I have no idea what is going on between those two but I am not a fan of either of those individuals for reasons I won't go into here. But you should of course form your own opinions. I will say though that if you want to avoid squabbles, the aforementioned duo are pretty much constantly embroiled, separately, in one flap or another, and are usually (in my opinion) on the wrong end of the thing.
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@carlgnash - Well then since I've made you my mentor, that settles it. I tried reading a few remarks to understand the critical issue, but it was impossible to get to either the bottom of it or the beginning of it. And I always avoid anything that might give me a headache. On the other hand, here is the unpleasant aspect of that conflict that ought to concern the Steemit community. A family member of the disputing parties posted her first blog with a reputation score of 12 and so many upvotes through "Trending" and "Hot Topics" that the only words ever spoken in a new account earned more dollars than my account can expect if I live until next year. I thought the blockchain algorithm had lost its mind. Everyone starts at Reputation 25. No one starts at 12. And no one at 12 earns enough to go shopping at Macy's. So not only is there an immediate appearance of imbalance or inequality, but there is a very real issue of prejudicial consequences with "damages." The ordinary impulse to welcome a new member with greetings and well wishes is checked by the threat of being flagged by association. If a Steemian is downvoting and flagging anyone who welcomes and upvotes a new account simply because the new account is associated with an "enemy account," the entire community is affected. The new account is not granted its own weight, character, and independence, and innocent bystanders are drawn into the fray merely by voting. What? How can that be? Now we need "Steem Court." Suddenly I've learned why a comment is made invisible and what it means to see a series of dots beside a flag. But the example is not the proper illustration of how censorship should work. How many other minnow voters would have welcomed and upvoted the new account but decided to ignore it, not for its own sake but simply to avoid trouble? I wonder if Steemit might not be an income source for whales and dolphins but an undisclosed social experiment for the minnow pond. Hmmmnn? Yet another item on my "ponder that" list.
(Unrelated question: IRL, this is the kind of private conversation that deserves . . . well . . . privacy. But there seems to be no mechanism in Steemit to accommodate that kind of privacy. YouTube has private messaging. Is there a corresponding Steemit tool? Is it the chat room? Take as much time as you need when replying because you are doing a great deal already and mentoring can be very time-consuming. In fact, there are very few who would even bother so I'm sincerely grateful.)
Well I can tell you for one thing that whoever you are speaking of did not start with a REP12 - all new accounts start with REP25. All this means is the new account had already been flagged down to REP12 by the time you encountered it. But again, I don't know anything about this flap and honestly don't care to. I focus on positive things in my life in general and never go out of my way to bring negativity into my thoughts. I will say though that I 100% approve of and support the Steemit flagging system, warts and all - sure there are instances of unsavory behavior and flag wars. But with the alternative being some kind of centralized power/authority ("Steemit police" as you suggest), I infinitely prefer the decentralized nature of the Steemit system. You don't have to look farther than Youtube for an excellent example of how terrible the results can be when a central authority is the only arbiter of disputes, the sole judge/jury/executioner. I am actually a proponent of decentralization and transparency in all things. Centralization of power and decision making almost invariably leads to corruption and on top of that it is a horribly inefficient model.
RE your unrelated question - while Steemit does not have an onboard chat/private message, there are several 3rd party chat alternatives. The big ones are steemit.chat and discordapp.com. Steemit.chat is (obviously) an exclusively-Steemit chat affair. Discord is a broader chat service (often used by video gamers to communicate while gaming) that has several Steemit focused channels. Discord chat is much more full featured than Steemit.chat, with voice chat and video chat options and a lot more chat functionality as well. I am active on both of the above but I spend a lot more time on Discord - I am same username on Steemit.chat and I am @gnashster on Discord. Feel free to direct message me on either platform. Both are free to sign up for, follow the links above if you are interested.
Cheers - Carl
@carlgnash - As always, all information and advice are appreciated. The anomaly of the new account was its reputation score of 12 on the first and only post, the "introduce yourself" post. That's what struck me. That's what caught my attention. The account was birthed in a flag war. The episode reminded me of the scene in Brad Pitt's latest (?) movie co-starring the French actress whose youth and beauty triggered Angelina's paranoia. In the scene, the wife of Brad's character gives birth during a blitz. The new account appeared during a blitz and even its appearance was questioned as "suspicious." So much to learn, so little time.
I'll try the Steemit chat room for our next conversation.
Many thanks.