Yeah I understand your and @pfunk 's argument. I think our difference of opinion is based on the distinction between what's going on in the UI versus what that translates to under the hood. My argument is based on the semantics of the issue (i.e. calling it flagging etc.) whereas yours is more based on the technical side of things. Both are valid.

I will say that I think it's important to understand that for a lot of less knowledgeable users (like the one you describe) the way the UI is designed has a direct impact on the way they use the system, so although it's not the "meat and potatoes" it still carries a lot of weight in that regard. If the devs understand this (which I'm sure they do) then we can infer that they did mean for people to think of flagging differently to downvoting. I think that distinction could definitely do with some more refinement though, which would resolve this debate pretty effectively.