There has been an on-going discussion with Steemit inc about putting the downvote back as a downvote instead of a flag. It's tricky. But yes, there are still massive whales here who start flag wars and will make every post or comment hidden for someone they don't like if they so choose. It's a tricky thing. When it comes to flagging spam, I think the chance of a flag war is small. If you have concerns, you could also report the account in steemit chat instead of flagging it yourself.

As for the flag being hard to find, that's surprising to hear. It seems pretty straightforward to me.