According to Steemit.com:
"The flag should be used for the following:
Fraud or Plagiarism
Hate Speech or Internet Trolling
Intentional miscategorized content or Spam"
The way I see it we should either simply remove this instruction for flagging or add a downvote button, because right now that's seemingly not even how the founders use the flag and that frankly makes it look kind of silly....
Edit: The instructions for flagging were since changed and as of right now (1/19/2017) all that remains is to replace the flag icon and adjust the powers weilded by a low number of whale votes.
The team at @busy.org have expressed similar ideas as I've expressed before, about separatin the powers of the flag and the downvote.
Agreed. There shouldn't be any advice on how the down-vote should be used. There should simply be educational posts to refer to on the opportunity cost of a curation reward.
Have you registered for streemian? He started a curation trail called hovo that you can add yourself to, to hopefully accomplish exactly what you were looking for when you started posting about the steemsport and others like them problem. I put myself on the list, hoping you'll be there with me :)
I'm not on streemian but I will be checking and following the flags regularly :)
I agree with you completely.
It used to be a downvote button (and it is actually a downvote, not a flag). they changed it, and added that instruction, to try to discourage people from using it like a swipe left. It backfired though, and now it just makes people take it way more personally.
A downvote would have to be defined by actually calling/making it look as a downvote (as they used to do I suppose) and not giving it any specific rules. I call it a flag to differentiate, because of how the platform currently labels it and makes it look.
To summarize: If they call it a flag and give it rules, to me and anyone that's just learning the platform that's a "Steemit flag" no matter what we wish it was.
I hope we get a downvote button (again) soon...
The problem is that "steemit" and "steem" are two different things. Steemit is merely a front end to the steem blockchain. Its notable in that its the first one, and created and run by the same people who created the steem blockchain, but liteally anyone can put a steem clone up. Another front end, called busy, is in the works.
So dwinblood could have a steem front end with no way to downvote at all. I might have one with the down chevron. Someone else might have one thats represented by a dickbutt icon, and makes you chase it around the screen before you can click it. <-- feature request right there....
Yes. =)
In other words, if we want to promote "Steemit" to outsiders, we should abide by the "Steemit" rules. If we break the rules that were set up, then this is gonna make aspects of Steemit look really silly.
Personally, I think "Steemit" currently is the most important frontend site and therefore it's important that it doesn't confuse the outside world as to how "Steem" works. It's also very important that the community here doesn't come off as a bunch of trolls that don't give a crap about the rules, because they "know better".
Agreed, sometimes steemit feels like the wild west. Sometimes there are rules based on a stronger hiearchy and other time we are just completely making it up as we go! At the very least if no one wants to call them "rules", there should be more guidelines.
Even if the guidelines were "there are no rules" they would be more helpful than what we have at the moment.
Haha, yeah I complexity agree. That actually would be more helpful! It would prevent me from looking like I am wrong when I tell someone "the proper way to use a flag".
I think just making the "flag" (which is now more or less a powerful downvote) icon look more like a regular downvote would help new users get used to the platform.
I think you are right, Then it become more of "I disagree with this because that is my opinion" instead of "you've done something wrong and I am calling you out"!