I think its to mean that flag means revisit this later, and star means "I like this". That being said, they both suck as ways to revisit things later.
I feel like we need something completely different. Generally when I star something, it means that its something I like and may want to look at again(like in google reader). Its not like I must action this later.
A better mechanism that that is neither flag nor star, but a mechanism that would allow things that were marked for action to rise to your attention after a certain amount of time if you haven't already acted upon it.
When it comes to Google Reader I use "share" for things I like, would like to share with others and find again. I use "star" only for items that are not processed yet (eg. unread essays, unwatched videos) and I remove the star after processing.
This is exactly how I use it as well. I share items I like and want others to see and star items for future action (Youtube videos I can't view at work, article I want to read, SmashingMagazine's excellent graphics/icons that I want to refer to later).
I feel like we need something completely different. Generally when I star something, it means that its something I like and may want to look at again(like in google reader). Its not like I must action this later.
A better mechanism that that is neither flag nor star, but a mechanism that would allow things that were marked for action to rise to your attention after a certain amount of time if you haven't already acted upon it.