by Randa Morris

Created on: April 15, 2008   Last Updated: October 27, 2009

Having been an active member of Helium for the past 2 years, I would like to share some insight and experience with both appropriate and inappropriate uses of the flagging tool.

While there may be some authors on Helium who will tell you that flagging another writer's work can help to improve your own ratings, I believe firmly that this tool is not meant to be used as a way to help you move an article up in the ranks. Deliberately flagging other authors, for your own gain, is actually a very poor practice, which can get you banned from this site.

Appropriate use of the flagging tool consists of constructive criticism for the author, and nothing more. In the 86 spaces you are given to comment, it is appropriate to offer the writer a "friendly" tip, or bit of advice. As an example, you might say "Just a tip to help ratings: use breaks between paragraphs."

Inevitably, however, there are those members who abuse the system, trying to use it for their own advantage. Examples that you may have experienced could include having an article flagged, although it has remained at the rank of 1 or 2, in a topic area, for over 6 months. When an author does this, to me, it is a dead giveaway that they are just trying to hurt my rankings. Another giveaway? Flagging an article which is ranked fairly high, without stating a reason, or giving a comment. Flagging, just to flag. The third example which comes to mind is the member who flags an article, stating a reason that is clearly not a problem. Selecting "spelling" when there are clearly no errors in the piece. Selecting "off topic" when you are obviously addressing the subject matter, and your article has been rated well by the community as a whole. This type of flagger also leaves you no further comment.

Using sarcasm, or excessive criticism toward another author is also not a good way to improve your own ratings on this site. Helium is a writing community. As such, it is always a good idea to be polite and considerate of other members. You never really know who they are, or how they may be able to help you in the future.

Authors critiquing one another's work is one of the things that makes Helium a great site. Those who abuse the tools provided for this purpose harm the whole community. Flagging articles, which are well written, is damaging to everyone. The inappropriate flagger, who attempts to lower the rankings of more popular articles, in hopes of moving up less popular, lower quality pieces, would be damaging the reputation of Helium itself, if successful in these endeavors. The end result would be a number of low quality, unappealing articles, which are ranked at number one, while the higher quality, more appealing articles, would be more difficult for readers to find.

The person that uses the flagging tool inappropriately, is also harming him or herself, in more ways than one. He or she is damaging their own reputation within the community and, will, over time, find a lack of support from others, when it comes to selling articles, being spotlighted on the front page, being asked to help with a channel etc...

Plus, as Karma suggests, what goes around may just come back around, when other authors catch on to the game. Experienced Helium writers generally can spot an abusive flagger. In the end, if you practice this type of flagging for too long, you run the risk of being reported. Getting banned from the site altogether certainly won't help your ratings.

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