A good simple rule. When in doubt, don't flag. If you are not sure whether you should flag or not, then don't. As was stated in the post often simply NOT voting and thus not rewarding is enough. Unless you happen to be super powerful (odds are you are not) then starting to flag people based upon your opinion will possibly get you on an auto-flag by one or more people.

It generally doesn't go well. If you don't like something and you want to make it known. Provide a comment. Be civil about it. If you are a jerk in your comment you might get flagged as well.

One of the cool things about steemit is that we all can talk about a lot of things that would just result in a lot of abuse and trolling on other sites. Not flagging and being civil in our responses is part of the reason it is like this.

If someone is a jerk to you and abusive DON'T stoop to their level and be a jerk back. Be civil, or don't respond at all. Jerks that are name calling abusive to people and are met with someone that is civil in the face of that tend to look like jerks to the entire community, while the guy/gal NOT stooping to their level can look like a hero and earn respect.

This place is awesome. Let's try to keep it that way. Good post. Resteemed.