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.
The point is a flag has higher weight than an upvote, and it's easy to get the ability to flag posts.
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.
Because it's very longstanding precedent, you're going to have to do more than just notice it out loud for the first time to change it.
For what it's worth, I didn't just not flag this story, or even just upvote it; I submitted it (and was beaten to the punch). It's a good HN story! But I can absolutely understand why the Trump-Story-Flaggers would have reflexively flagged this story. These threads are incredibly tedious and corrosive to the community.
There is no correct answer to this problem. I'm just critiquing it in its current form and explaining why, to me (and many other people who have complained about it recently), it's getting worse.