RE: The voting controversy!
@bitfiend thanks for sharing your thoughts on the matter!
My concern is with genuine content being flagged, simply because the flagger disagrees with the opinions that are expressed in a post.
I wholeheartedly agree with you that plagiarism and spam needs to be dealt with, I just think it needs to be dealt with in a more creative way.
As far as self-upvoting is concerned, if it is a destructive thing then Steemit devs may want to consider discouraging the tactic by removing it as an option from the posting screen.
Yet if you think about it from a freedom perspective, we all have this ability to vote for whoever we want. This freedom to vote for whomever we want is what led to first the self voting, and then the vote bots.
It basically created a situation where the platform, and it's users had to rapidly evolve or respond to the fact that many whales simply stopped manually curating.
My contention is that Steemit should find a reasonable alternative for dealing with plagiarism and spam, and then implement that.
Then, they could either remove the flagging tool or change the way in which it functions on this UI so that people do not engage in blatant content censorship which tends to lead to hostility and downvote wars.
Update: I do realize that downvoters and flaggers will simply do it from another platform, and that is fine. You see the thing is Steemit sold itself as a censorship free platform by cleverly talking about characteristics of the block-chain itself when they promote their product.
That type of clever marketing is what caused liberty-loving people to flock to this platform in droves , thinking it was censorship-free. By removing or fixing the flagging option in this UI, they can become the product that they were selling to their user base all along. It would be a good way of preventing a mass exodus.
This is where people are mistaken about steemit and what it is. I never once read that this platform was censorship free. I did my research and understood there was a downvote system for disagreements with content or rewards.
If you talk about controversial topics you are bound to experience some kind of censorship no matter what platform or forum you use. Its a risk people take when they decide to debate on controversial subjects.
Just as easy as it is to get censored, its easy to get uncensored if enough people agree. There are more problems on stemeit than flags or the idea to remove the feature.
I can tell you that ned himself said that they are working on tools for moderation and to fight plagiarism and abuse. Don't know when these tools will be implemented but it is evident that the tools will be granted to worthy individuals so not everyone will be able to see these tools. I assume this is the first step being taken to resolve the issue you speak of but i doubt the removal of flags entirely is where they are heading with it. I think you will find it necessary to have the flag feature available as opposed to having to wait for a mod to resolve an issue.
Of course, flagging of content that is original is complete bs and I have seen it myself, but I mostly see it on posts that are generating thousands upon thousands of dollars a day.
Steemit sold me on original content. I never considered negative original content
I did consider this to be a conspiracy theorists haven because there is very little censorship.
The censorship you speak of, that we see on here, is not quite the censorship I've experienced myself on facebook or youtube, so it's still quite the utopia.
I can say that there is a certain part of the flagging option that does need fixing.
Of course I could be partly wrong. Maybe I missed the censorship-free part. I just see people doing the censoring instead of media or gov'ts which is what I consider a step in the right direction. It's us policing ourselves.
I Hope as you said, that they are in fact working on tools to make the Steemit experience more free speech oriented, so the bullshit as you say can stop.
The first time I was soft-censored the downvote came from the lead technical developer of Steemit.
I was shocked to say the least, thought to myself it's almost like they are following the same path as the failing platforms of yesteryear;
(twatter, fakebook, and
utube).The feeling that I get from your second paragraph is one of resignation, and defeat. Steemit is an American company, in America we have freedom of speech, and I think our internet companies should strive to mirror that in the digital realm too.
I think if their users demand it, they will have no choice but to hear us out.
I hope those tools come soon. My third paragraph sheds light on the sense of defeat in my second. The power of the people will demand that those things that are censored to oblivion on other platforms, will be much harder to censor here. Thanks for your responses! It's conversations like this that make me appreciate this platform so much.