hide or obscure flagger name on flags page for normal users

Feature Requests
1

Platform(s), such as mobile, website, API, other: Website

URLs (aka web addresses) of any pages, if relevant: https://www.inaturalist.org/flags

Description of need:

Please hide the flagger name when page is viewed by normal users, ie not site-admins or curators). This is to prevent retribution/retaliation for flagging content, etc.

Feature request details:

In the column for “flagger”, I might replace the username with the text “hidden” when the page is loaded by a normal user. This kind of masking gets complicated quickly. You would need to prevent normal users from searching by flagger as well. Maybe disabling the “Flagger” radius button would be sufficient.

2

I approved this for posting, but I personally have conflicting views. There are trade-offs each way.

3 Likes
3

I would want non-curators to at least be able to search for their own flags that they have created.

But otherwise I’m not thinking of a compelling reason to allow public searches on other flaggers.

Hiding the flagger on individual flags, on the other hand, would prevent everyone but curators from interacting positively with the flagger to try to resolve the issue. Negative or retaliatory behavior, which I’m guessing is much less common, can be brought to the attention of staff directly through the Help facility (in addition to flagging it).

5 Likes
4

If this were to be implemented, it should only be on flags for comments, images, or IDs.

Flags on taxa, places, etc should not have the flagger hidden since it’s often necessary to have a conversation with the flagger for taxonomy issues and it really wouldn’t make sense to hide the flagger’s name in this context.

Has this happened to you? I think this the first conversation on the forum about this, I feel like if this were a widespread problem it would have come up in the past.

7 Likes
5

Not sure if I would say it’s a widespread problem, but it does happen occasionally (not generally in taxon flags of course, as you said). When it does I think it should probably be handled by staff unless it is severe enough to merit an immediate suspension.

Certainly curators need to be able to see who the flagger is, but I also don’t really see a particularly compelling reason non-curators need to be able to see that. You already have to be logged in to use any kind of interface to actually find flags (even taxon flags don’t show on the taxon page unless you are logged in), and the search interface is quasi-hidden by obscurity if you’re not a curator. Weirdly, you can still read a specific flag without being logged in, as long as you can find the exact link somehow. I’m not sure there is any compelling need for users who are not even logged in to see who created a flag.

4 Likes
6

I’ve had students who uploaded images from the internet react in a retaliatory manner when I flag their content (marking my observations as not wild, flagging my photos, finding my personal Instagram and sending me creepy messages), however, I am leaving comments when I make flags. I’m not sure that the average “student under duress” would think to check who made the flag, if the flagger didn’t leaving a comment.

I wouldn’t mind if the user who made a flag that was about copyright infringement and spam was not visible to non-curators. I don’t think it would be helpful for taxon flags, though.

8 Likes
7

Non-curator here: on a couple of occasions I have flagged a user’s content for copyright violation or inacceptable behavior and subsequently been the recipient of said user’s ire. In one case this did result in some retaliatory behavior, which was resolved relatively quickly with the help of curators.

Nevertheless, I find I have mixed feelings about the idea of hiding the name of the flagger for flags for bad behavior/violation of community guidelines. There is the potential for people to abuse this because they feel anonymous – i.e., to use the flags themselves as a way to attack another user.

5 Likes
8

I’m strongly opposed to this, being unable to see who flagged me would cause several problems:

1: If someone flags me in a harassing manner or due to a misunderstanding I want to have the option to disengage from/deescalate any conflicts I have with that person and avoid them in the future, if I don’t know who flagged me I do not know who I inadvertently offended (in the case of a misunderstanding) or who is harassing me (in the case of harassment), and therefore cannot make any effort to avoid conflict with that person going forward. So this policy would actually prevent attempts at conflict avoidance.

2: Concern about inadvertently interacting with the person flagging me could create a hesitance to interact with other users in general because I do not know that they are not the flagger, this creates a chilling effect on the social and collaborative nature of the platform since there is no one who I know is not the flagger.

3: Anonymous flags would create a false impression that more users have disagreements with me than actually do, for example I could be in an argument with someone, get something of mine flagged, and not realize the person I was arguing with is the one who flagged my observation, making it seem like 2 people instead of one have conflicts with me. And one person flagging multiple items of mine could seem like several people are flagging me. Bogus flagging is already a means of harassment, and not knowing who made the flags would make the harassment worse by making the target feel like they are unwelcome on the site, thinking numerous people are flagging their content because they don’t know that it is the same person doing all the flagging.

I actually am a curator, I use “me” to refer to how I or another non-curator might feel if I were not a curator and did not have knowledge of who flagged me

4: From the curator perspective I think this is also problematic, on flags related to interpersonal conflict it is common for curators to ask both parties for background on the conflict and propose ways to deescalate said conflict, this becomes nearly impossible if the curator cannot reveal the flagger’s name to the flagee.

And on top of all the downsides to this proposal, there is a much less problematic solution to the problem of retaliation, if you fear retaliation for a flag, you can email staff about the problem instead of flagging it, and if staff takes action there is nothing that says you were the one to inform them of the situation.

In short, I understand what makes this seem like a useful change, but I believe it’s actual effect will be to impair conflict resolution and avoidance, degrade the social and collaborative nature of the site, and worsen the impact of some forms of harassment, all while a less problematic solution exists.

5 Likes
9

It has not happened to me, though it is something I worry about. The internet is an incredibly hostile place; and while inat has generally been a welcoming place, I don’t see that lasting forever.

propose ways to deescalate said conflict, this becomes nearly impossible if the curator cannot reveal the flagger’s name to the flagee.

True. I think it makes sense for moderators/curators to reveal flagger’s name in certain circumstances. But I would defer to the preferences of the flagger.

I think for now I will make use of @insectobserver123’s suggestion of emailing staff.

10

I do recognize the retribution potential and it does make this a conflicted issue for me. Still I feel like we have sensible rules in place for resolving conflict and punishing unconstructive behavior as others pointed out.

Yet still I’m principally opposed to this on fundamental grounds.
The appeal of iNaturalist for me is being community-driven.
Level plane among peers, symmetric mutuality.
Restricting community members’ access to information, such as flaggers in this case, is antithetical to this nature.
@insectobserver123 Made pertinent examples of how implementation of this suggestion would create misdirection and coerce users to rely on staff blindly in both active and passive capacity.

4 Likes
11

I think it would be easier if a flagger who wanted to be anonymous just emailed staff, this is what staff told me to do when I asked how to deal with a user who I expected real world retaliation from if I upset them

4 Likes
12

Apart from the fact that hiding user names is likely to make conflict resolution more difficult: if the flagging is the result of ongoing conflict between specific users, it is likely that the flagged user may make assumptions about who the flagger was even if the name is hidden. So hiding user names does not necessarily protect the flagger, and it may in fact distort how the involved parties understand the situation (e.g. the flagger may be some other user who had not been involved in the conflict).

3 Likes
13

This is another problem I didn’t even think of, 2 people in a conflict, one gets flagged, they see that as antagonistic action on the part of the other one, and the conflict escalates, but really it was an uninvolved third party that made the flag

3 Likes
14

Please leave the flags that are requests for adding a species or taxon swaps etc alone.
Often it is required to revisit a flag and then you find it best by username (your own or other).

6 Likes
15

Most users never realize that they have been flagged at all. I suspect if they did realize it, adverse reactions might be more common. Even bogus flags on curators are sometimes resolved by another curator before the curator even notices; you have to deliberately go looking to find those, because you can’t see your own moderation history.

I do think regulating flags related to behavioral issues is a fundamentally different task from the scientific purposes of the site.

2 Likes
16

While this is probably true, is is not always the case, and there are also a lot of other problems that this proposal would cause

1 Like
17

Science is, historically, rife with petty conflict…

1 Like