[vaultboy21]

thanks for the actual rankings numbers - that would have saved me some time..

and i agree that thread got pretty unpleasant and i think it highlights another side of the same problem as it shows how people who may not like the particular issue furiously attack those who do (and likewise in reverse).

i really believe if one made-up a similar post and reversed the roles between the two companies the reaction would have been substantially different - both in terms of the thread commentary and flagging. its one thing to disagree with something and argue against it, its another thing to try to burry something which only serves to depress any good exchange of thoughts that came come-out of it.

[DanBC]

> good exchange of thoughts that came come-out of it.

I don't flag threads if there's good discussion in them. I do flag threads that collapse into unpleasant nastiness. I downvote some of the worst examples of unpleasantness too.

It's very easy to say that people flag a thread just because it has positive coverage of companyA or negative coverage of companyB - and maybe that does happen - but the HN mechanisms are opaque and some people[1] flag threads for different reasons.

[1] Me. I do. So that's at least one person.

[vaultboy21]

clearly people flag for different reasons. that just bolsters my point that there should be an examination of flagging behaviour and some clarification around how its meant to be used, if need be, and potentially some adjustments to prevent occurrences such as when "people flag a thread just because it has positive coverage of companyA or negative coverage of companyB"