The whole concept of a consensus mechanism concerns me really. Philosophically, I'm in a place where I'm trying to understand the interplay of masculine and feminine forces in the world. I perceive, perhaps wrongly, that consensus is a tool of the feminine. When I say feminine, I'm not saying women. I'm saying it in the sense of that nurturing, mothering, compassionate part of our culture.
I don't see the masculine element in this model yet. The risk taking, the manipulation of nature (feminine), the aggressive competition.
That might all sound kind of stupid to some people, but I think it will dictate how much utility Steemit will play in my own self interest.
How does that relate to downvoting? Well, downvoting is kind of a masculine thing. It sends a fuck you to the other person. :-) " I have power and I'll do with it what I wish". That is a very aggressive masculine message. I sometimes think we need that. Now having said that, this is all an artificial environment here in Steemit. All the same forces are not in play. So I understand that other unforseen imbalances probably do exist.
Again you can use the comment section to achieve such things. You do not need to physically force your will upon others. I've studied Taoism, Tai Chi Chuan, Qiqong, and even a little bit of Psychology. With that said I don't really give much thought to masculine/feminine any more. I was way into the concept of yin/yang. Balance. I do like the idea of balance, but then again I am not a D&D Druid. I don't really believe we must destroy things because there is too much creation going on. There are CASES where the masculine/feminine approach really has relevance. There are other places where it may not actually improve things.
I do think the masculine/feminine can be used in comments without attack a person.
I guess one way to view this approach is that there are cultures that do believe in yin/yang and practice belief systems that are non-aggressive and still achieve the masculine/feminine dance.
Yet here the flag is more of an aggressive thing. It can have very real impact upon the receiver as it does have monetary weight behind it.
I am NOT trying to bash your statement, it was well thought out. I have this thing going on right now in my head (lately) where I believe it is important to study from and learn from the past, though I also realize that doesn't always mean the past got it right and we should emulate them. I like the idea of trying new things. New things are a risk. They succeed, and they fail. Which will happen is sometimes difficult to know without putting them to the test. Yet I also don't really endorse doing things that we did in the past over and over again and expecting a different outcome. So... I likely reacted to the masculine/feminine statements here with a bit of my OWN current mental bias. It did make me think though, so thank you.