If Flagging continues to have this kind of power, it shouldn't be used as a downvote against things you don't like. It should be reserved for downvoting content that violates decent web behaviour. Like spamming or plagiarizing.
A couple weeks ago, one of my only successful posts ever was flagged by a whale (and his sock account... I guess he really wanted to make me lose money.) He gave the reason that there had already been similar topics on the site. Well this is the internet... of course there will be some repetition. And even if my content wasn't original enough I had done a bunch of original artwork for the post. Comments from others indicated that they saw value in my blog entry and didn't just see it as redundant noise.
But this whale had to take it upon himself to cut my earnings down by about $600 and effectively kill my only successful post since my introduction.
We don't believe that emotional, illogical reaction is cause for inflicting harm via downvote/flagging option. Conversation is an option for resolution of differences, plus it allows the greater community to get involved which benefits all.
Thanks for sharing your experience @sethlinson. Disagreements are inevitable, but we appreciate the opportunity that Steemit provides to discuss them reasonably and openly. We don't disapprove of the downvote/flag option per se, but to exercise that power without even hinting at reason for censorship is absolutely dishonorable.
Wowza... This is the one thing about Steemit I've never understood - this ability to flag (i.e. censor) or downvote (i.e. censor in a different fashion) seems to attract pettiness, trolls, and vast misunderstandings...
I wrote a short bare-bones article about potential solutions to keep flagging in the system, while creating a means of accountability to go along with it. Even if only the first part is implemented, it adds a step to the process of flagging and also identifies the user directly and can assist in the community holding this person accountable.
I even used your circumstance as an example in my article @sethlinson :-)
I'll check out your article :)
That is absurd!
Yes this is a major problem and must be fixed otherwise this platform will fail.