"It's not unusual though to be treated like a thug when using the downvote option" yeah the downvote really makes people respond in a discussion since it really becomes personal for many. I can see both your side and @lordbutterfly side and I think both makes sense but sometimes it can get a bit heated.
But I rather have it heated than no power at all. YouTube decided to flag my account today on YouTube for just making a video How To Download a YouTube video lol... Now this is a power game where a content creator has no power at all. I assume with Google that you may not even be allowed to Download your own videos. There is not even a real human you barely can contact. Just a faceless organisation. So no matter how crazy Steem get's at least it's not Google. I like how they try to make it look more crazy by making it all red and fill up your whole screen.
Yeah it's nice you said that about people can decline rewards and still get's a boost. Since then you both get no leech on the reward pool and you get visibility as I saw with that comment boost.
That's not entirely true. The content creators are given options there and can agree to follow the 'rules' within the terms of service (whatever they want to call it), or not. People don't like faceless entities telling them what to do but if someone said, "This is my house and there is to be no smoking inside the house," people are usually fine with that, even if it's a perfect stranger. Can't really blame Youtube when you did make a decision on your own. Like it or not, that's their house.
Yep it's their house, I don't agree with most complaints as people that are very ungrateful towards YouTube. Of course they need to appeal to advertisers making them happy and so on. YouTube has given me massive value over the last 6-7 years.
But I see now that how it's currently built up it's not ready for the next evolution where you want more transparency. They have become so big so of course it will be very hard for them to adjust to a new landscape. I'm very grateful for all they have been giving me in value.
As people get empowered by technology eventually they will be so much empowered that they see the limits in the platforms that they use. Especially if the old platforms doesn't evolve as well. Stagnation is a big risk.