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RE: A potential flaw in Steemit discovered?
Exactly. I am actually happy this is happening we need to desensitize flags. They are a needed tool for curation and using them even imperfectly is better than not using them at all.
In the mid 90's when the internet was just beginning to become popular, I was studying under Robert Schmidt (philosopher). He was valedictorian of his high school then later on became highly respected in the field of physics, mathematics and philosophy fluent in several languages. When he started translating the ancient Greek astrological texts (I later wrote software based upon these 2000 year old algorithms), the astrologers started a flame war to try to shut him up. It succeeded. He never again wrote plainly on the internet in the way he was doing in those early groups. His insights were light years ahead of everyone else's.
The danger here is self censorship. You won't know what you're missing because the lowest common denominator is given the same level of authority as someone who has been highly trained. The use of flags should have some sort of rationale and not be based upon indiscriminate emotional impulse. Lack of predictability from random flags if they begin to have enough weight will ruin the platform. I've seen it all happen before.
So, we are going to censor those with flags (our only tool to fight abuse and give feedback) in order to facilitate the meek?
Hmm. I don't agree. I do hear your point though. See it wouldn't require self-censorship if the community didn't treat it like a big deal. It is due to the drama that the community over reacts.
That's not it at all. Let me extrapolate an extreme here to illustrate a point. The problem is that weaker minds will often begin to dominate the discussion because the flame wars will obscure that which requires cultivated expertise. The subtle points begin to become lost in the argumentation as rhetoric (in the classical sense) overruns it. The blunt fallacy becomes rewarded thereby obscuring truth (in Greek the word for truth which is "aletheia" literally means unconcealment - think about why truth needs unconcealment for a while).
Those with little self control over their emotions then ruin the platform for everyone else. This is what happened in a number of forums back in those days, then participation went to zero and it got archived or deleted because it became a place for troll worship. It's a pattern that has repeated on the internet countless times. Some academics started invite only forums to rid themselves of the trolls so that subtler arguments could be given room to breathe.
It's not a matter of being too sensitive to the flags. It's a matter of not recognizing what can happen to content as a result. The lowest common denominator always wins and the wise decision at that point is to cut your losses and bring your ideas where they can be useful.
I hope it's obvious to you that this is an extreme view, but it's based upon past experience. Steemit has nowhere near the level of troll problems that some of those earlier forums had.
Yeah, I hear your point. I really do. I am just not sure how that plays out in real life. Without the flags we do not have a trustless system and the spammers and scammers are what crushes the intelligent mild-mannered intellectual person you speak of. (I agree with you to a larger degree than I like)
I wonder if mainstream and quiet intellectuals are at odds and should use different platforms altogether. In fact, that made me think of SMTs and Communities and as much as I hate the words... Safe places.
It's an experiment. Nobody said it is going to work out well. :) I'm not sad.. just saying I don't see a solution and I do hear your point.
I'm not suggesting that there should be no flags. I'm suggesting that one ought not be allowed to hide behind lack of posting. It's the equivalent of not being able to face one's accuser in a court of law. And that's what the above user has essentially succeeded in doing.
Few days back I sugested to other steemian that profiles/users should also be flaggeable, not only posts. This way anybody could openly manifest not-like another one. That would allow us to flag the sdl bot accounts, and for real people accounts it would allow anybody to manifest/know if another steemiand generally don't agree/like you. As a side effect, one would progressively learn to accept the reality that not everybody will like you, some will flag you (not your posts, but YOU) and that's not the end of world, it's only something that really happen everyday, with or without flags. What you think?