> the amount of flames and slagging matches on HN is near-zero
I wish. But I guess if anyone has this perception at all, that's a sign of something working.
> I assumed when something gets flagged, it is brought to the attention of the moderation team
That's mostly true, but not as true as it used to be. There are a lot of flagged stories. While at least one moderator does note them all, it has to be done quickly and it's easy to miss salient details.
I meant the ones that escape the flagging to death. Those are relatively few, compared with my experience from other places on the 'net.