I don't think any of the two had any objectionable material to be deemed unsuitable for the front page. The first one was specially a call for help with a problem, that would have eventually got response from someone (I hope). Coz I also pasted it to Topcoder, and after a few days I indeed got help. The second one was just a suggestion to keep the contest timings well distributed so that not a single party gets affected of bad timezone all the time. Even though disagreeable, but nothing objectionable in it.

So I suggest that blog posts get a new attribute. "Flag!". And it should be the combination of downvotes and flagged numbers that should decide whether or not a post should be pulled from main page. Flag would suggest something objectionable not suitable for front page. That way the posts that a few of the members do not agree with, but could be of interest to others, could still stay on the front page in spite of the downvotes.

How is that?

Regards.