As @cmcheatle brought up here, there have been a few updates to how flags and flagged content are handled on iNat. Here’s a brief rundown.
- Previously, if content was deleted, any flags associated with that content were also deleted. Now, deleting flagged content no longer deletes any flags associated with it. For example, if you flag a comment and the commenter deletes or edits their comment, that flag will still exist. iNat also saves a copy of the content which was flagged, which only site curators and staff can see. It will look like this (facetious) example:
- if you flag a message, your copy of the message thread is no longer automatically deleted. And we will keep a record of the flagged message, which only staff can see. You’ll also see this banner if you flag a message:
These changes will allow curators and staff to more easily track someone’s negative behavior to see if there’s a pattern, even if the user deletes or edits the offending content.