They are understandable but also entirely futile .. I hate seeing you take such damage @seablue, I don't believe bernie is taking any pleasure in it either, he's making a point .. which I am guessing is .. "stop wasting your time!". I would uncouple the individual from what is occurring, and target your message to STEEMIT Inc. to ask them to continue to consider changes/fixes .. this system is far from perfect, and that is a message I believe bernie is also sending.
Once "disagreement" reaches this level, everyone loses. If I do not like something that someone posts, I should have a means by which to voice this displeasure, without going for the throat. :) There are posters who I have vehemently disagreed with and who I have muted (I try to avoid insulting them), but later I have found that they sometimes post things that I very much do agree with, and enjoy reading.
We need civility 'and' be able to throw shit at eachother, simultaneously, without creating long-lasting animosities .. design changes are required.
My belief is that Steemit won't acknowledge the problem unless we make it problem.
In that sense, bernie and I are working together. I'm making it visible on a daily basis that there is an issue that needs to be addressed.
I'm going to go about doing what I do. Bernie can do what he does. Then we can see what effect that has on the platform.
When I write 'Welcome to Steemit' on a new post, and it gets flagged. People are going to wonder why. That is a question they should be asking, because there are issues they need to know about early before they invest too much time, effort and money.