@wakeupkitty, I'm not blaming you... My comment was one written out of fear. I'm so scared about what this free downvotes pool will do to the platform... I'm totally opposed to it, because I don't trust people when it comes to governing themselves, let alone others. They've showed thousands of times they're not mature to handle things like that on themselves.
This situation with @focusnow confuses me, because taken from his comment below, it has little to do with the downvotes I'm so scared about (i.e. the 'loose cannon' downvotes), but apparently is supported by Steemcleaners. I don't know what to think anymore.
About downvoting... I just read this post by aggy that gives a pretty clear explanation of what downvotes are intended for: 'HF21 Training: Go flag someone else!'.
Ass an addon, there's this very smart comment by @bashadow, to which I agree fully. It's not as black and white as people think it is. Deciding whether a post is worth the rewards it gets is very subjective.
And please tell me how to avoid this, promote a social media platform that claims freedom of speech, where you cannot engage to others unless you can afford it.
To be honest, I don't know. I stopped promoting this platform to the outside world a long time ago. I've done my share to try to give people who couldn't afford it a chance to be heard... I've seen many of those being silenced, both by the system and by the community. If this place wouldn't be such an important part of my life, I would have left a long time ago.
In general, I have the policy to not have any expectations of people. That way, they can't disappoint me. But what I see here is beyond all imagination, and these last couple of months, disappointment has become a part of my life. I lose faith in this place and the community like 5 times a day, and then I really need a post written by people like @tarazkp or @taskmaster4450 to keep believing and to stick around. So far, so good - but HF21 terrifies me big time.
Like I stated above: freedom of speech is an illusion. As long as their are people who are more powerful than others - like in every aspect in life -, and not mature enough to handle this responsibly, there's no such thing.