zlacker

>>dang+(OP)
I've been hesitant to go into new and just start flagging all the terrible stories because I've read about people that lost the ability to flag. So I only flag on relatively rare occasion. Does such an overuse mechanism actually exist?

>>bradle+q1
Not overuse, just abuse. If you'd like to flag some more but are worried about that, just send us an email at hn@ycombinator.com and we'd be thrilled to take a look and give some feedback.

>>sctb+m4
I don't know how automated the system is, but would it be feasible to say something like "If your email address is in your profile, we'll try to give you a warning by email before we take action?" As it is, there's not much feedback on whether the flagging action is appropriate or not.

>>nkurz+h8
As someone who is a regular (permanent?) attender on HN's rate limit blacklist[0], I can say that from personal experience: You will likely not be notified before HN punishes you, but from contacting HN about said incidents, it's generally (maybe always?) a manual process by an irritated HN mod. And if you email them (hn@ycombinator.com) about your apparent ban, they're generally willing to converse.

[0]I was unable to post this comment when I wrote it, and had to wait.