Whack-a-Mole
Noun · Slang & Abbreviations
Definitions
A situation where fixing one issue causes another similar issue to appear elsewhere, so the team keeps reacting without solving the underlying pattern. The phrase is common in ops, moderation, and bug triage.
In plain English: A repeating game of fixing one problem after another without ending the pattern.
Example: "Without root-cause work, spam prevention becomes whack-a-mole forever."