[jazzyjackson]

Is it really abuse for a small number of people to decide right off the bat that a discussion is going to be, erm, unproductive?

[j_maffe]

It is if the post consistently gets vouched for whenever others stumble across it. Of course if it only got flags then it likely represents a widespread opinion.

[pvg]

Some users flag, others vouch, that's a disagreement rather than abuse in some obvious way.

[j_maffe]

Yes, but again see my previous comment about the asymmetry of visibility.

[pvg]

There are lots of such asymmetries (although yours isn't very accurate since posts don't get hidden the moment they are flagged) but however the system is tuned, it's still not evidence of abuse. People disagree on what stories belong where and the system may work differently than the way you prefer or assume but neither of these are evidence of abuse. That's not saying there isn't abuse it's just not clear how you reach that.

[j_maffe]

Yeah, you're right, it's not evidence of abuse. I just find the designed system is vulnerable to it. Whether that's the case would require more data.