Steemit User's Biggest Security Flaw On Comments
I was asked by a friend (Francisco Sand) to write on this issue. We are both new on Steemit but by using the network, we already spot a user failure on the software interface.
If Steemit is serious about the good functioning of the community and aspires to attract serious and sane debates to the conversation, the developers need to fix this security flaw. Besides, after resolving this issue, will take the weight off - of the people that manage the user's posting on the network.
The security flaw is the same flaw found on networks like "Nextdoor", Twitter and many others I spotted on the internet.
The security flaw has to do with the user's comment on the post. At this point, many networks need to learn a lesson from Facebook. The lesson on user's security is that the person that "Submit a Story" must have all the permissions and rights to their post. That means, if a person post something on Steemit and a jerk or a troll comes along and make a stupid comment on the post, the owner of the post have the right and decide if he/she will leave the comment or delete the offending comment. That is the best way to resolve the incidents of "trolls/jerks" and their non sense comments.
The "flag" feature still can be used for serious threats or things that require a more strong intervention from the community.
Should I repeat this? Ok, one more time;
The person that post or "submit a story" must have total control of his post. He/She must have control of:
1. Editing the post <-- Already there
2. Deleting comments <-- Needs to be implemented urgent!
3. Sharing the post <-- Already there
4. Deleting the entire post <-- Already there
I hope this post will be clear enough to start this process. I will also suggest this on Github;
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Wouldn't that just give me the chance to delete any opinions contrary to mine?
That is a decision for the post owner to take! I never deleted comments contrary to mine but I have deleted comments from "jerks", "spoofers" and "trolls."
Except that abusers could delete comments that bring valid info to the fraud.
That is why you have the flag feature! Besides the poster owner can delete the post anyways, what is your point? Fraud? What fraud? Explain?
No, you cant delete the post after a certain time, you can only edit it, and the original remains in the blockchain. The kind of fraud Dan is talking about is for example art plagiarism, which of late has been a sort of plague in steemit.
That is why you have the flag feature! If anyone posted something that has been stolen from somebody, you can flag the post with comments or without comments. I am beginning to think here that the intentions are others ones besides this type of fraud.
I don't see how that's a security flaw.
Steemit is about freedom of expression, IMO. That includes comments on other people's posts. While the ability to "delete" posts (note that you cannot really delete anything from the blockchain anyway) might seem desirable as a means to handle the troll problem, if it exists, this is essentially a means for censorship.
The best defense against a troll is to ignore it. If you try to silence it it will only come back with a vengeance.
The best defense against a stupid comment is a better argument.
Censorship is unnecessary and counterproductive.
I don't see how that could be a censorship! Censorship is deleting a story that someone posts here! Censorship is to delete or block someone's account, censorship is to stop a person from expressing themselves through a story. You are elevating people's comments to a degree of extreme importance. Even more important than the story. The true fact is who post or write a story becomes the moderator of the story. It is only right! After all, it is his/her story. If you think the story is a fraud, a plagiarism, go ahead and flag the story!
Eduardo, no tenes ni la mas minima idea de lo que hablas.
A comment has the same intrinsic freedom of expression than a post.
You wish! A comment wouldn't exist without a post! Now, just in case you don't know, there is a great difference between a comment and an offense. (I do not speak Spanish but I have lots of friends that does! They wouldn't be that happy to see what you wrote there buddy!) Try to be cool and respectful, it is the best policy!
I am not sure if you have noticed but you seldom see trolls around steemit. The reason being that once they are identified they usually get downvoted/flagged to oblivion by the community and their posts or comments become less visible.
You also need to consider that all posts and comments are recorded in the blockchain (which no one owns). Once there, nothing can be deleted. It might not be visible in the website but you can see them using other tools or interfaces.
So once a piece of data is recorded in the blockchain it becomes inmutable and is recorded for posterity (unless if you are referring to Ethereum ;)
Your observation that there are not trolls on steemit is not valid. Is my actions step by step will be in the logs, sure! Each action has been recorded. But that is not what is in question here! Suppose I create a story or submit a story. Then, a troll come along and makes a nonsense comment spoofing the story. I can just delete the entire story and post again. Not very practicable but effective. However, trolls do not give up that easy! They have nothing to do and they like to hang around obstructing the post! People do not feel very motivated to comment or participate in a post that has been trolled. Have the ability to remove the troll is a right that must be given to the post owner.
I never said that there aren't any trolls in Steemit. I said that you seldom find trolls which is not the same. What you are asking for cannot be done on a blockchain as there is no central point of control (that's what makes it censor resistent). If you could do that then it would not be a blockchain it would just a be centralized database.
Some people here are confused between "freedom of expression", censorship, a story, a comment and an "offense" or a "disrespect."
So, the question here is: - When something is freedom of expression and when it becomes an offense, a disrespect?
When you censorship, you do not censorship comments. Censorship are for posts and stories. Comments are for moderation. It always has been like that and it always going to be. Some people just did not wake up to this fact yet.
If I say to you; "Go to hell with some MF words!" Is that freedom of expression or disrespect? Some would say; Yes, that is freedom of expression! However, there is a fine line between freedom of expression and an offense! By the way, that was an offense and not a freedom of expression!
If someone spoof on a friendly post; - Is that freedom of expression or disrespect?
When someone trolls a friendly post; - Is that freedom of expression or disrespect?
You see, some of you never been "Moderators" and therefore do not have the experience to talk about that, accordingly to what I read here, at least.
If you care to stop for a minute and think, most of you here are not even real! I am not talking to a real person, I am talking to a screen name! Is not that this really matters to a certain point, but when a person (that is not real) start to offend, spoof or troll others, then, that start to matter!
A person doesn't get anywhere by disrespecting and offending people and that is not freedom of expression. Some people might not agree with a person, but one will lose the argument when they start to disrespect a person for any reason. ... and there where moderation takes place.
A person that post or submit a story, must be the moderator of his own story. It is his/her story, not mine, not yours to disrespect, to spoof or to troll.
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It's a feature, not a security flaw. Blockchain based platform is censorship resistant so you can't delete anything that other users have written.
In the future there will be other user interfaces to the blockchain (besides Steemit). Probably some of those will have a feature that gives rights to users to hide comments that they don't like.
Edit: Actually there is one way how this can be implemented without breaking anything or taking away essential features from the blockchain: https://steemit.com/steem-ideas/@samupaha/feature-proposal-ownable-tags