Dear mods, I'm looking for a little help interpreting the response to a flag I made recently. I flagged a post for suspected sock-puppeting, my flag was marked as helpful, and then nothing happened as far as I can tell. What should I make of this? Is this a signal to me to let this drop, or should I keep pursuing this issue?

@KReiser Undoubtedly you read this. Anyway, "helpful" simply means that a moderator thought it was a good idea to flag that post, and that the issue you raised was worth investigating. In case of ssuspected sock-puppetry, the moderators may need to collect more evidence. Then decide to refer the case to the SE staff, and only after that can you expect to see e.g. votes reversed.

Suspensions don't require input from the staff, but usually moderators want to have a colleague take a look at the evidence also.

It is also possible that the moderator investigating the matter concluded that there is nothing actionable. The flag would still be marked "helpful". The mods really want regular users to keep an eye on things. They won't think kindly of frivolous flagging, but "helpful" really is the normal response.

@JyrkiLahtonen Ah, that had escaped my notice - thank you for bringing it to my attention, and thank you for your explanation. I'm still curious about whether I ought to keep pursuing this specific issue or let it drop, which I suppose is something only a current mod could tell me.

@KReiser as Jyrki said if it is "helpful" we usually don't mind if the subject continues. We could also decline or might still say "helpful" but add a comment not to keep raising the issue. Generally there is a trade-off between keeping the flag "open" a long time which can give the impression of nothing happening and marking it "helpful" while not yet taking action. For the specific case we are looking into it, thanks for raising it. I tentatively think you were right.

@quid Thanks for the response and the clarification.