Thanks for this. I see why you are worried. It sucks to see something with such huge potential be threatened by fear and closed minds. I'd been thinking about Steemit's inflation / deflation model in relation to upvotes and flagging. Compared to you, my understanding of how it works is, I think, shallow. I am curious to hear what you think of the following idea:

Change the flag so it is a down-arrow sitting next to the up-arrow (upvote). Most importantly: Reduce the destructive power of a downvote and keep cost high to do it. I actually don't know what the result/cost ratio is. The result I'm seeking is more expensive downvoting while at the same time changing the perception around downvoting to be less "nuclear bomb" and more like a casual "this article was not for me."

Do you think that could help? Other ideas?