Unix & Linux Meta Stack Exchange
It’s that time of the year again! As we bid farewell to the year that's concluded and welcome the new one, we have a tradition of sharing moderation stats for the preceding calendar year.
As most of you here might be aware, sites on the Stack Exchange network are moderated somewhat differently to other sites on the web:
We designed the Stack Exchange network engine to be mostly self-regulating, in that we amortize the overall moderation cost of the system across thousands of teeny-tiny slices of effort contributed by regular, everyday users.
-- A Theory of Moderation
That doesn't eliminate the need for having moderators altogether, but it does mean that the bulk of moderation work is carried out by regular folks — folks like you. Every bit of time and effort y'all contribute to the site gives you access to more privileges you can use to help in this effort, all of which produce a cumulative effect that makes a big difference in ensuring Stack Exchange sites remain a valuable source of high-quality content on the web.
So as we leave 2025 behind and spring into 2026, let us look back at what we accomplished as a community... by looking at some data! Below is a breakdown of moderation actions performed on Unix & Linux over the past 12 months:
Action
Moderators
Community User¹
Community²
All comments on a post moved to chat
14
0
0
Answer flags handled
828
147
0
Answers flagged
107
244
623
Bounties canceled
0
0
0
Comment flags handled
1,738
3,846
16
Comments deleted⁸
3,423
15
6,433
Comments flagged
130
3
5,467
Comments undeleted
53
0
0
Escalations to the Community Manager team
2
0
0
Posts bumped
0
8,097
0
Posts deleted⁷
529
2,407
751
Posts locked
2
291
0
Posts undeleted
27
0
115
Posts unlocked
0
10
0
Question flags handled⁶
276
888
32
Questions closed
198
311
59
Questions flagged⁶
49
38
1,124
Questions merged
0
0
0
Questions migrated
16
17
0
Questions protected
2
28
38
Questions reopened
11
3
5
Questions unprotected
0
0
2
Revisions redacted
1
0
0
Tag highlight language set
0
0
0
Tag synonyms created
0
0
0
Tag synonyms proposed
0
0
0
Tags merged
1
0
0
Tasks reviewed⁵: "Close votes"
15
0
1,682
Tasks reviewed⁵: "First answers"
2
0
1,487
Tasks reviewed⁵: "First questions"
1
0
1,868
Tasks reviewed⁵: "Ingestion"
0
0
0
Tasks reviewed⁵: "Late answers"
0
0
880
Tasks reviewed⁵: "Low quality posts"
269
0
357
Tasks reviewed⁵: "Reopen votes"
5
0
120
Tasks reviewed⁵: "Suggested edits"
88
205
2,063
Tasks reviewed⁵: "Triage"
0
0
0
User banned from review
1
0
0
User review-bans lifted early
0
0
0
User suspensions lifted early
7
0
0
Users contacted
7
0
0
Users deleted
0
0
0
Users destroyed⁴
180
0
0
Users suspended³
49
26
0
¹ This refers to the automated systems otherwise known as user #-1.
² This refers to the membership of Unix & Linux without diamonds next to their names.
³ The system will suspend users under three circumstances: when a user is recreated after being previously suspended, when a user is recreated after being destroyed for spam or abuse, and when a network-wide suspension is in effect on an account.
⁴ A "destroyed" user is deleted along with all that they had posted: questions, answers, comments. Generally used as an expedient way of getting rid of spam.
⁵ This counts every review that was submitted (not skipped) - so the 2 suggested edits reviews needed to approve an edit would count as 2, the goal being to indicate the frequency of moderation actions. This also applies to flags, etc.
⁶ Includes close flags (but not close or reopen votes). The community² can handle these flags by at least one person voting to close a question that has a close flag.
⁷ This ignores numerous deletions that happen automatically in response to some other action.
⁸ This includes comments deleted by their own authors (which also account for some number of handled comment flags).
Further reading:Wishing everyone a happy 2026!