined flag) had flagged it, it would have been auto-deleted (see 'Who can delete comments' in meta.stackexchange.com/q/19756/213963 ). There are also certain words that will cause the comment to be deleted with a single flag (as hinted at in meta.stackexchange.com/a/99853/213963 ) - I'm moderately surprised that the comment didn't fall into that category.
    – user40980
    Jul 20, 2014 at 16:36
  • I think this is why you are one of my favorite mods on SE. I may not agree with you but you are rational and willing to admit when you make a mistake. Jul 22, 2014 at 19:07

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