I flagged an answer as 'spam', because the content was something like
I am Jeff. Jeff Jeff Jeff. etc
The post was deleted - yet my flag was declined. Why?
For 10k+ers: Short-sighted and Near-sighted
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1 Answer
Because it is not selling or promoting a product or service. It's just a vague quote from a kid's book. "Not an answer" would be appropriate for this type of post.
It matters insofar as spam flags train our spam filter, which is why your flag was declined.
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1On other sites that I'm, they're always marked helpful, so I guess it was just surprising.– MithicalJul 27, 2016 at 14:57
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2So the flag was declined because it was the wrong choice? 'Spam' has a fluid meaning, the one you game, but also leaning towards 'annoying irrelevant crap' (which is of course 'not an answer' also). The OP shouldn't be discouraged from flagging because of a reasonable choice. Can't you just approve for flagging if it helped mods deal with questions? (whether the flag reason was exactly perfect or not)– MitchJul 27, 2016 at 14:58
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4@Mitch We stick to a strict definition because it trains the spam filter. If it had been a different flag, I wouldn't have declined it.– Kit Z. Fox ModJul 27, 2016 at 15:01
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Can you add something minimal to the flag descriptions to that effect?– MitchJul 27, 2016 at 16:23
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1@Mitch also, spam flags can lead to suspension. They really shouldn't be used lightly.– terdonJul 27, 2016 at 18:18
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@Mitch no, I can't, but I did just put our "how to flag" meta post as featured a couple of days ago. It describes that situation amongst others.– Kit Z. Fox ModJul 27, 2016 at 18:19
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Coming back to this a year and a half later, I'll just point out that post content isn't considered at all for Stack Exchange's native spam filter; SpamRam works purely on IPs. Just for any future readers who may stumble across this :)– MithicalJan 6, 2018 at 22:47