My impression is that there is some degree of correlation between threads with high numbers of comments and the comments exhibiting unproductive behaviors. Correspondingly, this makes it more likely that the story will be flagged. Likewise I think there is some correlation between stories that are &quot;more mainstream news&quot;  and high numbers of comments exhibiting unproductive behaviors: these stories are even more likely to be flagged.<p>I&#x27;ve never seen anything suggesting the raw number of comments affects score negatively.