This.
Flagging posts is exactly the same as picking up a random bit of litter while walking through a city park. Not my job. But I’ll enjoy a nicer park for having done so. As will the next person to chance this way.
It’s called being “community-spirited”. Would that more Americans thought that way IRL.
I have nothing more to add to what I’ve already said to the OP of this thread, but I did want to take a moment to say that I admire, respect and appreciate posters like @Kent_Clark, who not only catch themselves when they break a rule, but are willing to admit it by flagging themselves. Thank you.
Also thanks and acknowledgement to @kenobi_65, who understands our rules and flags violations where and when they see them. We have repeatedly said how important it is for posters to assist us by flagging violations, and we’re grateful for posters who do it. We don’t review every thread, let alone every post. It’s simply not possible.
As noted by @puzzlegal and @kenobi_65, we reject many flags. The only people who know when we do are the people who threw the flags. I’d say we reject as many as half the flags we receive, so just flagging a post doesn’t guarantee we’ll agree to take action.
Thanks also to those who understand what we do and have made efforts to explain it in this thread. You are all appreciated.
Moderator Note
This isn’t the only example, but you’ve been rather snarky and disrespectful towards other users in this thread. ATMB is where we resolve issues, and snark is never helpful in resolving anything. I’m going to cut you some slack since you are trying to work through an issue here, but dial it back please. We expect everyone to be reasonably polite and respectful in this forum.
Remember, most people in a thread are readers, not posters. The primary purpose of a thread is for people to read about some particular topic. The secondary purpose of a thread is for people to contribute to that topic by posting. (Check out the number of views vs number of users at the bottom of a thread.)
The rules are intended to make a thread more readable. And since most people in a thread are readers, not posters, of course it makes sense that most flags are generated by readers, not posters.
And as readers, the content of a thread does affect us, even if we aren’t posting in that thread. So we do have an investment in a thread.
Every person who flags a post has read that post, and presumably the rest of the thread. Otherwise, they wouldn’t know to flag and report a post.
'Zactly. I post far more than I flag, but flagging has zero to do with whether I intend to post in the thread or not.