[forgotpasswd3x]

Instead of killing off the story through flagging, why not just disable commenting on the story?

Seems like banning / downmodding users should work just fine, instead of killing off the whole story.

[tptacek]

That's not a feature of HN. It's mostly not HN that is forcing political stories off the site, although HN's moderators have confirmed repeatedly that such flagging is appropriate given the site guidelines.