I'm actually contemplating stopping all content creation on the Steem blockchain (as I'm making pittance on it as it is) and focusing solely on curation, so that I can use up all of my "free" downvotes without risk of retaliation from pissed off, entitled, Steemit abusers.
Same here. My career as author may end soon. My new career as whale flagger may begin. :)
I don't care much to earn more STEEM as I have enough anyway to get rich if the STEEM price rises significantly (and if it doesn't, then anyway it won't help to have even more STEEM than now).
The only problem is that I really like to write from time to time, and I guess my articles to become real flag festivals if I keep posting and at the same time flagging abusive whales. :)
I hear you.
One possible solution is to make an alternative account to post from, without leaving any obvious traces to your main account's identity (so you obviously can't vote on it or delegate SP to it from your main account). The problem with that is that we each have our own unique "writing personality" and potential voting retaliators may (or may not?) be astute enough to make the connection.
Odds are, sticking to the same posting format and/or topics (on top of what I mentioned about writing style) will add up to more than enough evidence to make that connection, assuming that the content from the alt-account is sufficiently "visible". If the posts from this alt-account are making mere pennies per pay-out, there's a chance that it can go on unnoticed for eons, haha.