Disable Flag/Appeal when unresolved?

I feel it's unnecessary for multiple flags to be active on a post at the same time. As far as I know, multiple flags do nothing to affect a post when they're active at the same time. I've been noticing this a bit lately: it's like people see a flagged post and bet on it being bad enough to get deleted, so they flag it too. Why? To up the number of successful flags on their account details? A misunderstanding of how the system works, looking to "cast their vote?"

Feel free to debate this, but it's been my understanding that appeals should only be used on posts that are currently deleted. Users tend to use the appeals system to start a debate or flag/appeal war at the top of a flagged post instead of in the comments, and this feels like an unintended result of the system. If users are meant to vote on whether a post should be approved, it should be counted separately like approvers' opinions on pending posts currently are, but that's a whole different issue. In relation to the first paragraph, multiple appeals on a post don't do anything extra for the post as it's already on the moderation appeals page (I haven't specifically checked, but I don't think multiple appeals "bump" it up the list) except perhaps to again cast a vote in a non-election.

It's a small issue, but I think it'd make the system feel more solid and clear on its actual workings if, when a post is either currently flagged or currently appealed with either situation unresolved, the option to do so is either removed or gives an error claiming the post is already in "limbo." If a flagged post is approved then the flag option should return as it functions now and if it's deleted the option to appeal should become available. This, however, does somewhat conflict with appealed posts currently never being "resolved" unless they're undeleted (we still have "active" appeals 5 years old); perhaps appealed posts should swap their status to "resolved" (but still deleted) after a set time similar to how pending posts switch to deleted. Maybe after a week or even a month. Having 139 pages of appeals is wonky.

I was originally just going to plonk this in a Github issue, but it does feel like something worth gathering opinions on.

-1 to this.

Your proposal would make flags immune to rebuttals, except ones that are hidden way down in the post's comment thread. Making additional flags/appeals, to contribute arguments or just to throw your +-1 in, is a valuable and harmless use of the system, IMO. Additional appeals (and flags) DO bump the post in the list (because a new entry is created), which is very useful when re-appealing a post that was appealed two years ago, for example. Having 139 pages of appeals is no wonkier than having thousands of pages of posts and comments.

If you think that the flag and appeal lists are too cluttered (I don't), then you could request a change that gathers all flags/appeals on a single post in a single list entry. That would actually be pretty nice, making the debate easier to follow.

I think it's pretty useful. There are some flag reasons, that can extend another one. Like, one feels uneasy about the anatomy, and another user specifies what that is.
That also has nothing really to do with "Succesful flags" in my eyes. The flag option is here to flag posts. If there are multiple users that flag that, then, it most likely has some bad proportions or anything. Is this necessary? No, not really, but it isn't also a misuse of this function. Amisuse would be: I torture one specific and flag every upload they upload (for example). One can use the comment function, but if someone wants to stay anonmous, then further flagging is ok. Of course imo :3.

For the appeals: I do wonder why they don't appear in the mod queue (if I read your paragraph, that's the closest conclusion. Appeals are the opposite of flagging. But the one appears on the queue, the other not.
If there are technical restrictions, then it'd be ok but from the point of fairness, it is not.

Besides...we have the mod queue.
And the mod queue does not show the comment section under a post as far as I know.
So this is another pro for keeping the appeal option open while the post is still flagged active, because in the queue, if one post gets appealed (while it is still pending), the janitor sees the appeal and the flag reason and doesn't have to look at the comment section if there was a discussion about this.
So it is much better if one can appeal while the upload is still flagged active.

+1

If anyone has anything to say about a flag/appeal they can take it to the comments. There's no need to "cast a vote" with multiple flags or appeals. Flags are there to point out flaws and appeals are there to point out merits. The system isn't there so users can argue with each other. That's comment section territory.

Provence said:

And the mod queue does not show the comment section under a post as far as I know.

When a post is flagged mods should be going to it's page and looking at the comments for relevant discussions anyways. Flags and appeals demand higher attention to a post than normally uploaded posts in the 3 day queue due to them being more scarce than fresh uploads.

When a post is flagged mods should be going to it's page and looking at the comments for relevant discussions anyways. Flags and appeals demand higher attention to a post than normally uploaded posts in the 3 day queue due to them being more scarce than fresh uploads.

Hmm, no.
What if there isn't a discussion because no one noticed or the appeal said all?
To permit the appeal then isn't that good. Sure, you can comment the post then, but what is lost if the user does not use it?
And: If there are 20 comment it is pretty bad to read through all of them. So then it would be better to have a short summary above^^.