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Are comments visible to mods while reviewing a flag on an answer? Does it vary by site? I understand that mods are busy, so I want to make sure to communicate better in the future.

For context, here's what brought up this question:

I flagged an answer as a duplicate, and the flag was declined with the following message

please provide a link to the duplicated post

although I had provided a link to the original answer in a comment to the flagged answer. It happened to be the only comment, so I didn't mention it in the flag reason text.

If the comments are visible, then referring to the comment would draw attention to it; if not, then I will need to include the full link text in the flag reason.

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Moderators see answer flags in two places, in the "flags" view (a page that shows everything that's flagged) and inline on the page with the flag.

The flags view shows only the flagged item, not the broader context. (For example, it shows flagged comments but not the other comments.) If we click through to the page, we see everything you see, including undeleted comments (which might be collapsed if there are many).

For a flag about a duplicate answer we would need to click through to see the other answers. We wouldn't necessarily notice the comment (especially if there are others), so pointing out the comment in the flag would be great. If you've already commented to point out the dupe then there's no need to repeat the specific information in the flag -- just point it out.

Flags that say "this is a duplicate answer" without some indication of which of the other 12 answers (or whatever) the flagger is talking about are frustrating. You already know which one, so please point it out like the OP of this question did.

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  • Thanks! If that is how it works for Workplace mods, then I assume it's true for all sites. (I would be less confident if you were a Stack Overflow mod, since that site is a bit special.)
    – jpaugh
    Commented Nov 15, 2018 at 16:56
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    I think SO has the same flags interface we do, but with more pagination and some timing delays. But yes, I can confirm that it's the same interface on the five non-SO sites where I can see flags.
    – Monica Cellio
    Commented Nov 15, 2018 at 17:02

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