What is meta? ×

Based on screenshots seen from Jeff's screen, the number of flags is indicated beside the "mod" link for diamond moderators

I think it's a good idea that 10k users see the number of spam/offensive flags (like the one shown on the "flags" tab in the /tools) near the "tools" link at the top of the page. It will result in faster elimination of spam posts.

By the way, I think it's more useful to show the number of flagged posts rather than total flag count. Even better: subtract the ones that you have already voted on.

P.S. Where's the new mod to work hard removing spam in quiet hours?

share|improve this question
And while we're at it, the other four tabs should still be visible when we're viewing the flagged-posts tool. –  mmyers Jan 20 '10 at 19:34
I just realized it's pretty ironic to propose such a feature with my current meta name. –  LeakyCode Jan 20 '10 at 19:52
Where did you find that screenshot? In particular, where can I find an edited version of it? –  Andreas Bonini Jan 22 '10 at 12:11
@Koper: It's not a full screenshot. That's the whole thing. You can find it on one of the old posts (as you can infer from Jeff's low reputation) of the SO blog. –  LeakyCode Jan 22 '10 at 12:14
oh, ok, thanks [15 chars] –  Andreas Bonini Jan 22 '10 at 12:15
Not a bad idea. I stop by Meta a lot but I'll only read things over once a day usually - if there aren't flags I move on. –  Tom Ritter Jan 23 '10 at 6:36
Screenshot is broken. –  Jon Seigel Jun 16 '10 at 3:37
@Jon: Eh, the image hosting service has probably deleted it. I can't recall what I had posted 4 month ago myself :) –  LeakyCode Jun 16 '10 at 10:31

7 Answers 7

up vote 8 down vote accepted

I think this would be very good. I only check the mod tools once a week, if that... simply because when I get there, it is empty (I guess SO is busier than SU so more interesting page!).

If I actually saw a number and it was just a click away, I would happily "mod" a lot more.

share|improve this answer

I use a greasemonkey script to get the desired effect:

Screenshot of the script on MSO Screenshot of the script on a beta site

It's really simplistic but seems to work fine. source code, direct install link

share|improve this answer
Hey Michael, the script was broken due to changes in the HTML structure, so I fixed it and posted it in your answer. Feel free to update it in your repo. :) It's working great, and makes the 10K experience on non-Stack Overflow sites a lot cooler (since you don't actually see flags in the toolbar unless there are at least 5, which rarely happens). I refer to this as having the "moderator experience". –  jmort253 Nov 1 '12 at 3:37
@jmort253 Thanks, updated on userscripts. I pulled out the Area51 stuff and tweaked it a little so it will still show the flags indicator if a suggested edits indicator is already present –  Michael Mrozek Nov 2 '12 at 17:07
Oh cool. I didn't test to see if it would get pulled out for suggested edits because that bat signal actually appears to the right of the "tools/review" link. Good find! :) BTW, I see flags on MSO a lot more often now! –  jmort253 Nov 2 '12 at 20:36
As we discussed earlier, I created a feature request to reduce the flag bat signal from 5 to 1 on beta sites and non SO sites. Also, you're welcome to leave the other screenshots in your post if you want. It could be good for people to see this isn't just for Stack Overflow anymore, especially since flags show up there by default. ;) Also, love the optimizations! The code looks a lot cleaner! –  jmort253 Nov 3 '12 at 0:18
I have one more bug fix. The mod flags for a diamond moderator uses a different href than "/tools/flagged", so I end up seeing 2 flag indicators on the site where I'm a mod. if($('#hlinks-nav > .mod-flag-indicator:not(.suggested-edits-count)').length > 0) // flags indicator already present. If you put the .mod-flag-indicator back on line 32 and then also add :not(.suggested-edits-count) that should account for the case where the suggested edit flag is present as well as making sure moderators don't see 2 flag bat-signals. Tested on PMSE w/suggested edit and flags in the system... –  jmort253 Nov 4 '12 at 8:30
Also tested on Stack Overflow both with and without suggested edits. Also tested on Workplace SE with and without flags. –  jmort253 Nov 4 '12 at 8:31

I like this idea. Moderators love their flags, so I think the 10k tools could have their visible flag count also.

Also, I suggest keeping the same blue color.

share|improve this answer

This seems like a decent suggestion... I gotta admit, I rarely visit the flags page; out of sight, out of mind.

share|improve this answer

We now display the "bat signal".

  1. If your flag weight is higher than 550 we will display an indicator that flags are pending your review, once a day.
  2. If your flag weight is less than 550 there is a 1 in 5 random chance you will get the bat signal.
  3. We never display the "bat signal" if less than 5 flags are pending review.
share|improve this answer
Are you sure about the "once a day"? I see it on every page view. (I don't complain about this, I just thought you might adjust your answer.) –  Paŭlo Ebermann Aug 31 '11 at 0:30

I definitely think that this would help close the gap between moderators and 10k users. Plus, if the users already have the information available, it seems natural that they should have it.

share|improve this answer

Especially as the number of 10k users grows, this depends on how much emphasis we want to place on dealing with spam/offensive flags. When those issues are on active questions, they can be sorted out by the community (anyone with at least 15 rep):

Posts flagged as offensive or spam do not necessarily require action!



  — spam/offensive flags page in 10k tools

I think the count shown for moderators is only the "moderator attention" flag, rather than spam and offensive. Moderators are the only ones that can handle those flags, and some of them (but not the majority) require urgent attention. Additionally, and even if it's the full count for all 3 types of flags, the purpose of moderators is to deal with those, while most 10k users aren't even interested.

I'd rather see a new option to let 10k users see it if they want, and not otherwise (and by default?).

share|improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .