☹ (ಥ_ಥ) STEEMIT IS BROKEN - AS LONG AS THIS IS ALLOWED TO CONTINUE! (ಥ_ಥ) ☹
FLAGGING
Many people on Steemit know me, know I have been here longer than most (14 months and counting) and a lot of you know my health is crap and that I had been homeless for over a month and that the only reason I am not homeless right now is because of the little money I earn from Steemit. Now I realize I "shouldn't rely on Steemit" but I have been unable to find any work I am capable of doing or raise the funds I need to get a car so I can drive for Uber/Lyft....so all I have is my writing and photography which I post to Steemit.
About a week ago I was flagged by a user named @bayrene and it cost me some money. I found their most recent post (which had already reached Payout) and left two comments:
and
Prior to this happening 7 days ago, I had never had any interactions with @bayrene (other than a few upvotes they claim to have given me. They responded with this comment a few hours later:
To which I immediately responded with:
All the flags I had given @bayrene where on posts that had already paid out, so it cost them nothing. As soon as I saw the responses from @bayrene I removed those flags and thought the issue resolved.
That was until today when my Pending Payouts dropped by 2/3rds from $150 to $50 USD. Upon investigation I quickly discovered that @bayrene had flagged almost all of my current (pending payout) posts.
This type of behavior from fellow Steemians is not good for anyone in the community, nor is it good for Steemit in general. I have over 200 dead followers on my account and a whole bunch of them I talked to on chat before they left steemit. One of the main reasons they cited was being flagged for stupid stuff and not being able to get the flags removed or countered.
More about me!
I try my best to help as many of my fellow Steemians as I can. I upvote a ton of people, rarely ever flag unless it is blatantly plagiarism or spam/scam. I don't, intentionally, start any drama or fights in the community. I post a varying assortment of content to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. I am active in both Discord and Steemit.Chat channels where I answer questions (when I can) from newbies and even veterans. I Delegate my hard earned Steem Power to various groups to help others and to a few individuals as well.
Steemit Inc. and it's developers need to fix this issue!
There is an "abuse of power" prevalent on Steemit and this just proves it beyond any doubt. I understand that the "Flagging" system is there for a reason, to deal with:
However, there needs to be some way to set limits on Flags, or who can flag, or the impact the flags have.
There is way too much Flagging because of:
* Personal Reasons
* Didn't agree with or like the post/comment
* They are against the person for some group affiliations (like supporting minnowsupport)
* They are jealous you making money and they aren't
* They think the post is Over-Valued (gonna pay more than it should)
The whole "disagreement on rewards" being a "valid reason" to flag is flawed as well. If the "community upvotes" it and thinks it "deserves the rewards" then the "community has spoken". Why should some "whale" then be able to "OVER RIDE" what the community said it wanted?
The Flagging System should only be used for:
* Illegal Content (like plagiarism)
* Obviously Inflammatory, Racist, Bigoted Content
* Obviously Scam Content
There should be no other reason to FLAG (at least while one person's flag can cost so much money) a post. Furthermore, the entire FLAG system needs to be overhauled so that ONE FLAG can't destroy the poster, rewards, or reputation. If it takes a community to make money via Upvotes it should also take a community to loose money via Downvotes (Flags). I propose the FLAG system be overhauled as follows:
* All flags (from all SP levels) have the same weight so that from minnow to whale everyone's DOWNVOTE is EQUAL)
* No changes to Pending Payout or Reputation should occur from a SINGLE FLAG, regardless of who it is from
* After the 2nd flag on a post there should be a 10% reduction in Pending Payout
* After the 3rd, 4th or 5th flags on a post there should be an additional 5% reduction (for each flag) in Pending Payout
* If the post receives 6 or more Unique Flags the post should be hidden and each flag from 6 up should give a 5% reduction in Pending Payout
* At 10 Flags on a post there should be a 5% reduction in Reputation Score for each flag from 10 and up.
* Flags should be Offset by 100% Upvotes (after the flag is received) so that the Community truly has a voice. If they feel the post was flagged inappropriately they can counter the flags with Upvotes.
Disclaimer:
I am not trying to start anything and if you managed to read this far you will notice I was not irate, vulgar or even show any signs of being mad. I am frustrated as I desperately depend on the funds I earn on Steemit and having them taken so easily and frivolously is maddening....but I didn't go ballistic or disrespect anyone in anyway.
Update #1
Do to my current financial situation and Steemit being my only source of income; combined with being flagged on all my posts I have had no other choice but to cancel all my delegations.
I am not leaving Steemit and as soon as I am more financially stable (and the flagging stops) I will re-delegate what I can afford. In the meantime I will still help anyone I can in both Steemit.Chat and the various Discord Chat Channels.
Coming Soon! Steem Market online store for Steemians to sell their Merchandise, Photographs and Digital Goods!
Hello @Venuspcs. It is really sad to know the abuse of power by flaging continues without nothing been done. It is true that many people are faustrated on steemit as a result of this issue. We know the whale or higher power people have it all on steemit, but the truth is the platform need newbies to remain. Every platform needs a continous growth and active members to maintain and grow. It is really sad that many people feel discourage by flagging on steemit. A friends(newbie) post was flag by a whale just because he disagree with what he posted. He shared a post about an upcoming crytogene ICO and thay was his offense for been flagged.
Many of this higher power steemian would help the platform better if they give upvote to newbies to encourage them, than flagged them.
I totally agree with @neoxian
I will resteem this. I remember the first time I was flagged which happened recently and the one who flagged me didn't respond after I contacted him. Found out he has been down voting almost everyone from steemd. Luckily, there were people like you who assisted in countering the flag. He entually took down the flag but that feeling of helplessness or being bullied for no reason is not something worthy or a platform that is just growing. I will resteem this and follow you also. Great suggestion.
Bad idea, there are some people that control thousands of minnow bots. These bot owners would be able to wipe posts clean, especially if it wasn't SP based.
I thought about that, which is why I suggested Countering the Flags with Upvotes. It can't be any worse than what it is right now where a few people with High SP can destroy your income, reputation and hide all your content and leave you with no recourse whatsoever.
You are not going to get 500+ 100% upvotes..unless a friendly bot owner counters. Basically this idea will make bot masters your new whales.
Well you have any better suggestions? Cause shit definitely needs to get changed somehow! I have a much higher reputation than the person who flagged me but because he has more SP he was able to destroy me for no reason.
I have no suggestions because I actually like the system the way it is. I did have in idea for doing reputation differently, but that's another matter. It is important that the system respects SteemPower, otherwise, why should I power up?
Specifically with Bayrene, well yea, he is a bit of a jerk, you have my sympathies there. He can't hurt your reputation at least, yours is much higher. Just lay low for a while and he'll probably leave you alone.
I don't know how much of my posts you have read, or of this one....but Steemit is my only source of income at the moment due to health issues there isn't much I can do for work.....so "laying low" is kind of not an option when people can just flag me and take all my income for no reason.
I get that SteemPower is important to most people as a reason to leave the flagging system the way it is and if it was USED PROPERLY I would be okay with that.....but it isn't.....it is routinely abused and has been since it was implemented 13 months ago.
The Steem system does not owe you an income, it doesn't owe me an income either. No one is entitled to receive even a single penny from the reward pool. It is what it is.
I know you dislike Bayrene, but he has invested a shitload of money into Steemit. Where do you think the money comes from? The reason why Steemit can spit out tens and twenties to posters is because people like Bayrene (and myself) have poured tons of money into this system, so that people like you can extract it (your welcome).
Also, I might add, that accounts like me can't "flag as much as we want". Flagging is actually damn expensive, it cuts into my business, and all those flags Bayrene poured on you cost him a lot too. Flagging is not easy or free and there are limiting factors.
I don't personally dislike bayrene, I am just confused as to why bayrene is flagging me. I have invested a lot of time (and some money) into Steemit myself, been here longer than most others on Steemit. I help as many people as I can on steemit so not sure why I got flagged so hard for no apparent reason. As far as "steemit owing me" I don't agree with that assessment. By the logic above unless you INPUT MONEY into Steemit you are not entitled to GET ANYTHING OUT of steemit......wouldn't that make it a Ponzi Scheme?
what is a bot owner ?
Someone who controls thousands of accounts.
I'm going ro resteem this. Hopefully some whales will respond.
This has been a fight I've been engaging in since you and I started on the same day more than a year ago. I hadn't really been heavily targeted myself until recently, but I was always arguing on the behalf of others as I was seeing the negative impact it was having on this project. Some of the people are so powerful that there is no way to challenge them, if they want to abuse someone they will and apparently nothing can be done about it.
I don't know an obvious solution but this is the biggest NEGATIVE problem that I believe steem/it has. Resteemed.
The fight needs to be taken directly to the Steemit developers. The people doing this won't change their behavior, and the day after your last post on the subject, I saw someone else's post go under attacked and get wiped off the face of steemit. I could barely believe it. Two people get into a dispute over something, and one literally told his followers to down vote the other guy. Poof! Post no longer visible and his account worthless.
Yep, I am not sure what to do about it at this time other than keep challenging it until perhaps some day someone who CAN do something about it listens. Silence is acceptance.
I remember that day and our previous conversations....nice to see you again!
Unfortunately your suggestion that-
"* All flags (from all SP levels) have the same weight so that from minnow to whale everyone's DOWNVOTE is EQUAL)"
is just unworkable. You do that and you just made noganoo or any number of people who control 1000 + accounts the most powerful people on steemit. I would rather flagging power be determined by how much you have invested in the platform rather than how many accounts you can make/control.
That is partially true, but it is no worse than having a few people that can obliterate anyone at anytime. Plus if you keep reading I put in controls so that Flags (Downvotes) can be offset by Upvotes to ensure the system doesn't get abused like it does now.
I think it would be worse. In theory (obviously there are exceptions) but the people with the largest stake have motivation to act in the best interest of the platform. They are putting their money where their mouth is so to speak, at least they have some skin in the game. I prefer that compared to a botnet owner with 500 brand spanking new rep 25 accounts getting to decide things.
https://steemit.com/interview/@elednika/today-is-your-interview-dress-to-impress-201784t144422925z
Upvote back
TBH man get a part time job serving tables or something else and invest 30% of that money into Bitconnect or something else and just wait. Your time to be prosperous and rich will be soon. But, you have to grind it out and stop being lazy. You can't rely on this to make you rich at the moment. Patience is the key in this life. Also don't let negative people affect you ignore them 100%.. They are only petty.. Good luck on your journey and I wish you luck financially and with success.. Find your calling! @venuspcs
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STOPsteemit is capitalism, with all that comes from that.
Money is power and whatever rules you apply to flagging that does not change. If someone with money is determined you cannot stop them - not alone.
In the real world unions were created because fo that.