[Jtsummers]

Interesting, I guess it made sense to me because I read the FAQ which describes and mentions user flags several times:

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html

> How are stories ranked?

> The basic algorithm divides points by a power of the time since a story was submitted. Comments in threads are ranked the same way.

> Other factors affecting rank include user flags, anti-abuse software, software which demotes overheated discussions, account or site weighting, and moderator action.

[crazygringo]

To be fair, "flag" is short for "flag for review for removal by moderators", and has been for decades on internet forums. Making flags also downvote is counterintuitive, to say the least.

And people don't usually read the FAQ to double-check that basic forum features work in the intuitive way. :)