I would like to thank everyone who showed their support here, I was not expecting my post to spark that much interest and controversy, but I’m glad it did, it made me feel I was not alone here and it showed the power of the grassroots of this community as this post remained on the top of Steemit homepage despite unjust flagging and heavy down voting. I do respect the opposite opinion and I think it’s a good thing to discuss this issue openly and try to find a middle ground on which we can all agree.
Of course I condemn the policing and brigading that’s taking place here, people accused of abuse should not in any way be dealt with that aggressively, some people make innocent mistakes, some are not aware of the unspoken rules, but they are being dealt with like criminals and scumbags as I experienced it firsthand. For the image of this project, dealing with abuse should be done in a civilized way. Of course not all members of the abuse brigade are rude, but a few of them are enough to ruin the image of Steem.
I think we should be able to agree on a code of ethics that needs to be written, because people cannot be held accountable for unwritten rules, I’m not encouraging blatant copyright infringement in any way, but copyright law is much more complex than some people here think. And it’s allowed to use copyrighted material under some circumstances without permission, copyright holders know it and accept it and only a judge can decide if there was an infringement or not, not the average joe.
Regarding the liability issue of copyright, it’s been discussed over and over again, but to sum it up, there is no need to reinvent the wheel here, we do not need to worry about it more than sites like Facebook, Reddit, or Youtube, of course none of these have been taken out because of it, because they have a sound legal policy to deal with it. And that’s what this project needs. Relying on community based brigading will definitely not solve it. It needs to be dealt with using proper legal advice and policy.
People who think I made more than a hundred thousand dollars with my posts are way off charts, I mined and invested in Steem early on, and been running a witness node, that’s what makes up the value showing in my account after Steem price went up ten folds.
For the time being I will refrain from posting news photography until we agree on a code of ethics that takes into consideration the opinion of all people here, not just a select few. I think it’s best because my photography posts have been drawn way out of proportion either regarding them being a threat to the whole site (that’s absurd) or in regards to their financial rewards.
I will however try to contribute in other domains I excel at, that are not subject to controversy, it have been overwhelmingly encouraging that people here supported me, and I will not give up so easily.
Once again, thanks to everyone who made this post count!
This is the hard way ! We love you .
