[Ask HN] How many submissions have you accidentally flagged? | Hacker News Reader

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

64 pointsyen22351 comments

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.

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!

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 :)

thanks!

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.

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.

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

Pretty much yeah, it's easy to mis-tap.

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…

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.

It's next to the 'hide' link, which I use all the time. It's easy to hit 'flag' instead of 'hide'.

Yep, I have 37 flagged. Almost entirely accidental. And I have caught and undone many more. Very few in 2022, 2023 though. Mostly before that. Though I think I read HN on my phone much less than I used to, likely why.

> Though I think I read HN on my phone much less than I used to.

Curious why that might be and if the pendulum is swinging back toward non-mobile for technical/creative people.

Too many. But I think I notice it and change it back quickly. Usually.

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.

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.

I'm gonna guess 3, since my flagged submissions page shows 3 entries and I don't recall flagging any of them.

All the time. Every one of my flagged submissions has been accidental. I go through and clear them out periodically.

I have only one and it was intentional for misleading clickbait.

I remember flagging one by mistake just once, but i realized and undid it on the spot.

I only browse on a phone if i really really have no other choice though. Especially HN where there is a lot of small interesting text to read.

I have around dozen, all of them seem legitimate but I can't be sure about some very old ones about my reasoning.

I do accidentally flag & unflag things like one a week though. One day I'm finally going to make my own UI overlay to make this site usable.

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.

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.

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?

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.

Quite a lot. I've also accidentally up and down voted content.

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.

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.

I had a few. Oddly, they were all submissions instead of comments. It seems like asking to confirm a flagged submission could solve this issue.

Counting over a year’s time, looks like 6 accidental and 2 on purpose.

Is the flagged submissions link new? I remember looking for it and not finding it.

The last time this was brought up I checked and saw about a handful accidental flags. Currently I have no accidental flagged posts.

The number of accidental flags I’ve committed is too damn high. Flags should be removed from the front page links.

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

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

I don't have a "flagged submissions" link, so..zero?

Mostly a desktop user, if that datapoint is relevant.

A lot. I unflag them though. It would be nice if flag only showed up on the comments page for a post.

Two, and both were unintentional. Thanks for flagging this! (Pun obviously and regretfully intended.)

the styling/layout of HN could be improved a lot with little effort IMO. the upvote/down vote buttons are so easy to make mistakes with too, and I don't think my thumbs are especially fat.

I would also kill for dark mode.

Just skimming the list I'd guess somewhere between half and two thirds are false flags.

9 here, this seems like something that could use a good old 'confirm()' check :)

Nope. The Wii Remote may get figety in my hand at times, but all of my flags are genuine.

Most of them? A page and a half, and only a couple that look like what I'd flag.

Yep, 2 in there for me that I have no recollection of flagging

Mine all look like things I definitely would have flagged.

Two for me. IIRC, I've never flagged anything.

User since 2013. I have nothing flagged.

15, and only 1 of these intentionally

wow surprised to find 2 pages of flagged posts, don't recall ever intentionally flagging

18, I was completely unaware

Oh, god. Way too many...!

in five years, fifteen flagged submissions.. no obvious errors

100% or 14.

Dozens

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