RE: I will not flag a person... I will use words... @berniesanders brings on the ad hominems and profanity
I sort of predicted this kind of thing happening in my post here https://steemit.com/anarchy/@randr10/why-steemit-is-not-a-good-model-for-anarchism-yet. I think Steemit needs a Dispute Resolution Organization provision in order for the whole flagging thing to become civilized and avoid flag wars. A DRO would be sort of an insurance policy against unjust flagging. If said DRO is to be anything other than retaliatory, it would need to be something built into Steemit itself, and many entities would need to have access to the system to create a competitive market and prevent power from centralizing too much with any given DRO.
Now a DRO that is strictly retaliatory in nature could be set up independent of the platform without anything changing with Steemit itself. It could be a regular account set up on Steemit, and it would simply pool the resources of its subscribers in order to become a whale. This would allow the DRO Whale, or DROW, to tangle with and win a flag war against even the largest whales on Steemit. The pooling of resources would theoretically provide for this.
The problem with a DROW is that it can't restore your lost Steem and reputation if you're erroneously flagged by someone. It could still be effective, but this is the reason I think the Steemit admins need to build something into the system that would allow certain entities to do more than just pull a lot of weight and throw that into their own flagging.
Yep, I did too going way back in some of those posts I shared. The key here is that Dan/Ned are trying to keep steem/it something that can be maintained by the users and does not require specialized positions. The closest thing to specialized positions we have is witnesses that WE can vote up/down.
So anything that we come up with we need to think how we can implement it such that it does not put the power into the hands of individuals who cannot be added/removed by the community. An example would be moderators. Sometimes they are good, and sometimes they are censorship run amok assholes.
So that is but the first consideration...
The second consideration is to consider and try to imagine ways you could GAME or take advantage of that idea/implementation.
If you come up with ways to game it then those gaming situations need to addressed first before it can really move forward.
Dan proposed being able to down vote flags themselves, but they do honor the community and I guess people were not supportive of that.
The idea was if a whale flagged someone, and we thought the flag was bogus then we could start down voting THAT flag to cancel it out.
The real problem though is that ideally we wouldn't even need a flag other than a mechanism to report spam, plagiarism, and abuse if not for the fact that leaves the system open to be gamed.
That is where we are at now, and Dan is aware of this as well. We need an alternative method but all of these things must be considered.
A thing about a DRO is that it could become like moderators. If you happen to be friends with the people in the DRO then you may get biased representation. If we have a way to automate it that cannot be gamed, then something like that could work.
We have quite a few options that are ALMOST good, until we start thinking up ways to game them. Make no mistake some whales do game the system, so that would not stop. Non-whales do as well, they just are not whales yet so it is not as noticeable.
Well if a DROW is problematic, the current Steemit system is problematic in the same way. As I said, DROWs could be set up using regular old Steemit accounts right now. If I had more time on my hands I'd start one myself, if only just to see if one could be made to work. It would take a monumental effort to manage the sales and administration of such a venture. I don't even really have time these days to post (I just find this topic so damn interesting, I can't resist). That said, I hereby forfeit any ownership of the idea to anyone who wants to take this ball and run with it.
The checks on DROW power would be competition from other DROWs and the sense of fairness of subscribers to said DROW. For example, if I start a DROW and establish credibility through some seed money and a fair retaliation against false flaggers, people would be apt to support my efforts and subscribe. If I go around playing politics and flagging people erroneously using the account myself, people would likely withdraw subscription and kill my revenue stream. They could also defect to other DROWs that fulfill the same function. The thing that would help prevent DROW vs. DROW wars would be mutually assured destruction.
Well experimentation is critical. If you could DO one to try it out then I completely support that. I even support steemit.com experimenting with new things here. As long as we are willing to take a step back when something doesn't work and not get too invested in what WILL work before we've tried it, then I'm pretty much willing to try almost anything. :)
Now that I'm reading that post back to myself, you could make a provision in the charter of such an organization that all of the steem power granted in subscription would have to be forfeited back to the subscriber in the event that the DROW were to commit fraud.
yeah lets start the conspiracy whale wars :) bring in the undead and the orcs while we are at it :D
Just be civil and figure things out at the start don't vortex problems to infinity , @matrixdweller is a whinny itch , but I've followed him for his posts and his resilience :D , maybe after a month , or if he starts posting different topics , he will get his income back, other than that only public pressure can calm things down , be cool and solve problems , I'm not into the whale politics so I'm not one to listen to , but it's detrimental to have "wars" give everyone a "flag" and banner together :D even the time allocated to these topics is too much of a wasted effort,
this place is great and still has a way to go , lets just have some forums , chill the fuck out and start doing something productive , I mean Steem the fuck out :D