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The Help Center article about the privilege to flag posts still refers to the old situation where 6 flags were needed:

What happens when I flag something as spam or rude/abusive?

The spam and rude/abusive flags are designed to automatically eliminate truly disruptive posts through the collaboration of the community.

  • 6 flags – the post is locked, deleted, and the owner loses 100 reputation.

However, as documented in the FAQ What are the ��spam” and “rude or abusive” (offensive) flags, and how do they work?, this is now 4 flags instead of 6. This may have been intended as a temporary measure, but it's been in effect for 6-8 months now, so the privilege page can be temporarily adjusted as well. Perhaps it can even be dynamically populated based on a site setting - this accommodates the situation we had in the past where several sites (The Workplace, English Language & Usage) posts only needed 3 flags.

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    It was changed during the great moderation strike of mid-2023, which resulted in SmokeDetector temporarily shutting down. This left sites overrun with spam, so this temporary measure was put in place. I'm not sure if the fact that it wasn't later reverted was an intentional decision or an oversight, but I'm leaning towards the latter because the one who adjusted it was laid off shortly after the strike.
    – Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog
    Commented Jan 30 at 8:11
  • @SonictheAnonymousHedgehog Slate announced it in CHQ, and is a current SE CM. I believe you that one of the former CMs made the change, but it does mean that a current one was at aware and somewhat involved.
    – cocomac
    Commented Jan 30 at 8:17
  • @cocomac Ah, no, that was my mistake. I thought it was V2Blast who posted that message, not Slate.
    – Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog
    Commented Jan 30 at 8:18
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    They should also update the mod-only article What are "spam" and "rude or abusive" flags, and when should I use them? which mentions "six" at least twice.
    – Laurel
    Commented Jan 30 at 12:41

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