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I flagged this question as low quality; the flag was declined (I am still convinced that this is very low quality, especially the first version), and the following message appeared:

flags should only be used to make moderators aware of content that requires their intervention

This never happened: is it a reprimand or a standard message?

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  • "is it a reprimand or a standard message?" - Both. Or more specifically, it's a standard reason for declining a flag.
    – Napoleon Wilson Mod
    Aug 5, 2016 at 16:45
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    Why do you think that question is VLQ? I agree it's not a very good question but that doesn't make it VLQ... VLQ is for questions that are gibberish. That's got sentences and pictures and everything. It's written just fine. If you don't like it, downvote.
    – Catija
    Aug 5, 2016 at 16:54

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It's a standard reason for declining a flag - and I was the person who did that. However, I wouldn't take it as a personal rebuke to have a flag declined in this way.

I agree it's not a great question, but it's not 'low quality' which would mean that its barely legible. From the description when you choose a flag type:

This question has severe formatting or content problems. This question is unlikely to be salvageable through editing, and might need to be removed.

By flagging it you are essentially asking for someone to intervene, in this case either:

  • Someone to delete it. I don't think that's the right way to encourage people to contribute more to the site, by some arbitrary quality standard that will vary from day to day, depending who reviews the flags.

  • Asking someone else to step in and improve the question. Everyone should feel empowered to edit and improve content here - this isn't just the role of the moderators. You yourself could do this.

The question doesn't in my option meet the standard required for removal as outlined above, and doesn't meet any other reason for removal, such as being off-topic, or contain spam or abusive material. Therefore I was obliged to decline the flag.


As a side note, this related meta question asks about low-quality Answers, but the content there is relevant to this discussion too.

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