You've definitely been a great asset here since you came on board. I've been following, even if quiet. (I tend to do that.) Having a positive, helpful attitude alone really goes a long way on here.
I really don't want to get too in depth on the 'experiment' (being rather talked out about it myself at this stage) but I did try to give some idea as to what was going on with it (with the best of my knowledge) in [this post] along with various pros, cons and strategies to use while it continues. I'd seen a post defining a 'whale' as 384,000 SP or more and while I can't give an exact percentage, those who reduced their vote percentage low enough to the level of a 'dolphin' wasn't supposed to be flagged.
An idea you might try that the flags really can't touch would be some sort of contest with a Steem or SBD prize. Now I absolutely understand this requires taking money directly out of your pocket, so this isn't meant as any force. But stirring up something engaging, positive and fun (akin to papa-peppers [meme contest] or ones run by @fibra59 can really go a long way in my eyes as far as the community itself is concerned.
I don't know if it's something you'd ever want to do, but you're welcome to join as a featured guest on one of our @steemittalk podcats one of these weeks. We try to just have a good time on those and feature cool steemit content and users there.
Hmmm...this is an interesting idea! Thank you, @sykochica. :)
I guess once the whole calculus of how rewards are resolved settles, this idea of yours would really help this place grow at a micro level by creating sub-communities within this larger community.
Absolutely.
It's tough right being able to provide rewards by your voting with the expectation of it being flagged back down. So most of my mind goes into ways to 'motivate' outside of the voting system. The down side of this is that it'd take funds outside of a vote and I don't really like the idea of telling anyone what to do with their money.
Now, this could go well outside of memes. Offering a reward to onboard somebody. Offer a reward to advertise somewhere, or to try to find a great person with a decent following but not quite 'there yet' to bring on board. In the past, there was a positivity project that was run to try and help things 'lighten up' (which unfortunately ran via resteems and upvotes.)
Idk, but I can't think of anything off the top of my head that doesn't require offering funds directly. Maybe something like trying to accumulate donations from members to then distribute to a person that seems to be most 'showing steemit values.' (However that would be defined, lol.)
Anyway, I'm exhausted and wanna try to get a little more writing done. In the end, there is nothing wrong with just continuing to do what you do naturally (since it's already have good impact, even with the counterflags.)
Thank you, and thank you for the encouraging words. Rest well!