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I think the resolution of "it has invalid flags" flag is not only confusing but also harmful to the site. It doesn't reward doing the right thing and doesn't give the proper feedback so people using flags have harder time learning how to use flags. Everyone can see the list of their flags. The resolution is displayed so that people can learn. The numbers of helpful, disputed and rejected flags is displayed to further guide people and reward them (most people would rather see their helpful count go up).

Despite all that, the "it has invalid flags" flag is handled in the opposite way to what it should be. It is handled together with all other flags even though its meaning is the opposite of other flags.

Therefore I would like to propose that "it has invalid flags" flags should be marked in the opposite way to other flags when a moderator makes a decision:

  • when other flags are deemed helpful, "it has invalid flags" flags should be marked as disputed.
  • when other flags are deemed disputed/rejected, "it has invalid flags" flags should be marked as helpful.

That will be much less confusing and will give better feedback to users.

This issue has been brought up a number of times before. I chose to post a new question as I would like to propose a solution to the problem, not just discuss it or seek clarification.

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  • That is confusing... still. Perhaps you could reference the other items that has brought this up already? Commented Mar 9, 2014 at 22:21
  • Look at the Related section to the right of the question, there's a few there. Commented Mar 9, 2014 at 22:30
  • That's how it used to work before it was changed. Commented Mar 9, 2014 at 22:31
  • @IlmariKaronen Isn't it just about flag weights? I'm asking to sort out the flag result that is displayed in flags history. Commented Mar 9, 2014 at 22:34
  • @Szymon Read point 2 of Jeff's answer. It's possible both flags could be correct, so we'd still need a way to dismiss them as disputed somehow. There's really no easy way to solve this other than giving moderators the ability to explicitly act on the "invalid flags" flags before acting on the other flags. Commented Mar 9, 2014 at 22:38
  • @animuson I agree they could be both correct but it doesn't seem to me to be the most common scenario. Especially considering the flood of invalid NAA which people take for incorrect answer flag. Shouldn't the system be built to handle the majority of cases correctly? Now it seems the opposite. Commented Mar 9, 2014 at 22:41
  • I believe this [status-planned] feature request is a more general version of this; dismiss-flags-on-the-same-posts-with-different-validities Commented Mar 9, 2014 at 23:22

1 Answer 1

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You feel this way because you think disputed means rejected. It does not. The three states are:

I think disputed was invented as a workaround for the "all flags need the same disposition" shortcoming of the site. You should think of it as neutral, not negative. (Perhaps it needs a new name?)

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  • That could be the case. A new name would be better as disputed seems to negative. Commented Mar 9, 2014 at 23:28
  • Ok, I read your answer and looked at the results of my flags after that. It all makes more sense now apart from one case: when I add an "invalid flag" flag and the post is still deleted/converted to a comment by a mod, my flag is also marked helpful. That doesn't make sense. Commented Mar 13, 2014 at 10:47

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