I couldn't agree more. And while I have a decent rep, and everything feels peachy, you just never know when someone is going to decide to pursue a vendetta. I've seen some very nasty flagging wars here in the last 2 weeks.
I've seen some whales around Steemit Chat, who are prepared to flag trolls or bestow Upvotes on those who make a good case for being wronged, but it's hardly an ideal situation.
The popular opinion certainly isn't always the "right" opinion. Even a "well meaning" mob is still a mob. That also leads me on to Steemcleaners, who are a very polite and accountable mob, but a mob of sorts, nonetheless. Personally, Steemcleaners have my full support, considering their main target is plagiarism, something which can be empirically measured.
A more worrying mob, is the "fan mob" who will dogpile someone at the whim of their idol. Unfortunately, I fear we aint seen nothing yet, in that regard.
I have not submitted much content to Steemit other than guest posting and commenting a bit. I am trying to find out if Steemit is a good investment of my time, or an effort that would turn into an incredibly expensive emotional roller coaster.
There is this inevitable group of social media users who equal the effort of grunting loudly with the effort to produce content. And you can see them mostly on Youtube which is the weirdest public assemblage of demonstrated sociopathy on Earth.
Eventually, all platforms that have one-click interactions (like, upvote, downvote, etc.) turn into wars about the use of these self-moderation methods. The downside of a platform like Steemit, which has a monetary reward for attention is that it also causes maniacal jealousy over financial success.
I have been racking my brain for years to figure out a medium that naturally attracts mature contribution and also detracts harassment (Wouldn't you know it Medium.com is not so bad and Pinterest has avoided becoming a sewage system too!) I am glad Steemit exists so I can see it evolve. But, as someone who started managing social media communities in 1991, I am pretty much over this current wave of dramatic myth making for attention.