Retaliation is a big issue with flagging, absolutely.
We like the idea of "Dark Steem" which used to float around... where (perhaps) you could earn curation rewards for flagging content in the same way that you earn "Steem" for upvoting content. This might provide some necessary incentive for flagging, rather than pure risk of retaliation. Food for thought! As communities here develop surely there will be more structured policing ideas modeled off of the way SteemCleaners and Cheetah have worked, etc.
Some of us are happy to curate for no reward. An improved Steemit is worth it.
Amen bro, I am reading this articles because I consider its way too important to cleanse steemit, but I don't want to do it wrong and hurt someones account for no reason or when instead you can promote a better use of the platform. Its hard to tell when theyre doing it blatantly and when its an honest mistake.
There are plenty of accounts where it's very obvious what they are doing. Generally those have no community support. I think it may be best to join one of the groups who deal with it, such as @SteemFlagRewards. Plenty of discussion about the issues in their Discord.
Thanks a lot, this is quite useful, complete noob even to cryptocurrency, I saw flag rewards but was wary that I might be some kind of scheme. I still kinda think that if steemit didn't want to reward flagging it should stay that way. Hopefully the platform grows stronger and adapts to this issues.
Amen @steevc!
Allowing rewards still wouldn't stop the assholes like @berniesanders from downvoting people with his 20 accounts because they disagree with his actions and dislike him as a person in general.
If flags could somehow not affect rewards and be forwarded to witnesses to decide on whether a post is hidden or rewards are taken, that would potentially stop this kind of abuse.