HN Explorer

[Ask HN] How many submissions have you accidentally flagged?

64 points by yen223 ↗ HN
Go to your profile > "flagged submissions". Do you see any flagged submissions that you don't recall flagging?

I have counted 48 flagged submissions, with only 2 of them being genuine flags.

I'm curious whether I am exceptionally clumsy, or whether this is a common issue for the rest of you.

53 comments

[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 117 ms ] thread
bombcar
I browse on phone. I accidentally downvote and flag with some regularity (and hide, the most annoying because the other can be undone right away).

I clean them up almost immediately most times.

janandonly
Too many. But I think I notice it and change it back quickly. Usually.
leros
Quite a lot. I've also accidentally up and down voted content.
[dead] Ozark
[flagged]
CM30
I'm gonna guess 3, since my flagged submissions page shows 3 entries and I don't recall flagging any of them.
toomuchtodo
The number of accidental flags I’ve committed is too damn high. Flags should be removed from the front page links.
vasili111
I recently flagged one and immediately noticed that. I realized that I may have done that accidently other times too. I went in my profile and found a list of all flagged topics and I saw that I had accidently flagged multiple submissions over time.

I think it will be good to have with flagging some sort of confirmation that system asks users to confirm flagging in order to prevent unintended flagging that as I saw on my personal example happens over time and gets unnoticed.

JohnFen
I have not accidentally flagged any submissions. I've flagged two, and both of them were intentional and worthy of the flags.

I don't read HN on a phone or tablet, though. Perhaps that's where the trouble is?

nickelcitymario
Two, and both were unintentional. Thanks for flagging this! (Pun obviously and regretfully intended.)
fatnoah
Two for me. IIRC, I've never flagged anything.
wincy
What the heck? I have 24 flagged posts and don’t remember even having the ability to flag until recently. I often hit the hide button so maybe I’m accidentally flagging stuff instead of hiding it? Maybe you do similar?

Thanks for pointing it out.

shusaku
Surprisingly I can’t find any, I guess my fat fingers aren’t as bad as I thought. But now I’m angry after reading through a list of things I flagged.
syrgian
I also found a lot of infuriating posts. So many people that don't belong here. I am however happy to see that there's almost nothing that didn't end up dead/demoted.
mistrial9
in five years, fifteen flagged submissions.. no obvious errors
karaterobot
Looks like I have probably over a couple hundred flagged that I don't remember flagging. I hide a lot of posts, and maybe sometimes I flag them by accident. Seems like either a bug or a UI issue.
alex_c
The “flag” button on iPhone falls exactly in the screen area where my thumb naturally rests for scrolling.

I thought I usually notice when I accidentally flag something and I undo it right away, but apparently not. Looks like my ratio of accidental flags to real flags is 10:1 or worse!

lawn
It seems I have 12 flagged submissions, but I can't remember flagging any of them.

I'm sure I have tons of accidental down votes as well as I on the phone constantly notice I've accidentally pressed the downvote button.

NicoJuicy
You're not alone, thanks for pointing it out! :O

I knew I sometimes undowned and fixed it then. But didn't knew this.

kayge
In case anyone else is confused why they don't see links for Flagged Submissions / Comments in your profile: it won't show up if your current count is 0 :)
ChrisArchitect
Accidentally? none

Why tapping around that area? This a mobile problem? Desktop it doesn't seem to be in the area of being a problem

phreack
Pretty much yeah, it's easy to mis-tap.
ben_w
Yeah, mobile issue.

I'm expecting a scroll behaviour, then a second later I see a preview window popping up giving me menu options for e.g. open in new tab, but that preview acts like clicking the link…

Measter
It is an issue on desktop, though only for submissions. The flag link is next to the hide link (which I use constantly), and because the username and time are to the left of these, the flag and hide links are in a different position for each submission leading to regular mis-clicks.
skybrian
It's next to the 'hide' link, which I use all the time. It's easy to hit 'flag' instead of 'hide'.
Wowfunhappy
I always go back and unflag them.

I checked the list in my profile, and there's a few submissions that, on second thought, maybe I should have been more generous with--but I can understand why I thought a flag was appropriate.

The only ones which I thought might have been accidents, I'm pretty sure I flagged because they were dupes. I do wish there was a separate button for dupes, but it would probably make things to cluttered.

bayesianbot
I use qutebrowser where I open links from keyboard using hints, and sometimes I press the wrong key and am not even sure which link it clicked, so I have done some accidental flags.. Good to know I can check and cancel them from profile.
rco8786
Yep, 2 in there for me that I have no recollection of flagging