[MegaButts]

We just fundamentally disagree. From my perspective you are the antithesis of curious conversation by censoring topics you don't want to discuss. I don't want to read the latest update on some dumb framework but I don't flag the post.

Also getting 500 karma on HN isn't hard.

[tptacek]

Right, my point is, it's not in fact a small group of people.

[MegaButts]

Getting 500 karma is a trivial task and not some tiny group. Are there any HN regulars (that don't just lurk) that don't have that much karma?

The point is a flag has higher weight than an upvote, and it's easy to get the ability to flag posts.

[tptacek]

Right, again, my point: the cohort of people who can be flagging these articles is quite large. It's not a small number of gatekeeping old-timers.

[MegaButts]

dang has admitted that flagging carries more weight than voting, we just don't know what the weighing is.

[tptacek]

Sure, sounds right.

[MegaButts]

So then it's not an equal flagging vs equal upvoting, it's fewer flags by fewer people being able to derail a post off the front page which may have been upvoted by 10x or 100x as many people as flagged it.

The fact that it's easy to get the ability to flag just makes it easier to abuse by people who want to censor certain topics.