Is there censorship in Steemit?

in #neoxian5 years ago (edited)

Is there censorship in Steemit? Are we really free to treat, talk, express about everything here on our blog?

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Is there censorship in Steemit?

I have observed over the past three years that I am at Steemit that the "freedom" we are given to write and deal with as we please in this decentralized environment is not as "free" as we think.

Here the issue of "political correctness", "social justice" patrol and other collective hysteria activism, which we only see on Facebook, is surprisingly encouraged and present.

And here at Steemit it's even worse, because we deal with reputation and power. If you write and post something that conflicts with the taste or thought of someone who has more power and reputation than you, you will get "flags" that will erode your reputation and post overnight.

This may be one of the major governance problems we encounter at Steemit. The flags

There are people on the platform who give out their flags to the left and right, just for the sadistic pleasure of seeing the assaulted part with their almost invisible, worthless and demoralized post.

I've seen comments on some posts where who gave flags, justifies her action saying that simply gave that flag because she did not agree with the post.

It must be understood that a flag is primarily a mechanism of aggression. It's aggressive, because whoever gives the flag is downplaying all the work that the author of the post had to build the same. Of course, there are people who abuse the system, spam, make posts with false information, fake images and etc. and these should be punished.

But why not create a mechanism to prevent all these abuses? Well, we are talking about blockchain technology, which is perhaps the most advanced technology in the world today. Don't have a tool for this? What is missing to implement it here?

I am of the opinion that no opinion should be silenced, including those that go against our morals and ethics. Freedom of expression must be unrestricted.

Are flags a positive instrument of punishment in Steemit? How far does our freedom in Steemit go? Is there censorship in Steemit?

New tribes sometimes give us downboted, sometimes is better earn first, some downboted takes down rewards from more than 1 token, I'm still learning everyday how to deal with the tribes and doing my best to fit the tags in the right place.

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censorship would mean that the content is not findable on the platform. That doesn't happen, any frontend can choose to not display something you write, that is not censorship as your content is still on the blockchain and can be accessed.

As for the downvotes, they serve their purpose even if some try to use them as a club.

No one can stop you from posting (or making other blockchain transactions), so in that way Steem is censorship resistant. However, Steemit can decide not to show your content on their frontend for whatever reason. I've argued before that such can be tantamount to censorship given the large proportion who use Steemit.

I honestly think our freedom here, on the Steem blockchain, goes pretty far. Steemit does exert influence that can feel oppressive at times though.

I also think flags have a place. On the other hand I do see people using flags confrontationally quite often indeed. All considered it seems important to have recourse to counter abuse, and flags intend to deliver that. Almost every decision opens another avenue of abuse, even ones designed to curb abuse.

We'll always have to adapt.

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