Are flags raised for custom reasons handled differently?

Question

So, the good old flag screen:

On more than one occasion, I've flagged something that would logically fit under "should be closed (usually for 'not an answer')" using the "in need of moderator intervention" item to flesh out the flag reason a little bit.

For example, instead of flagging a question for being off topic, I'd use the last option, explain that it's OT, and write in that perhaps it would be better migrated to another Stack* site.

Now my question is, am I annoying someone by doing this? Is there a different workflow for handling flags raised using the preexisting reasons vs writing in my own?

Answer 1

Yes. Custom flags for moderator attention are seen only by moderators. The rest, while visible to moderators, do touch the wider community in some fashion, such as by placing the post into a review queue.

• Spam and offensive flags often do not require moderator attention to handle. Six such flags will result in the post being deleted and a -100 reputation penalty applied to the owner of the post.

• "Very low quality" and "not an answer" flags place the post into the Low Quality Posts review queue. Such flags may be marked as disputed if reviewers disagree with the flag (e.g. a reviewer hits Looks Good on a post that was sent to the LQP queue due to a VLQ flag).

• Closure flags (e.g. duplicate, off-topic, too broad) place the post into the Close Votes review queue, and can be marked as disputed if enough users click on Leave Open when reviewing the post.

• Custom moderator attention flags do not cause the post to go to any queue other than the moderator flag queue, and are handled exclusively by moderators and Stack Exchange employees.

In all cases, a moderator can act on the flag directly, bypassing the community process, but Stack Exchange is designed so that the community takes up the bulk of the day-to-day moderation work.

Answer 2

As a mod? We handle things the same way, though of course, the exact course of action may depend on the mod.

In the case of migrations - I personally ask a few questions. Firstly, is it on topic here. I don't generally do migration requests if something is on topic here - which kinda kills off 90% of migration requests. Secondly I check if its on topic there. Thirdly, I try to get any triage that needs to be done to improve the questions if needed, though if you want to migrate it, and you think a question can be polished, please do so.

I seem to remember you can use the custom flag reasons with a stock flag, in case you need to add more information.