In this, I'm in complete agreement. While I am an ardent supporter of free speech (even that which is called hate speech) vendetta flagging is something else. It lessens the community as a whole, and seeks to silent those that disagree.
If I lothe what someone is saying, I'll argue a little too make sure that is what they're saying (misinterpretation causes a lot of enemies that otherwise could find common ground) and if I still don't want to hear their shit I'll mute them. Flagging should be kept as a punative measure reserved for those that would silence unpopular thoughts, corporate shills that take money to actively decieve us, and bots that drown out the conversations with noise. Clarification: there are a lot of good bots around. I'm not talking about those. Those bots are great.
This reply is already long, and branching into rant territory.
Tl;Dr: Vendetta flaggers hurt the community. I don't think anybody minds a life lesson/example being made here.
RE: User Flags