voting is not really speech. speech is a form of communication that doesn't inherently alter economics. i wouldn't personally say that the right to free speech means that i also have the right to buy a nuclear bomb.
the votes are a form of expression, yes, but then we don't really have a full right of free expression in modern societies - since this would also include people 'expressing' themselves by decapitating random people.
Writing is not really speech either, since it's written (?)
Splitting hairs here. Freedom of expression is what I would like to see.
Censoring art or music impedes people's freedom of expression as much as censoring speech.
Of course, freedom of expression does not include violence... but I am not here for that type of philosophical debate.
...
On Hive, everyone shares a reward pool. Hive(power) is a governance token.
Since you can allocate posting rewards with upvotes, I think downvotes are necessary, too.
Everything you post on chain is imutable on a deeper level and that in itself makes it a great tool for free speech (expression).
I don't agree with curangel (pharesim) downvoting you this much, but your speech is still visible at the end of the day.
Also it is not impossible to power up enough to counter these downvotes... but that's another pointless debate.
I would like to see myself as a free speech advocate.
I agree with some of your points, but I also see it as everybody's right to down- or upvote a post as they please.
The main problem here is the unbalanced distribution of stakes ...and it has been since day 1.
...still not sure how to take your contribution above.
I see some really stupid behavior on both sides.
Acting like whatever you say should not have an economical impact of sorts has little to do with the right to express yourself freely.
Free speech generally includes written forms of communication, since they are equivalent to vocal sounds in terms of their intent and capacity to cause change.
Only really because we generally agree that we don't want violence. In a pure sense, violence is expression of what is inside of us.
It's only visible to the extent that the Hive websites ensure that it is - some do this more than others.
It's not completely impossible, but only possible for individual people in the top 1% of the world's wealth distribution. In powering up, they also create a situation where the current stakeholders can take some of that invested money for themselves. However, the reward pool is stakeholder's money to begin with - so arguably that isn't so much of an issue overall. It is still the case, though, that by creating a tension through downvoting that promotes buying stake to resolve it - the downvoters could think that they create a buy pressure.. However, at the same time they may also create a sell pressure as people get annoyed and just leave.. In that sense, downvoting is arguably more of a creator of sell pressure than upvoting is, since upvoting entices people to buy in and compete with their content (plus is obviously part of the fundamentals of the system, which is more obvious to many people than the effect of downvoting is).
That's a key issue - but since Hive can be bought using Fiat money and the Fiat money has been created totally fraudulently in massive quantities for a long time, there is very little chance that Hive will be distributed in concordance with genuine consensus via POB.
For me, this issue circles around POB since it entices investors and creators to envision a meritocratic, consensus based system where good content gets more eyeballs and therefore advertising. It's a great idea, but it falls apart to some extent when 'the wisdom of the crowd' becomes 'the opinion of a whale'.
Not much left to say here...
That, I fully agree with.
I think we need more small accounts powering up.
I am running for witness, too.
I have been around since almost the beginning.
I have a long history on chain, including saying some stupid stuff and downvoting posts...
I have always tried to help increase wider distribution of stakes.
I have been curating by hand with only my own account for 5+ years now.
For the most part, I try to stay out of political debates (on Hive), but sometimes, I can't help it. I have opinions on all sorts of topics, but avoided downvoting posts for political reasons.
Not sure, if I actively support free speech and what you mean by that, but a witness vote would help me a lot.
It has been a bit worryingly difficult to get witnesses to do anything at all to try to receive a large witness vote from me here. In fact, I don't think anyone has provided any evidence at all yet!
I am looking more for actions than words, though publicly spoken words in important conversations/ways/places is relevant. Examples might include organising counter upvotes on dubious downvotes, developing apps that change how Hive works in order to protect free speech, being a free speech activist outside of Hive in some way - these sorts of things.
Promoting decentralisation in practical ways is also relevant, but since anyone can just say 'I support free speech', we need something more than words.
I understand.
I am probably not the right candidate for what you want to see, then.
Anyone can take action now to become such a candidate! :)
As mentioned above, I see enough potential here to increase the freedom of expression for all sorts of people.
I think I can have more impact, if I don't fight against windmills. My main mission is to support weaker accounts in building their own hive power and reach and not by opposing other people.
I have downvoted ocd for a while, confronted acidyo on chain and pharesim in private, but that's a about as much as I see beneficial for what I am trying to achieve.