Censorship is always bullying! The flag is the tool of oppression for the Steemit oligarchy. Those with the power can oppress the minnow caste. Because there is a financial hit, and loss of potential income, only trouble can come from this. First, it ghettoizes the community, secondly it can be a tool of punishment for political or religious views or personal gripes, third, it is dangerous! Rival groups can engage in flagging warfare, and punish a group's income or target an individual. This can spill out into the real world with violence, turf wars or personal gripes that can destroy relationships or cause violence and misery over money. There is a world of trouble the flag causes. NO GOOD CAN COME FROM IT! The flag has got to go. And no other type of thumbs down or tool of punishment. The way to deal with miscreant members is to address the issues with the truth in comments to them. Let the truth work. Let freedom work because we all know how oligarchs do, and it isn't pretty.The flag is the FLAG OF OPPRESSION of the ruling class oligarchy in Steemit. I'm not going to stick around for the handing out of pitchforks and torches.
If the flag were eliminated everything would change for the better. Members would no longer feel intimidated with warnings and threats. True liberty would exist. The miscreants would be addressed as to the errors by people who value the truth and righteousness. Not only would good content rise to the top but so too would the truth. Members would feel free to speak their mind but knowing full well the only punishment they face is the public record of the criticism of the crowd (this is sufficient), investors would feel more secure in their financial future, and member retention would go up.
Facebook is failing because people are fed up with having their information compromised, and the ghettoizing and marginalizing of its members. And there is also the issue of admitted shadow banning and outright censoring of its members. I left facebook for these very reasons. That is why I came to Steemit. But now I find Steemit is just as bad. What a disappointment! It's bad enough on facebook but on Steemit you actually hurt people financially! And it can be a lot of money. And it can spill over into real life in the form of violence. Give an infant a hammer and everything begins to look like a nail. The flagging abuse will be far worse and any actual abuse it gives lip service to be preventing.
If the flag were removed ALL of facebook, youtube and Soundcloud would come over to Steemit. This would be the biggest declaration of liberty the world has ever seen. Zuckerberg would soil his pants. Lust for greed and power are at the heart of the flag which is its tool for oppression. The top at Steemit are delusional, and the flag is suicide for the Steemit platform. As long as the flag stays Steemit is doomed to failure. And your investments are at risk. How many hours of your time have you invested. The flag is the elephant in the room. It is the stumbling block to success for the platform. It will be its Achilles heel.
Investors beware! Personally, I will not invest a penny of my own money in Steem. If they embraced liberty, and remove the flag...I'm all in.
Censorship can NEVER be justified. Censorship is always COWARDICE of the truth. LET THE TRUTH RISE TO THE TOP
Remove the flag of oppression from Steemit or fail just like the rest.
Can you tell I'm disappointed.
None of the "money" made on a post belongs to the poster until the 7-day window closes. A flag does not take away anything from the poster.......UNLESS.....that greedy fucker bought votes.......cost of advertising. The same thing happens when I set my DVR to record without commercials or I get up to piss while the commercials play.
NO GOOD can come from this flag. There is NO legitimate justification for its existence. If you get flagged by someone with a high reputation it is not equal to someone with a low score. The flag is problematic in so many ways. Just forget the idea once and for all. Get over it already. It is just a power trip for those who like to hurt. It is a bad thing, A VERY bad thing.
Jerry leaving would "Make Steem Great Again"
He just needs to be informed.
He knows, it is users like him that make video's on YouTube bringing people here with a turnkey way to scam the system, that requires we will always need flags.
He isn't known as Scamfield for just any reason.
And anyone blind to his tactics needs to go too, we have enough sheep to deal with, without adding stupid sheep.
Bots and the like are technical issues. They should be handled with a technical solution. The flag only complicates that issue. Nothing good can ever come from the flag.
Show me a single censored post and I will agree with you.
I think you and many others are confused between being censored and having your personal payout corrected, all funds removed on a post go back to the community. Like when Jerry boosted this bullshit post above $1,000 the community corrected it as it isn't worth $10. He is very lucky more users do not care about the community or it would be blanked out.
Yes you are 100% right, I should be allowed to come to your post leave comments with pictures of x sucking x and pictures of dead bodies, videos of people hanging themselves, be allowed to call you all kinds of names accuse you of the most heinous crimes, and you should have absolutely no right to tell me what I can post on your post. There are really NO legitimate justification for you to complain about me or anyone else who feels like calling you an idiotic moron or anything like that.
I have no clue if you are serious about wanting the flag to go away, my comment was not serious it was a response to show what could happen without the flag.
The thing about that is I can report violation of the law to law enforcement. I can provide the evidence for a legal case. The person that posts illegal material takes the risk of arrest and conviction for their crime. The flag puts law enforcement in the hands of the unqualified. troll, malcontents or team flaggers. Your concerns have no merit. If it happens to you IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to inform LAW ENFORCEMENT! If it is less than a violation of the law you can deal with it by applying the truth. And therein is the opportunity for the truth to rise to the top. If a member shows his backside will he get many upvotes? Unless you upvote them.
Okay cherry pick time. In a trial by jury, all 12 members are unqualified to make a judgement call as they are not law enforcement personnel. If the only people that are qualified to make a judgement call are law enforcement So we should do away with trial by jury?
If you see a crime taking place IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY as a human to aid the person being injured, and then inform LAW ENFORCEMENT! If you can do something and then abdicate the responsibility of doing something to someone else because it is not your job, then you become part of the problem.
last cherry pick: So some guy in Iraq, steals an image you posted and is using it to make a shit load of money. What Law Enforcement are you going to call? What Legal system are you going to use?
The down vote flag is a needed and necessary part of steemit, there are groups and people that help when it is abused.
So hell with the law?...just put law enforcement in the hands of trolls, spammers, team flaggers and the very people who ARE the miscreants. What could go wrong? An abuse alert with no power to steal might be a good option. I am not sure which law enforcement you call for this. That is an excellent question. My point is that it is not our job to be cops. Law enforcement is something the administrators need to address. Why not have a button that alerts the administrators to a problem.
On Steemit there is no fair hearing, no redress of grievance, no violations of guidelines to cite, no judicial oversight, no due process whatsoever. Steemit is mob rule by would be tyrants, trolls, racists, malcontents and miscreants. I don't think that the flag is an appropriate solution to a law enforcement problem.
Heard that a lot. usually when someone has died, "it wasn't my job or responsibility." It is our job to take action when action is called for and to not rely on some magical outside force to take care of problems. Your house is on fire you call the fire department, you die in the fire because you were waiting for them to put it out. You are in a convenience store, you see the store being robbed, you do not call the cops instead you leave because it was not your job. I don't think we will even come close to a middle ground.
Steemit is controlled by the people. There are groups/individuals that do redress grievances. Read the FAQ's. There are very very few rules on steemit. One of the rules is NO PLAGIARISM.
It is pretty obvious that you are not going to see that there really is no need for the downvote. So I guess we call the debate done. I believe it is needed, and you believe it is not. I believe a person's vote is theirs to do with as they please, buy, sell,up or down vote.
I hope you enjoy your time here, and if not you can go to facebook where they protect you from the trolls, and protect your right to free speech, where they know what law enforcement to call when you violate their policy. No such thing as shadow banning, or censorship at all on that platform, but it is heavily policed so you will at least be protected there.
Like I said above neither of us is going to convince or be able to show the other side how we see it.
Abusers will not take down the platform. Censorship will.
A down vote is not censorship. It is someone voicing their opinion, exercising their right to say I disagree. All down votes can be countered with upvotes. All greyed out material can with in the 7 days of post issuance can be reversed. After 7 days, it is the voice of the people/person that stood. The opinion that mattered. Not the opinion of the person that is screaming censorship. Because if others agreed they could easily get together their own little group and vote it back to visibility.
That being said, a down vote should not be used for a difference of opinion. The people that use them in that manner are the ones that can not accept that someone sees the world different than they do.
It is censorship by any other name.
And with article having a shelf-life of about 30 seconds, it would be difficult to rally for a defense.
What about your right to face your accuser? Where is any due process?
make a post call them out, ignore them move on with life. Life is hard. There are assholes. No post is removed from steemit. Can you say the same for any other social media program out there? If you are so concerned about this invisible censorship on steemit, play in facebook.
I would like to say this has been fun, but it has not, so I think I am done on this topic thread for now.
Like I said in a previous comment, neither of us are going to be able to see the other person's viewpoint. I have and do look at almost every greyed out post I see. So I do not see censorship.
Enjoy your day.
That comment should win a noble price. I'm all with you @stephenthorburn
The pall would lift if the flag were removed. If an accusation is made in a comment, it should face scrutiny. There is no accounting to a violation of a guideline when the flag is employed. No accountability for the accuser. Steemit will become a place where the trolls have more power than content producers. Members will flee. investments will tank. THE FLAG PUTS EVERYONES INVESTMENTS AT RISK. Apparently there is little farseeing among the administrators. They don't see their investment at stake because they are consumed with unreasoned fear and lust for power. It gives the trolls the power and the elite oligarchy even more. NO GOOD CAN COME FROM THE FLAG!
Censorship is cowardice of the truth.
delete
Consider this very post. It is at the time of this comment is at $283. If a hundred high ranking people flagged it right now what would be the earnings loss and the hit to potential earnings ability? I wonder if anyone could even measure the harm done. And the troll walks away gloating at your demise. What a wonderful platform this flag creates.