This is toxic - and claim that some how Dang is able to moderate the toxicity is telling — as is the claim the HN is a community based on spirit of curiosity and open reasoning.
* Please feel free to click the timestamp for the submission then click “vouch” if you feel this submission should NOT be flagged; if it’s unclear how to do so, happy to try to make how more clear.
Why are only ranked users able to flag? My guess is that after someone invests enough time in HN to accumulate 500 karma, that person has some idea of the spirit of what's wanted here. Ads and job postings are certainly not, nor political flames, etc. So a "karma'd" user might spot that pretty quickly. I don't get out my flag flyswatter very often but when I do, it's because I'm trying to help keep the garden clean, so to speak.
This applies to doing so as a response to within comment where the topic itself is NOT the abuse of flagging.
>> Why are only ranked users able to flag? My guess is that after someone invests enough time in HN to accumulate 500 karma
Only 31 rep is required to flag; this is mentioned numerous times already in the comments to this submission.