THANK YOU for talking about this @sigmajin! Censorship is an incredibly important issue. We totally agree with your statement: "once censorship or repression gets its foot in the door, the door almost always opens wider and wider over time", which is why we addressed the same topic in our post today.
We came to Steemit and are excited about the revolutionary potential of it because it was purported to be free of the censorship issues plaguing Fascistbook. We're encountering users who are reacting emotionally to the challenges we present to their paradigm, and feel it appropriate to attempt to silence us for it. Censorship has no place in a logical, reasonable, and just community, so we bring it to light. By addressing it, everyone can learn and grow. Even the "assholes" get the opportunity to voice their opinion. EVERYONE has the right to free speech; the listener gets to determine how much of their energy they want to devote to it.
Censorship, however, inflicts injury upon another party. It is the opinion of one forced upon not just the other they have (attempted to) silence, but upon the community as a whole--everyone loses when ideas are limited. This really comes down to values and intention...all users have the opportunity to wield their power responsibly.
What you report is even more sinister than a few minnows disrespectfully wielding a downvote. To suggest police involvement or utilizing "underground connections"...is that a joke?! That is completely counter to the Steemit we want! To call in the real-life mafia "authorities" over the exchange of challenging opinions is NOT the world we want or any community we want to be a part of. There are radical and revolutionary ideas floating around on here, and to threaten a person for those ideas is inappropriate and cannot be tolerated.
Thanks for the long and well thought out response. I went and took a look at your post that got flagged. You should know that these flags cost you less than one cent altogether. I know its kind of crappy to be flagged at all, but its not like you were in danger of not having a voice.
It was predictable that the players would try to organize, and it is totally within the rules - although such a self-image as "police" speaks volumes.
The part where comments become invisible is where a bud is to be nipped, IMHO.
Youre misunderstanding that quote i think. Its not that theyre refering to themselves as police. Its that theyre talking about getting user info from @dan and @ned calling the actual police on people. For something said on the internet.
Not that its likely that they would have a cause of action for criminal prosecution. But do you really want to explain to detective whatever that disagreeing on the internet isnt a crime.
In my naive approach I didn't take the literal meaning, it seems. Well, that is poor indeed.
A bunch of narrow-minded born-rich wannabe leaders, whose only power comes from the amount of SP they scored by luck. Idiots.