The flag and a direct reason without being a prick about it is probably the best approach. Like I said, they can be removed, it's not permanent and neither should their behavior be.
I know what you mean about numbers though. Honestly, I don't my following to be a statistic. I view you folks as fans of my work, subscribers to my one page at a time magazine about nothing. Some even get to be friends or at least acquaintances. As for other cultures... I think every group has their con man, and I'm not even trying to be politically correct.
So I wrote a post about this just a little bit ago because it's driving me crazy: https://steemit.com/steemit/@trevorlyman/there-is-a-steemit-culture-clash-going-on-right-now-is-it-time-for-tough-love
Check out the comments from @newschannel428
I'm pulling my hair out right now.
I read that little exchange between you two. Here's the kicker, if you look down near the bottom of the comment section on this post, you will see a familiar name. That other member you mentioned came here and did it to me too.
Clearly spam. There's no way that user read this post. thanks for sharing, so I took a screenshot of all the other comments that say the same thing.
The one you were speaking to cried censorship. How is it censorship when the one who could potentially get flagged for spam isn't even paying attention to what they are saying?
It's total BS and they know it. I think I am going to follow that guy and make sure he gets zero payouts. Maybe I'll make a spam report - comment spam, and we can all go in and get rid of these people. They do us no good, at least I don't think so.