I'm glad you're asking these questions @shaka

I hope you get many answers for this is something everyone should make their opinion on in the community on this platform.

I am not opposed to red flags / downvote if they are just used properly, but I believe that a warning should first be in place with a yellow flag that describes the problem of fighting spam / plagiarism and fraud.

In my 3 years at steemit I have given many a warning and explained where I do it. Several of them did not realize it was wrong and have thanked for it afterwards for guidance and some of them have also become my friends here at Steemit. It is useful to talk to people, not just give them a flag / dwonvote and then they just sit there as a question

We must be able to teach to others before we punish, so that everyone gets a chance to grow on this platform

Some of the ugliness that happens here is now revenge with flag / downvote
Small accounts are also downvote for no reason because of many other small accounts that are only active when down voting.
Am afraid someone has a different agenda than what flag / downvote is meant for. Looks like they don't want new Steemit accounts

I think all this has to be done in a more correct way, as we are now creating a huge war on the platform and more and more are becoming enemies instead of friends

My suggestion for the next Hardfork is

The use of downvote / flagging cannot come until you give a factual reason with warning. And the warnings should then come with a yellow flag
If the warnings are not heeded, it will be possible next time to give the red flag, but even then it must be described why the red flag comes.