I spend way too much time on HN, and having seen how often flags are abused or simply used too liberally, I think they are way too over powered. A lot of good discussion gets killed by flags right it of the gate. Sometimes it gets vouched and redeemed, but the vast majority of the time the damage is done and that comment or story languishes in obscurity.
The comment doesn't really say anything and the commenter is not saying they edited the comment to make it just non-substantive rather than non-substantive and inflammatory.
I would hope people aren't using flags for low-value comments, but you make a great point that it could have been edited to remove something that was deserving of a flag.
They could, and if you ask me, they should. They gum up threads and often start meta discussions about exactly how low-value they are. Many are even explicitly listed in the guidelines - snark, tropes and memes, 'broke the back button', shallow putdowns, etc. Righteously flaggable, one and all.
I agree regarding snark, and pretty much anything that criticizes the person rather than the ideas. But one person's tropes and memes are often somebody else's current belief/position, especially if they are part of today's lucky 10,000[1].
What (in your opinion) is the purpose of the down-vote button?
But one person's tropes and memes are often somebody else's current belief/position
In a site with the ostensible goal of 'curious conversation', that's not really good enough - it's not the job of your potential interlocutors to figure out what sincere, reasoned beliefs and positions hide behind the throwaway trope line. If you want to have a conversation, it's on you to try to converse. There are lots of other places where the trope line is fine - from the group chat with friends or colleagues to twitter. But those places work in different ways.
What (in your opinion) is the purpose of the down-vote button?
It's a way to say 'this comment is misranked'. There are lots of reasons to feel a comment is misranked - including simple disagreement.
Saw it while it was flagged. There were two sentences. They removed the second one. Cant remember the exact wording, it was a short one, but it was basically saying: "Israel bad".
