I want people to be able to buy Gold Dust if they want to
I tend to hold some unpopular opinions.
Regarding the post on Trending from @mattmonarch he is selling some type of product that may or may not give people a spiritual experience or improve health conditions. I will link it here, but it has been edited several times.
https://steemit.com/ormus/@mattmonarch/new-ormus-pure-white-monatomic-powdered-gold
I personally want him to be able to sell that product, I am not making any judgements on what the value of the post was or about advertising on SteemIt. Also I am not defending whether or not his product works. I've never taken it or a similar product.
As an adult in a free country I want him to have the right to sell his product and I have the right to decide whether or not I was to purchase it. People with concerns can engage in the conversation.
To be clear, I don't mind that people flagged the post, that is how the site works. I did dislike how nasty and personal people got in the comments, but I don't deny they have a right to their opinion. The post has been edited too much to bother with quoting anything, to me it boils down to he wants to sell a product that some don't like or don't believe in, in my opinion the solution is: If you don't like it, Don't buy it. You have no right to protect me from buying it, because I might get scammed.
I think many on SteemIt might be able to compare the situation to Cannabis. If a person has cancer, pain, or other health problems and they would like to give cannabis a try. Who should stop them and on what grounds?
If a sick person wants to buy some hope, and maybe even health benefits of the Placebo effect, why not? We have all seen science either be wrong or incomplete. Again, I am not advocating for any product, I just don't think that one person or group has the right to restrict what another adult can buy.
If it were up to me, we would have the ability to review relevant studies and make a choice.
What some see as taking advantage of desperate people, I see as allowing freedom in options. I think people have the right to be free even if their choices are damaging.
We buy and sell things that hold little value on a daily basis. Want a painted rock? Or a Star Named after you, buy it! Enjoy! It isn't my place to restrict your ability to do that.
What are your thoughts?
@whatsup,
Wow this is a good case study! Why we can't build a platform like Amazon top of STEEM blockchain! With SMT launch we can run a token project on it as well! A smart idea, but trust is the most important thing!
Cheers~
https://www.amazon.com/product-reviews/B079PT6WB7/ref=acr_dpproductdetail_text?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1
I have heard a lot of good stuff about colloidal silver. I think I may have heard something positive about gold before but not sure. These Amazon reviews are pretty good.
Nods, yeah.
You should try it. ;) lol jk
I signed you up for some @dustsweeper.
I wrote a post about it too - it seems pretty topical - heres my opinion
I think the reason it got so much attention was because of the value of the post and that it was literally the first thing people see when they come to Steemit. Some people think this affects peoples perception of Steemit (which it probably does).
Each to their own though - if he believes in what hes selling then more power to him.
I will check out your post conradt! :)
I fully agree with you on this.
It looks like crap, but it's harmless crap, unlike the lethal crap that drug companies sell...
Vaccinations are a perfect example. They come with stated risks and stated benefits. Each of the diseases they protect against also holds certain risks.
It is my opinion everyone should judge the risks and make a decision. We can try to influence others, but I wish we would stop there and not try to control the outcome.
There are many drugs that hold a mixture of risks and reward.. Read, Research and Decide.
I am with you, read, research and decide. But, with vaccines, there is a risk that your decision has consequences outside of you personally.
I still struggle with this question... Should others have recourse if my actions have negative impact on others in the community? Should the risk if me getting sick be justification to forcefully vacinate... Should we be able, collectively shutdown voices on Steem that we feel is harming the brand?
Regarding vaccinations, It's a hard blunt truth, but society doesn't owe anyone immunity anymore than it owes anyone morality.
We absolutely already have the ability to collectively shut down voices that hurt the brand. That is exactly what the flags were meant to do. The issue is that it takes a consensus of stake!
Yup. He can sell whatever he wants. And all of these folks are going to learn how to be better at marketing their products when the crowds are free to speak their mind. They won't have to resort to sleazy tricks anymore. No need for false claims and careful wording. If their product is superior, the people will let them know. These marketers need to be able to appeal to all audiences to improve their sales. Hopefully we'll get to see some phenomenal products hitting store shelves soon. If these folks don't have the spine or confidence in their products to push them up to the top, they shouldn't be in marketing. We all have tough crowd days. Them's the breaks.
Good point regarding if you push your stuff to the top of trending you better be prepared for the push back! I couldn't agree more, but I needed to be reminded of that point!
I've seen worse things happen at fairs and open air markets. I've witnessed product peddlers pack their shit up and leave while people are yelling and throwing cups. I've seen fist fights at auction sales. Riots on black Friday.
Yep, good points.
I believe in freedom and with saying that I agree with your words in this post! Of course people can flag and give their opinion, thats how things work. What I do not understand and never will respect is when they get nasty and super personal in a very bad way! I like to believe in a good discussion and Steemit always ( to me) seemed to be a good place for that... And then things changed a while back.
Yeah, I get annoyed about these things, what right do some of these people have to go around telling everyone else what they can do, buy, etc.
:) Good to see you!
You can even buy some JB coins.
ha! Yes! I could. I think I will pass though.
I thought that we had agreed to mine the Gold Dust from the poop in the sewers? If I heard correctly, that's where the best gold dust is.
Honestly though I think people are getting sick of being scammed. I don't know anything about his product, or whether or not it's a scam. I do think that it was a very risky way to introduce himself to the platform. After hearing him speak last night though, I'm looking forward to seeing his next post. I do think that he learned a bit about how it operates here.
Yeah, it turned out okay. The debate raged on in chat. :) Everyone survived another day, another debate, and he will stick it out.
So, I guess all that ends well... and such.
howdy there @whatsup hey isn't Steemit supposed to be a free market system giving people total freedom of expression and views, unlike FB?
I'm going over now to read about this but I'm with you, what's everyone's problem with a person wanting to sell their product?
It's called freedom. Enjoy it while you can.
There are actually serious problems which people can argue over, this isn't one of them. Some people just like to fight and be hateful and waste time. blessing to ya whatsup, you got it right!
My view is YES. It is supposed to be a free space and the end users use their stake to influence and shape the site. Like it? Upvote it. Hate it? Flag it. Don't care about it? Ignore it.
It seems to me that some people find importance by protecting adults from themselves.
lol yes indeed "some people find importance by protecting adults from themselves."
well said @whatsup!
I guess I'd have to say I MOSTLY agree with you. I think the level of possible harm/damage matters. If someone is selling snakeoil and the worst thing that could happen is some people spend money and are disappointed with results, whatevs. As you mentioned, they might get some peace of mind, or a placebo effect, or some other thing that I don't care about because I too want people to be able to do whatever they want(for the most part) But if say the worst case, and maybe the likely case is death or debilitation, then no it's not worth the lives that it would ruin before enough people die from something to get the word out and have people stop buying something because it's killing them. If it could be proven that something has a very high likelihood of extreme harm, I wouldn't want that person or entity allowed to sell that product.
Things like alcohol?
The effect of alcohol or say cigarettes is cumulative. You won't die from smoking one or two cigarettes or taking a couple shots of vodka. In my mind this should be reserved for if someone is literally selling deadly poison, that is not labelled as deadly poison, not just something that's bad for you. I'd even go as far as saying I'd support people being able to buy suicide pills or something along those lines as long as they knew what it was. But not, "Miracle pill" that actually just paralyzes you or kills you or gives you debilitating brain damage.