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I'm currently banned from flagging, but I can't see a way, how I can get rid of that ban.

I also can't see from my flagging history what actually makes the balance between being flagging banned or not, or how timing comes in (I have read the proposed dupe Flag banned after getting a helpful flag).

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The overall percentage doesn't look that bad for me, but that's arguable of course, unless some definite reference is shown, how that's actually handled (calculated) by the SE engine.

What can I actually do actively to get rid of the flagging ban?

Too clarify in response to @Compass' comment, the two most recent declined flags were on

  • this answer, where I claimed it "not being an answer" before the edit (I was really poor in it's 1st version)
  • this answer, also claimed as "not being an answer", and still believe it should be a comment. The question clearly asks about code that needs to be fixed.

marked as duplicate by hichris123, iCodez, Brian Rogers, Martijn Pieters, Infinite Recursion Nov 20 '14 at 4:23


  • 1
    Maybe I'm an outlier. At 188 flags, I've had 1 declined and 1 disputed. I normally err on the side of caution before firing the flag off. If I'm sure it's flaggable, then I flag. If I'm not sure, I'll leave a comment in an attempt to move it out of flagging territory before flagging or downvoting. – Compass Nov 19 '14 at 17:58
  • 1
    As an aside, perhaps you can link us to a few disputed/declined flags so we can see what you're flagging, and for what reason. – Compass Nov 19 '14 at 18:09
  • @Compass Did so, THX for noting. – πάντα ῥεῖ Nov 19 '14 at 18:22
  • 2
    Those are both technically attempts to answer. They are really bad attempts at answering, but they are answers, as the NAA points out This was posted as an answer, but it does not attempt to answer the question. NAA would be a comment like "Did you check for A?" or "Use a debugger." Both may help solve the problem, but do not answer the original question. – Compass Nov 19 '14 at 18:28
  • @Compass THX for sharing your opinion on these posts. That was exactly what I was thinking at the time I were flagging them. – πάντα ῥεῖ Nov 19 '14 at 18:40
  • as already pointed, there is nothing you can actively do to get rid of current suspension, waiting is the only option. What you can do actively to lower risk of it happening again is to study your flag-history and meta posts in flag* tags to learn what could be done better. For example, it was mentioned at meta that NAA and VLQ flags tend to come through smoother when accompanied with votes down and comments... – gnat Nov 19 '14 at 19:10
  • ...another hint, given that you're over 2K, you can use LQ review queue to look for "definitely flaggable" posts that would make your flagging balance healthier, less sensitive to accidental declines. Etc... – gnat Nov 19 '14 at 19:11
  • @gnat THX, I'm aware of the LQ queue, I prefer to review the newest questions filtered by c++ queue tough. – πάντα ῥεῖ Nov 19 '14 at 19:42
  • I see. You can have both - continue using "filtered" queue to do reviews, plus go through unfiltered (or just browse reviews history, as you're over 10K) to pick up posts to flag outside of queue – gnat Nov 19 '14 at 19:53

You can't get rid of it; it will be gone in a week (or less). You have >25% declined flags with >10 total flags in the past 7 days. You are banned until that condition becomes false.

See Allow recovery from flag hellban

And Guaranteed flag-ban

To comment on your flags:

  1. Without domain knowledge; I would never have guessed the first one was an answer (it looks like a comment). When looking at the accepted answer; it actually is a (terribly worded and explained) answer to the question.

  2. Even the first revision on the second one was clearly an attempt to answer the question, even if it really needed the info added in the current revision.

I can totally understand why both were declined.


You simply have to wait. The flag ban only considered flags cast recently. Over time as the declined flags move outside of this window it will eventually move below the threshold for banning.

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