by Barbara Whitlock

Created on: May 07, 2007   Last Updated: June 19, 2009

Helium provides an open publishing portal to the world. That means we get the good, the bad and the ugly. Rating provides means for sorting the good and the bad. Flagging is the tool to fix the ugly. This article clarifies the dos and don'ts of flagging at Helium, while exploring some of the other issues the overuse of the flagging tool reveals. At Helium, rating sets the score, while flagging assists only in catching the dissonant chords.

The Helium community establishes quality rankings through the rating process, while providing community watch for plagiarized and inappropriate content. Plagiarized content has been stolen from another source (members need that exact source to make a plagiarism charge). Inappropriate content violates the terms of the User Agreement: profanity, all capital letters, adult content, illegal material, self-promotion, and that which encourages hate or harm. Only flags that meet these User Agreement criteria will be investigated by Helium Operations staff.

Often, however, members want to use the flag tool to make editorial judgments about the quality of articles on the site. But rating is the venue to make those subjective judgments, and not flagging. In fact, if a member flags a low-quality piece instead of rating it down, that is a wasted vote, which enables the low-quality piece to remain floating artificially high in title groups.

For editorial judgments use the "praise and feedback" or "contact writer" email system. Let the writer know the title of the article you're writing about. Provide positive feedback and encouragement first, and then gently suggest improvements of an editorial nature.

Why flagging may make members feel like they have cast a more powerful vote than when rating gives pause for reflection, however. Perhaps rating makes members feel like they are just in the crowd while flagging places them closer to affecting the conductor's score. Perhaps throwing a flag has been associated with hitting a reject button. Yet, the opposite proves true.

We need to encourage members to understand the facts about flagging:

* Flag only User Agreement violations (there's a link to the User Agreement at the bottom of each page on the site).

* Cast editorial judgments about quality through ratings.

* Realize that flagging for the wrong reason is detrimental to quality sorting, because rating opportunities are wasted if flags are thrown instead.

* Understand that rating is the mechanism that casts low quality to oblivion on the site.

At Helium, rabid raters have a much bigger influence than flagging fanatics. So rate like mad and flag rarely.

For the uninitiated, you can access the flagging tool at the top each page, next to the "logout" button, by clicking on the "Tools" link. Pick either plagiarism or the inappropriate flag. Use this discreetly, only for violations of the User Agreement. Do rely primarily on the rating process for editorial judgments, but feel free to use "praise and feedback" to gently encourage improvement from fellow members.

Learn more about this author, Barbara Whitlock.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.