Should flag be removed from HN?
I ask that "flag" functionality be removed from HN. There is too much abuse and silencing of ideas on HN via the flag button. If a post gets enough votes to float to the top then by the wisdom of the crowd it's relevant and interesting content and should be shown. If not, the wisdom of the crowd will stop upvoting and it will fall back down naturally.
Flag is being abused by a minority to silence serious thought provoking ideas and questions.
I think that the flag should not prohibit comments, since these comment are important; however, perhaps don't display them to anyone without showdead. I also think that a chronological view should be made available. Sometimes is useful to flag for being duplicated, though; it should mark which one it is a duplicate, so that only one copy is flagged and not both. Other than that, I would be OK to get to get rid of flag, and to get rid of voting too, displaying everything only in chronological order and hiding nothing, never expiring anything. Some people don't want that, so that is why should be the options to customize the filter and sort order (and, these are not necessarily the only possibilities).
Flag does get abused sometimes, but it also acts as a safety valve for getting flamewars off the front page quickly. Dang feels strongly about keeping things civil on HN, and so do most of us.