Ask PG: Downvotes on articles ?
The 'flag' option on articles is used as a downvote more and more frequently. This causes discussions in progress (sometimes with lots of comments) to suddenly be killed.<p>If the intended use of the 'flag' option is to flag undesirable content (for instance spam) then a downvote could simply be used to control what makes it to the front page and as a signal what kind of content is desirable.<p>Not everybody on HN has the same focus and if a subject is controversial that is no reason to shut it down categorically, especially not if the conversation is actually respectful. (the comment moderation system will keep that in check quite nicely it seems).<p>So, my request is simple, enable downvoting on articles and reserve the use of 'flag' for spam.