The flagging system on HN is terribly broken. I sent this to dang a while ago on the subject: I realized something interesting the other day - users gain acces

The flagging system on HN is terribly broken. I sent this to dang a while ago on the subject: I realized something interesting the other day - users gain access to downvote comments once they reach 501 karma. I've always inferred that this is to make it so that users cannot downvote until they have demonstrated some understanding of the community and an ability to fit in with its norms. However... users get access to flagging at 31 karma. A flag is basically a super downvote in several respects: - It works on comments and posts - It works on direct replies to your own comments - Just a few flags is enough to remove content entirely - A flagged post cannot be vouched for until after it's been removed, whereas a post can be upvoted before it's downvoted. It's a bit weird to me that the OP version of downvotes is available to users 16 times sooner than the neutered version. I feel like HN has a problem with flagging being abused for censorship - this might provide an explanation. Food for thought. I won't disclose the response without his permission, but dang: if you're ITT, feel free to share.