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Comments on Miscellaneous Flag modal problems
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Miscellaneous Flag modal problems
Flagging an answer
After pressing "Flag" under an answer there are 3 radio buttons to choose from:
Flagging questions and answers
Some changes would benefit both types of post. Changes specific to only questions are listed later.
Radio buttons "other reason" or "needs author's attention"
Warning of required 15 characters
Choosing "other reason" or "needs author's attention" requires 15 characters be entered in the "Details" field. There is no advance warning that this is required. After attempting to submit the flag, the red message at the top of the screen may be far away (particularly for an answer) and may be overlooked.
Could we change the label of the "Details" field to "Details (at least 15 characters)" when the selected radio button requires this (for both questions and answers)?
Character count
Could there be a countdown (for example, "12 more characters required") that is only visible for radio buttons it applies to (for both questions and answers)?
Flagging a question
After pressing "Flag" under a question there are 5 radio buttons to choose from:
Radio button "needs author's attention"
Red warning message contains no wording
Unlike the meaningful message for "other reason", with "needs author's attention" there is only a number in the red error bar:
(The cause of the error is the same - fewer than 15 characters in the "Details" field.)
Supposedly private flag is posted publicly
The button to submit says "Flag for moderator attention", but if the radio button "needs author's attention" is selected this posts a publicly visible comment and does not notify a moderator. It is reasonable for a user to assume that what they write here will be private. The small print under the radio button saying "This flag will be added as a comment to the post's feedback thread" is much less prominent than the the big button saying "Flag for moderator attention" and the big title saying "Why does this post require moderator attention?".
Should this radio button be in the Flag modal at all? It seems like it belongs with the "Close" button rather than the "Flag" button.
If it does stay in the Flag modal, should the button wording change to say "Post a public comment on the question" to reduce the risk of a user posting something they wanted to remain private?
Radio button "is a duplicate"
Accepts empty input
Choosing "is a duplicate" allows submitting the flag with empty "Details" field, even though the radio button label says "Please enter the URL of the proposed duplicate in the details field below". Even with an empty "Details" field it still adds the flag to the moderator queue. Is this correct? This is no longer the case - the "Details" field cannot be left empty if "is a duplicate" has been selected.
Post
A solution to one of the issues you mention is to ditch the annoying nanny-ware and not require a minimum number of characters in the first place. Sometimes the meaning can be quite clear in a word or two. Length doesn't guarantee quality, and likely hurts quality when forced to add padding.
I actually ran into this, and didn't realize until now what happened. I don't remember the details, but I'm quite confident a moderator would have easily understood the point of the flag. At the time, I thought there was a software glitch. I thought to myself "screw this" and went on to other things. By the time I did the other things I probably forgot to post in meta about it.
Keep in mind that moderators rate each flag as "helpful" or not, so there is already a feedback mechanism for quality.
I'm a moderator on EE, and don't remember any flag where it was unclear what the flagger objected to. Usually it's obvious without any comment. There is no problem to solve here. Let's make the experience easy and welcoming for those trying to help keep the site clean, not make them jump thru petty hurdles that don't really result in a better outcome anyway.
There is now (8 Jul 2023) a meta discussion on removing the minimum character requirements. See https://meta.codidact.com/posts/288918
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