Why Was a Response Flagged? (Quality Score Explained)

1. 1

   Understand what's checked

   At submission, SiliForm checks for speeders (answered faster than ~1.5s/question, or — once a form has 30+ timed responses — in under a third of that form's median completion time, shown as “Fast vs median”), straight-lining (the same option position on 4+ choice questions), always-agreeable answering (the most positive answer — top star rating, NPS 9–10 (only the top point on a short scale like 1–5), “Yes”, or the top label of an agree/satisfied scale — on at least 90% of 6+ such questions, shown as “Always agreeable”; a light signal, since a genuinely happy respondent looks the same), failed attention checks (a wrong answer to a question you marked as an attention check, shown as “Failed check”), broken consistency rules (answers that break an “If Q1 is X, Q2 can't be Y” rule you set under Settings → Consistency rules, shown as “Rule broken”), duplicate answers to a recent submission, near-duplicates (very similar to one of the form's recent responses, or a long text answer worded almost the same as another respondent's answer to that question, shown as “Near-duplicate”; only ever compared within the same form), disposable email addresses, fake-looking phone numbers, and regex-level gibberish.

2. 2

   Add an attention check

   In the builder, select a Radio Select, Dropdown or Yes/No question (for example “To show you're reading, pick Blue”), turn on “Attention check” in its properties panel, and choose the correct answer. Respondents see a normal question; anyone who picks a different answer gets a “Failed check” flag. Skipped checks are never flagged, and if you rename the correct option, pick it again or the check is ignored.

3. 3

   Add a consistency rule

   In the builder's Settings, under “Consistency rules”, choose a question and answer, then the question and answer that can't go with it (for example “If Employment is Student, Income can't be Over $200k”), and click “Add rule”. Rules work with Radio Select, Dropdown, Yes/No, Checkbox, Star Rating and NPS questions; for checkboxes, picking the option among others counts. Respondents never see your rules. A rule whose question or option you later delete or rename is ignored.

4. 4

   Screen out respondents who don't qualify

   In the builder, select a Radio Select, Dropdown or Yes/No question (for example “Are you over 18?”) and tick “Screen out” next to the options that disqualify (for example “No”). A respondent who picks one sees “Thanks — you don't qualify for this survey.” and the form ends. Their response is kept on the Responses page under the “Disqualified” filter, but it doesn't count toward your responses or monthly quota, doesn't reach your webhook, Google Sheets, HubSpot or email notifications, and is left out of analytics and the default Excel export. Respondents' browsers can see which options screen out. If someone qualifies right after several screen-outs from the same device, browser and country within an hour, their response gets a “Screen-out run” flag. Renamed or deleted options are ignored, so re-tick them after editing.

5. 5

   The AI pass

   A background AI check (fail-open, so it never blocks a legitimate submission if it errors) also catches plausible-but-fake filler, joke, or off-topic text that the heuristic checks miss.

6. 6

   AI-assisted detection (optional)

   If you turn on AI-assisted detection in Builder → Settings, SiliForm also looks at how answers were given, without recording what was typed: switching away and pasting back (“Tab-away paste”), mostly pasted answers (“Pasted”), unnatural typing rhythm (“Odd typing”), long answers with no edits (“No edits”), a question answered faster than it can be read (“Too fast to read”), and a whole section of two or more questions answered faster than it can be read (“Fast section”). On Pro, the response detail shows the time spent on each question, grouped by section with a section total. None of these run on forms that may include under-18s, on anonymous forms, or for respondents who declined.

7. 7

   See the flag reasons

   Open the response in your Responses table or the analytics Responses tab to see its Quality score and the specific reasons it was flagged.

8. 8

   Correct the label

   Disagree with a label? Click the Quality badge on the Responses page, or “Change label” when viewing a response in the analytics Responses tab, and pick Flagged, Review or Clean — or “Reset to automatic”. Your label is used everywhere, including filters and the Excel export’s Quality Set By column, and is marked “Manual” while the automatic score and reasons stay visible. Re-scoring never overwrites it — so picking the same label the score gave also locks it in. Pro feature.

9. 9

   Exclude flagged responses from analysis

   Use the “Exclude flagged” toggle in analytics, or add ?excludeFlagged=1 to your Excel export URL, to leave flagged responses out of your numbers — they're still saved by default.

10. 10

    Turn scoring off (optional)

    Quality scoring is on by default per form; turn it off in Builder → Settings if you don't want responses scored at all. If the toggle is greyed out, unpublish the form first to change it, then republish.

11. 11

    Forms that may include under-18s

    If anyone under 18 might answer, turn on “This form may include respondents under 18” in Builder → Settings (every plan). It turns off typing and timing analysis for that form: no speed check, no AI-assisted detection, and no completion time kept for new responses. All other checks still run, and responses already scored keep their flags.

12. 12

    Anonymous forms

    If you've told respondents a form is anonymous, turn on “Anonymous form” in Builder → Settings (every plan). New responses then keep no location, device, browser, operating system, UTM or referrer details, and AI-assisted detection is off. Respondents see a short note saying so. Answers, submission and completion time, and spam checks are still kept. Avoid asking for an email or phone number: Settings warns you if the form does. Responses received earlier keep their details.

13. 13

    Respondents in the EU, EEA, UK and Switzerland

    With AI-assisted detection on, respondents in the EU, EEA, UK and Switzerland (and anyone whose location can't be determined) are asked to accept or decline behaviour analysis before they start, below your notice text. If they decline or turn it off, nothing about how they type or paste is measured and their response isn't marked down for it. The response detail and the Excel export show each respondent's choice.

Frequently asked questions

Does a low score stop someone from submitting?

No. Quality scoring runs after submission to help you evaluate responses — respondents are never blocked by it. Separately, live AI validation on text answers can reject an implausible answer before it's submitted.

Is this available on the Free plan?

The flagged count is visible on every plan. The full flag-reason detail, All/Flagged/Clean filtering, and unblurred Quality column are Pro-gated — included automatically during your 14-day trial.