Flags will push content down on the homepage, early flags on the new page stop content from getting on the homepage at all. In other words, flags are a crude m

Flags will push content down on the homepage, early flags on the new page stop content from getting on the homepage at all. In other words, flags are a crude mechanism that you can use to modify the rankings, effectively they are downvotes. It won't take many flags to clear the homepage of the political and mainstream content. My guess is that it won't matter because that same strategy can be used against content that is on topic. And I've seen that happen, plenty of times.