- NEW!
by Sweet T on September 27th, 2008
I think the blame really is on the AB staff who okay's it to be a duplicate. They obviously arent looking very closely at the question that they say is a duplicate.
by Account Closed on September 27th, 2008
I felt the same way and stopped asking for a while. I got tired of sending feedback to have the reinstated. I figured that there will always be those out to disrupt the flow and cause problems for whatever reason and I would no longer give them the satisfaction of knowing I gave a rats ass what they did I was enjoying what I am doing and I know when push comes to shove they will grow tired before I do.
by Yarnlady is happy every day on September 27th, 2008
I flag duplicates a lot, and mine get rejected as "not an exact duplicate" even when they are the same, except for a small change like "What do you think?" added on the duplicate question.
I also see lots of merged questions that are so different that I have to wonder what were they thinking, it's completely different in meaning and wording.
It's a mystery to me.
by Jodie44 on September 27th, 2008
Your questions are great, Sixty B. Thoughtful, whimsical, interesting. I understand your frustration with the over-zealous flagging, though, and that's really where the problem lies: the allure of five mod points per flag. For the points whores, five points is just too good to pass up. They read two questions that appear to be fairly close, so they flag. Their concern is points, not accuracy.
Here's a question for you:
"Should Answerbag require users to pass a reading comprehension test before they can flag duplicates?" Ask THAT, LOL
by JuJubee is wearing a COAT of chocolate on September 27th, 2008
They must not be checking to see if they're actually duplicates! Hi Sixty hun
by tomsims on September 27th, 2008
Because, if I see it first and find it interesting, I will give you the maximum points I can.
by Chris on September 27th, 2008
Hi sixty, I know how you feel. I , at one point, seemed to have this happen every day. The part that was hardest for me to understand was this... When I submitted a dupe flag, they were rejected, resulting in my 99% mod rate... I have decided not to flag duplicates, as the staff seems (to me) to be undecided on the actual definition of duplicate, yet, the questions still get merged, when they are my own, or friends of mine.
I have come to 2 soultions personally, and I will share them with you, 1.) is to re post the question, and word it just a little better, as I have done repeatedly... or, 2.) submit a reinstatement feedback email, or email admin@answerbag.com.
They seem to be quite busy, as sometimes emails go unresponded to for days, but, in time they do review, and take action. Honestly, I almost feel bad, regarding the amount of mail they get each day, but, I know they will read mine, when it is best for them.
I hope this is somewhat helpful, and I wish you the best.
Chris.
by sm00z on September 27th, 2008
I notice that when I send appeals via email or feedback, my requests have all gone unanswered lately. I have had some success with re-asking some questions that were flagged as being nonsense by including them in new questions which makes them become a question within a question. This worked for me last week when all the original answerers responded to the new question which asked what was wrong with the original question. They said that they had no problem making sense out of the original question when they answered it on it's first go round. At least I was able to reinstate the flagged question's points.
You could create new questions that ask why an older question was flagged as a dupe by showing in your new question that there are differences between the two questions such as your question was more general than the older question which took over your thread of answers. Here is an example of how one of my questions was flagged a while back.
http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/707162
This was my way of working around a question that was flagged because the staff wanted further clarification.
http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/962504
by gtravels loves her life penguin on September 27th, 2008
I'm sorry to hear that, especially if the questions aren't duplicates. I'm curious which ones you're talking about. It's no secret that I've gotten many points from moderating but I've always found your questions to be unique and not likely to be flagged. Only you can decide if you want to continue asking questions if this continues to be a source of aggravation.
by Sixty B - Commander Topcoat on September 30th, 2008
This may help you:
http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/994568
by BigDaddyBS on September 27th, 2008
I've been flagging more, recently, mostly category, but a few duplicates. I don't recall any of yours being in the mix. And, I hope I can tell the difference between words, considering I use them all the time!
I think, sometimes, the staff moderators, who have to accept these flags, are not really paying attention. Maybe they get a batch from one person who are all ok, and when they get any of them (maybe the switch of a moderator, or even a bad flag), they don't REALLY look at the questions, but just accept them.
I had one flagged as spam/offensive, recently, and it was about a story on our local news, and in the newspaper. I wondered HOW it could be flagged as offensive. A different kind of mod troll, only hitting questions with links? Who knows. It's been reinstated.
Whenever there's a question of whether it should or should not be flagged, I always err on the no flagged side of things.
Maybe we have people who don't know how to mod trying to get to the top of the mod charts, as we have others trying to get to the top of most inquisitive. I would really hate to see those go... It kinda makes the "between ranks" ABing fun to see where you are on them.
I hope you continue to fight (feedback) those. I've seen too many good questions screwed up by others' jealousy, which is all I can think of that would cause it. It CERTAINLY isn't "good for AB" to have questions moderated wrongly.
Maybe the staff needs a bit more training in accepting some of these flags.
by Ed the Jetpacking Headbanger on September 27th, 2008
I found that this was being done to my old questions about a month ago. I sent feedback complaining about it, never heard back from the moderators. I asked a question 'Who was the YOUNGEST 20 game winner in baseball history?' it got flagged as a duplicate of 'Who was the OLDEST 20 game winner in baseball history?'.
Too many people see flagging as easy points and a quick way to rise through the ranks. And the moderators appear to be accepting every flag instead of reading the questions.
I have also thought of quitting questioning. Not sure yet if I will. I think AB is expanding too fast and has too many issues.
by LeeLee Chickybabe Avenger SLAB on September 27th, 2008
Don't stop Little Bee :) I love your questions!
Some people are just assholes ^_^
by Zack on September 27th, 2008
F**K IT is what I always say. Too much trouble trying to correct the problem anyway unless its a collaborative effort from all of us.
by Doggie S on September 27th, 2008
I can assure you that I'm not the one who flags your questions as duplicates, because I rarely flag questions as duplicates. I only flag questions as duplicates when they're really obvious... "What is your favorite...?"
I've been experiencing what you're experiencing, and I have stopped posting many questions because of that.
But that's only me. Don't let trigger happy users spoil the fun for you. Keep those questions coming.
by Anonymous on September 28th, 2008
The end result rests with the staff and i think they need to be setting specific guidelines in relation to the same. Many dupes i see are not dupes at all. Well received questions are often flagged as nonsense. Much garbage is retained as valuable contribution and in general .. I do feel the situation has become a real gray area with no guideline consistency.
I value your contributions Sixty, make a point of looking for them whenever i am on and hope you will continue to submit them :)
by Shan is Purrrrrfectly Happy on September 27th, 2008
because you ask wonderful, interesting questions and some of them are still getting through...
youre not the only one...ive recently had a spate of flagged questions myself... i think theyre due to overzealous flag monsters in desperate need of ..OOOOOH....FIVE WHOLE POINTS.... WOW........ i think its rather sad that people go around wasting their time arbitrarily or maliciously flagging questions. its a form of censorship and they should feel some compunction over inhibiting interesting conversations. or its possible their reading comprehension isnt all that great and they think your question is an exact duplicate... hmm......
as for the ab moderators, they need to do a little better job at monitoring this, in my opinion.
keep asking them sixty b.... and ill keep answering them...
by Sosueme on September 27th, 2008
Don't worry about it. I enjoy your questions. :)
by .....----- on September 27th, 2008
First of all because your questions are awesomeness and second of all because you cant let a troll win.
by dead leaves raked in a pile on September 30th, 2008
I"m fairly sure I aw a question just like this a few minutes ago...
by LoggyBren on September 30th, 2008
That's happened to me, also. When I type in a question, I look closely to see if it's a duplicate. There's been several times that a question has not come up as a duplicate but it's been flagged as duplicate. I recently mailed the AB staff about this and gave them the question that was flagged.
by Galeanda on September 28th, 2008
Don't give up at all!!! The only way that people will become educated, both the members and the moderators themselves, is if you continue and be sure to use that Feedback button and get other people to do it as well. It is one way to help tell the staff that they are moderating in accurately. And if they find that a member is doing a lot of bad flagging, then they can fine them, too, docking them -10 points for a bad flag.
by JaySurf on September 28th, 2008
Because you do have friends on here that like to answer your questions...it's so stupid because I guess since I don't ask questions, people go through and downrate like almost ALL of my answers...there are just ignorant people out there...and I like answering your questions!
by Bsweet. on September 28th, 2008
I have had the same problem with lots of mine, it drives me nuts, i spend most of my time answering now.:)
by Yahoo Answers Is A Fraud on November 20th, 2009
There are some very stupid people on AB who enjoys flagging anything. I've been flagged multiple times by certain fags and cunts.
Its best not to ask any questions because fags are so quick on flagging anything they perceive as "offensive". They make me sick!
I'm still a newbie need some help. Under the "my points" section what does moderation refer to?
by Zannie on July 16th, 2009
| 3 people like this
Do you report offensive posts? Like ones that say people who believe in God are stupid, or people who don't are egotistical?
by Druidic on December 27th, 2010
| 1 person likes this
How does one achieve more than 10,000 points in less than a month and a half on AB?
NOT POSSIBLE??.
by mtndewman44 on October 24th, 2010
| 4 people like this
Ok this might be stupid but im tired of wondering . What are Moderation points ? i have some but for what?
by Ken44 on June 27th, 2009
| 3 people like this
How do you rate moderation points?
by Cotton 201 on July 1st, 2009
| 5 people like this
You're reading Someone keeps successfully flagging many of my questions as duplicates when they are not dupes at all. Why should I bother continuing to ask questions?
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Comments
Thank you, Sweet T. I am glad I asked this question and raised some awareness about moderation trolls. I got an ironically huge amount of mod points this week - but I didn't get them like this, ya know??
by Sixty B - Commander Topcoat on September 28th, 2008
Your very welcome. I know exactly what you mean. That is why I asked this question.
http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/883540
by Sweet T on September 28th, 2008