Answers from the thread with thanks: news guidelines here: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Answers from the thread with thanks: news guidelines here: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html format doc here: https://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc https://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc an unofficial guide here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16437973 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16437973 In summary: You need 501 karma to downvote a comment. Stories fall from the front page when they get many flags. You need only 31 karma to flag. When a story gets much more comments than upvotes, it gets a penalty. The mods can sink a story, or remove the penalty of the flags or the automatic penalty.