I&#x27;m often surprised by how large a role flagging plays for how long stories live on the front page.  For example, I presume most (all?) of the precipitous drops in this chart are due to user flags:<p>http:&#x2F;&#x2F;hnrankings.info&#x2F;6&#x2F;1-10&#x2F;<p>That&#x27;s a lot of discussions that are prevented from happening because a small minority thinks they are inappropriate for the site.  Is this a good thing (because it preserves harmony) or a bad thing (because it shuts down productive discussion)?
Ask HN: Can we talk about the role of flagging on the front page?