You can only vouch for things that have been killed by flags (are [dead])

Oh. Does the flag penalize it in the rankings?

Yes, flags have quite strong impact on ranking.

So there's no way I can "vouch" for it to not be buried somewhere off the front page? That's too bad.

I understand the intent of the algorithm, but personally I feel these are some of the great conversations of our age being held by some very smart people and it seems like the discussions keep disappearing once they get good.