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RE: Proposal to return the 12 hour voting window gate

in #hive4 years ago

I reckon that this neglects to consider opinion flagging that can also take advantage of the 12 hour window during which it cannot be countered. We have discussed in the past such flagging, and while you may not engage in it, you neither condemn it that I recall.

Your stake and connections prevent your grasping the censoring impact of such flags, because you are immune. I commend to you the effort necessary to comprehend the pressure on folks without your immunity of such demonetization on their speech, because I think that will improve your ability to defend free speech, which you assert is your purpose in preventing spam. Clearly, spam is no less harmful to our speech than suppression of contrary narratives by opinion flagging, and your work is just as essential to the platform as is countering opinion flagging.

However, it is no less necessary to counter censorship than spam, and this proposal decreases the ability of free speech advocates to do so. For that reason, I do not support it.

As the rote response of substantial stakeholders to noting the censoring effect of serial flags on free speech is to deny it is censorship, I also suggest well understanding the definition of censorship includes any suppression, editing, or concealing of speech, and is not only the utter removal of speech. To be factually accurate, it is actually impossible to to absolutely eliminate targeted information. It is a false claim that only such absolute removal constitutes censorship, and a clear consensus of generally accepted sources (encyclopedias and dictionaries) define censorship as any suppression, which demonetization clearly is. While platforms such as Youtube and Facebook undertake every effort to utterly eliminate contrary narratives, even such Gorilla Kings of the social media market fail to do so.

It is vitally important to differentiate Hive from such centralized platforms, and it is our censorship resistance that best does so. Please do not reduce that censorship resistance unnecessarily.

Thanks!

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Beautifully spoken.

This is a really good point and it really brings up the need to address what I might consider the larger problem of abusive flagging. I think different solutions might be needed in order to counteract that. I think one such solution is fixing the broken reputation system. Well, it doesn't really solve it totally, but it would be a first step in the right direction.

Your stake and connections prevent your grasping the censoring impact of such flags, because you are immune.

Since not looking is a common theme in your statements, why don't you go count how many of his posts that's got at least $15 flags on it. Just look at the recent ones, you don't even have to dig far.

By that same logic, one could even argue @lucylin is immune because his posts are clearly visible and still rewarded despite the downvotes.

And here, I have just adjusted this comment reward for you and nothing is censored. You clearly just make less.

You can make pretense of reason by offering up atypical examples, while ignoring statistical relevance, and do so here. There's a difference between what you represent above and what has been relevant to Hive.

Those flags on the massively staked account don't impact that account any more than your flag on my comment does mine. Even small flags on @lucylin's account do matter, because it's not massively staked and he cares about his rewards, something that is typical of Hive users, and atypical about your examples. @themarkymark has so much stake that even $15 flags don't materially impact him, and I don't care about my financial rewards, because I don't use them as money.

Why don't you contrast the relative impact of flags on accounts you mention? Your flag on my comment has a higher relative financial impact on my account than a $15 flag does on Marty. However, unlike @lucylin I actually benefit from being flagged by censors, because it draws attention to my posts, drives engagement, and proves my points better than my words, and those are things I value far more than tokens.

The fact is that far too many examples of serial flagging driving people off the platform correlate to an abysmal retention rate. Both Marty and I are highly atypical, and @lucylin far more typical.

Therefore your attempt to deceive by providing atypical examples actually bolsters my points, rather than counters them. Do try to be reasonable and relevant, rather than the opposite, if you want to reach rational conclusions from our discourse.

If you just want to bully me, flag away. Rational people will grasp the significance of that attempt to suppress my speech.

You are one of the most annoying people I have had reply to my posts and you reply a ton with nonsense, have I even flagged you?

No. If I was trying to censor people you would be the top of the list.

I agree, except that you intend to stop spammers from posting - to censor them - and I am not a spammer, so you do not. This fact is why I have apologized to you for my incorrect comments, and why I have upvoted this OP and several of your comments with which I agree.

Neither do I state nonsense, even if what I say seems so to you. We do disagree, and that necessarily results from a difference in our understanding. From our individual perspectives, we disagree with what makes no sense to us.

I agree that flagging spammers is the right thing to do, and say so. That is not the same as flagging people you disagree with, but that isn't some different power. Flags on spam and on folks you disagree with are both censorship. Censoring spammers is necessary to Hive, and censoring free speech is harmful to Hive. I support you in your censorship of spammers for that reason, and oppose censorship by others of free speech.

I used to suspect you were flagging people whose speech you disagreed with, but investigated and found very limited examples of it, and despite my provocations, you did not flag me. That's why I have made the statements I make.

That may not make sense to you, but it makes sense to me.

I don’t flag people I disagree with and I am not a fan of people who do. I will flag libel and threats or if it gets to the point of spamming.

Although I am one of the few that uses all their flagging power, I do not flag emotionally. Considering the amount of crap I got to put up with that’s a challenge.

"...I am not a fan of people who do."

I am encouraged to hear it. It happens that some flags fly betimes you would not support. All I ask is that you not undertake to make such flags harder to counter by free speech advocates by creating a window of 12 hours wherein they are not possible to counter.

I am convinced not only is it challenging, but it's necessary to Hive, and a damn good thing you have stepped up to prevent spam. I have said this before, so won't repeat it.

Hive is special because many platforms are being censored and forcing only certain views to be publicly stated, and hive yet resists that. Should we lose that quality, I, and many others, would not remain. It is that for which I come here, not tokens. All I ask of you is that we keep it.

The fact is that far too many examples of serial flagging driving people off the platform

Name them. One by one. Show actual data instead of cherry-picked cases.

The only deception here is your claims that you are atypical whilst using this so-called example to bolster your "points".

A $0.12 flag on a $2.50 post is a much smaller percentage than a $15 flag on a $20 post. I guess it's irrelevant to you because you hate the man in question.

You feel bullied because you are flagged? Tell that to the few people that continually receive daily retaliation because they oppose bad behavior. While you, sitting far away from conflict without lifting a finger.

"A $0.12 flag on a $2.50 post is a much smaller percentage than a $15 flag on a $20 post."

This is typical of your arguments. I specifically said accounts, and discussed the relative impact of flags on accounts. You substitute a different metric, which is deceptive. It's also deceptive because someone with fewer assets depends on them relatively more than someone with massive stake.

I neither said I feel anything at all, and you cast aspersions unsupported by my statements.

I do oppose bad behaviour, which opinion flagging and censorship is. That's why we're having this conversation, and why you flagged me, bolstering my arguments by providing an example of opinion flagging.

Finally, I absolutely do not hate Marty. Not long ago I commented thanking him for his hard work censoring spammers, and I have upvoted multiple comments he has made on this post, as well as the OP. Do not pretend your values reflect on me whatsoever. I don't agree with his proposal. Maybe you have to hate people to disagree with them, but that doesn't even make any sense to me.

Of course, none of your latest replies to me on this matter have made any sense to me, so that may explain why. This implies that your unreasonable comments are hate driven, and I note that anger is the child of fear. Fear is the mindkiller.

You have nothing to be afraid of, and no reason to hate, from my comments. I am confident you'll make more sense if you embrace your fear rather than letting it drive you to unreasonable statements.

And how do you measure "relative impact". By the assumption that the wallet represents that reality?

Or do we pretend that one person never once feels frustrated since he has "massive stake"? A lot of stuff goes much deeper than on the surface or on the chain.

That $15 flag is not only bigger in percentage, but comes with more stuff off the chain than you realize. And I'm not even talking about income.

And I don't think the downvotes on @lucylin are irrelevant. In fact, there are those who are willing to counter or more. How's that for a fact? That there are benevolent actors on the chain that you may not be aware of?

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"...That $15 flag is not only bigger in percentage..."

Again you ignore factual reality and misstate the position I have stated. I don't feel like taking the time to dig it up, but I know damn well a $15 flag on Marty is infinitesimal to his stake compared to a $.30 flag on me.

Tell me more about how feelings get hurt, and passions inflamed by flags. Then think about the flag Marty flies every day.

There damn sure are benevolent actors on the chain I do not know to name, but few of them I can guess, and I have stated this in my apology to @themarkymark within the month. Hive exists, and our speech yet is relatively uncensored if we do not act to prey on the community, only because those massive stakes ninjamined at the outset of the chain permit it.

If you haven't before read this statement from me, you read it here first, but I have said as much before, and never otherwise.