I will certainly feel bad if I am downvoted or flagged for reason I do not know. Much that there is no avenue to reach out to those who did such act.
I think downvoting or flagging should not be done by bots as bots can not rationalize. For humans, there should be a tool or mechanism for downvoters or flaggers to put their reasons or comments as to why they are doing such before the action finally takes place. It is something like a required field that you can not proceed to the next step until the field is filled up. Next to that, there should be an avenue for downvoted or flagged users to veto or at least clarify themselves.
This downvoting or flagging without notice or venue to discuss further is majority's concern. Steemit is decentralized but I hope the witnesses would give this a considerable thought.
You need not stop the contest for now. I suggest you still run it for few days or on alternate days and see how it goes.
I have stopped it forever as it was just deemed to be spam by Steemcleaners and I yield to their better judgement I guess.
I don't mean rebound with the same contest. As we mentioned earlier, something new...
Maybe I'll be back with something new and different. There are so many wonderful folks here it would be a-shame to be driven off by bullies disguised as protecters. But this really hasn't been a very good experience for this bunny who now feels dejected and worthless for his contribution to Steemit. So I dunno if I'll be back or not.
As you said, there are many wonderful folks here. It's your call if you're going to totally yield to those you called bullies. Is it worth it?