Excellent post @skeptic! I recently had an experience on this site that very much aligns with the issues you bring up. There is a user with a lot of power who decided it was his prerogative to use his SteemPower as an Iron Fist against anyone who disagreed with his statements on his blog, or even mentioned his name in another blog if he didn't like what they said.

Fact is, it doesn't matter if what was said is true, false, agree, disagree, or whatever.....like you said, he's got a mute button. He knocked me down to level 6 for calling him out on ripping off someone else's catch phrase. Sure, he has the right to do it, and I have the right to let him know that we know he's doing it, and we think it's lame. Sure enough, within an hour, I lost everything I had built over about 4 months. I tried taking a step back and reasoning with the guy, but he just kept flagging.

I was truly, truly disappointed in the Steemit system. In fact, I started doing my work here behind the scenes, seeing as I could barely post, and certainly not post any pictures.

Well, eventually someone else mentioned that "someone" was doing the things I mentioned above in their post, never even mentioning his user name. No one asked him to come and out himself as the one being spoken about, he chose to out himself. By doing so, something amazing happened. He started threatening others, by saying he will do the same to them. I just kept pointing out how much of an asshole bully he was, and he kept insisting he was a nice guy all the while threatening anyone and everyone who challenged what he said. My account was ruined, what did I have to lose?

This is the amazing part....the community stepped up. A few friends on here backed me up, and one went to a large group forum and told the story to them. Within two days, he backed the fuck off, as a bunch of other people with the same power as him told him he was being a dick and using his power in the worst way possible. Not only that, but they all went through and upvoted everything I did to get me back to the level I'm at now.

I have to admit, I almost quit this thing because of that moron. I figured this place is just like everywhere else....money rules over everything....but that actually didn't turn out to be the case. Many people stepped up and were willing to have their accounts ruined also to fight the bully. My faith in the community was revived, as was my account.

No one told him to stop saying what he was saying, they just said "Listen up buddy, we see what you're doing, censoring people and threatening people, and ruining their accounts....and well, we will gladly do the same to you if you think that's how steempower should be used"

Point being, I completely agree. I just wanted to share that with you, and encourage you to keep your head up, and fight the good fight. I dealt with a worthless account for quite a while before justice came around, but it did in the end. Sure enough, that guy isn't flagging people into oblivion anymore.

Any small group is going to have their own standards for what they believe is their "territory" if you will, and yes sometimes you get smashed for being real with someone, but don't let it ruin your experience here. I know first hand that getting the word out like you are doing is the best remedy for those assholes. Good on you brother.