I like the idea of making the first flag the exclusive right of the post's author. I'm not so sure I understand your second idea fully. Are you proposing that new users are put on probation for a time so that they may learn the rules and are determined to be genuine before being let loose onto the main platform? That may work but would the monitoring and hosting of what would in effect be a parallel system be possible? I haven't the knowledge to answer that. Maybe some others might?

I like the analogy you make likening newbies to children and them catching the 'upvote me' type diseases. You make a good point and one that we ought to bear in mind before letting loose with the flags. Maybe a polite comment to that person pointing out the errors of their ways first is the way to go. Thanks for the post @animal-shelter. Say hi to cryptonut for me :-D