"Simply flag the post, don't bother bitching about it, that will only get you downvotes." This isn't always true. I've bitched about submissions and gotten up

"Simply flag the post, don't bother bitching about it, that will only get you downvotes." This isn't always true. I've bitched about submissions and gotten upvoted for it. :-) Usually, it's something along the lines of "I'm tired of seeing this crap on the front page" though. Usually if it's "this is hacker news" or "N00b, this is a violation of the rules" it will get downvoted. One other point to make, it's ok to point out that someone is breaking the rules if you're not bitching about it. I think comments saying "You might not realize this, but this will likely get downvoted/flagged because it breaks rule X" comments should be encouraged.