There has been a TON of abuse by whales and dolphins flagging stuff just because they can, not sticking to the original intent for flags.
Someone decided they don't like YOU or your CONTENT or your OPINION:
FLAGGED!!!
We all know it, we all have seen it, time and time again, and it has cost the platform users, content, and credibility.
I almost want to self vote this to the top so it actually gets read.... but I won't.
What is the difference between a normal user, a dolphin and a whale in your mind ?
and what is THE original intent of the flag? and I insist on singular "THE".
A flag is a downvote, it's exercising power, power that need to be purchased to give value to steem.
BTW I downvoted you not because I "hate" you or your opinion, but because I think you are wrong, your content/opinions is also wrong and has less value so far than everything else that was posted in this thread.
So, now people should be afraid to comment, just in case someone comes along with a higher reputation and doesn't like their point of view? I feel that your action here shows why some people are so against downvoting.
This really is a pity because I don't see that @barrydutton has been in any way abusive. I suppose that my other comment will also be flagged, which means you will not get a full and frank discussion.
I am risking the flag because I feel the point has to be made.
Goodbye and enjoy you discussion.
Exactly my point here David, you are spot on brother. And people know it.
Flags also damage people's account reputations.
This is a great example here of what is not right and God forbid you say anything here to question a handful of opinions.
It really does make and prove my point, in short order.
@barrydutton, @davidnx, yeah, agreed, people downvote as a way to disagree.... and I joined Steemit June 2017 and got downvoted when I said anarchism and bad parenting or discipline practices can be counterproductive at times maybe for some people and stuff............ and I may not like Jihadism and I might not like vaccines or mercury.... and so on...
.
After getting my posts flagged like ten times in a row during my first week here in June 2017, I started censoring myself...... because I am afraid of getting flagged if I say like I like Trump for example.... we can become a place of the left..... of zombies........
.
My goal now is to not mess with whales or bears until I can improve my reputation a bit more first..... and that seems o be what we have here I guess.....
kind of makes my point for me.
Thanks.
have a good week LOL
With muting you decide what you don't want to see - fine. Flagging on the other hand is deciding what you don't think other people should be allowed to see - fascism...
And upvoting my own comments...personally, I wouldn't hesitate! (Hell I've upvoted my previous 1400 comments - not for the money but to raise them up in the feed)
I think we definitely need to come up with a solution that would help us fight spam and censorship(flag abuse) at the same time. I don't think increasing the downvote power is gonna help solve either of these problems. It would probably only increase the abuse of flag. Generally speaking however, the system seems to be designed in such a way that there's no equality of voice. Basically, the more money you have, the more influence you're going to have in the platform as you can buy more STEEM and power up. I'm not sure if a system like that can thrive as it's not something new. It's just fashioned up with a different look and feel!
What's new about it is that's it's blockchain based, trust-less, open and transparent.
If you consider that there has not yet been a reliably way to enforce 1 human = 1 cryptographic entity I think steem is the best we have so far.
It is true.
Some people do not appreciate or like the line of questioning on these types of issues, and it tends to show the character of people good or bad.
But hey if you bought the votes to get to the top no one would have any issues! :(
? Vote buying is disguised self-voting and is also a form of abuse.
People powerup or buy upvotes to get more exposure