

Help Center > Privileges > flag posts

flag posts

Privilege type: Moderation privilege

Awarded at: 15 reputation

What is flagging?


  1. Spam (i.e. undiscriminated bulk advertisement)
  2. Rude or abusive
  3. Not an answer (answers only)
  4. Flag to close (questions only)
    1. Duplicate question
    2. Off-topic (with sub-reasons)
    3. Unclear what you're asking
    4. Too broad
    5. Primarily opinion-based
  5. Very low quality (i.e. no amount of editing can salvage the post) (posts scoring 0 or less, under 7 days old, and not already in review only; not available on closed questions)
  6. in need of moderator intervention


When should I flag?


How do I flag?



Flag dialog for question


Flag dialog for answer

Click the flag icon to the left of the comment you want to flag and you will see the pop-up dialog pictured below.


Flag dialog for comment

What happens when I flag something as spam or abusive?

The spam and abusive flags are designed to automatically eliminate truly disruptive posts through the collaboration of the community.


What happens when I flag a comment?


What happens when I flag something as in need of moderator intervention?


Is there any way to remove flags?

If, while your flag is still waiting to be handled, you re-open the flag dialog, you'll be presented with the option to retract your pending flag:

retract flag option

You cannot raise the same type of flag twice on a post: for example, if you retract a "spam" flag, you won't be able to raise a spam flag or an abusive flag in the future.

Retract flags only when you're sure there's no need for the post to be flagged, or you become convinced that a more serious type of flag is needed.

What happens to flags?

Many flags are handled by other members of the site like yourself, who've earned review privileges. Close flags, Not an Answer, and Very Low Quality are primarily handled this way.

Some flags can be handled by the system itself: a sufficient number of Spam, Abusive or comment flags results in immediate action (the deletion of whatever was flagged).

Moderators may step in to handle flags that aren't handled by ordinary members of the site or the system.

Finally, flags that aren't processed in a reasonable amount of time age away: rude/abusive and spam flags expire after 48 hours (and are removed immediately if the post is rolled back to a revision prior to the one which was flagged); close flags expire after between 4-14 days (depending on other votes and views).

You can view the outcome of your past flags at any time by clicking on "helpful flags" in your profile.

How many flags do I have?


  • You get one bonus flag per 2000 reputation.