The downvote pool is what concerns me the most too. I already see a bot that follows a user I follow around, flagging anything they post and with a comment which says that they will also flag anyone who interacts on their posts and their posts are certainly worth interacting on. They have the support of big accounts to counteract that flag, but I don't, so I'm not in a position to be risking picking up this bot myself. What happens when we give it 2.5 extra free upvotes a day?
The problem with those supporting the punishment approach is that they don't necessarily realise the experience of being on the receiving end when you've done nothing, but have a different opinion or belief. These current downvote wars and bots aren't trying to put the trending page right, they're on their own rampage and this proposal will give them more ammunition.
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Hey... thanks for your comment.
And case in point in what you're saying below 👇🏼
And you made another good point:
I would consider it courtesy if I was at least also given an explanation for the reason for the downvote. I've had a couple of posts flagged by someone (maybe its a bot), they had no impact on my reward because the flagging account was so low. But I still want to know the reason. Did I do something wrong, or were they just being an indignant ass that didn't like what I wrote?
'd love to see a discussion happening on the palnet forum here, so come on over...
The case in point is the exact one I was talking about.
Are your downvotes from camillesteemer? That seems to be an account which must randomly downvotes anyone and everyone.
VC, I like the positive attitude you've taken towards this. Perhaps you could take the bot to Taraz's post on the downvote pool and leave this demonstration there.
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It is through my experience that I have come to suspect that censorship you note is the actual purpose of the downvote pool. First, it's no secret that Bernie is doing this, and no rational person expects him to NOT do more of it when he has a pool of free flags to fly. He's probably chortling and rubbing his greedy mitts in anticipation. I actually think it's where most of his enjoyment in life comes from, his ability to flag and repress others.
Second, there are several accounts that don't do anything but flag, obviously censors, and this will increase their activity, as well as be likely to generate more such accounts due to the increase in impact that will be availed.
Third, as you note, it isn't the lack of VP that keeps you from flagging, it's the threat of retaliation. The proponents of the downvote pool have used every trick in the book, but mostly just ignoring it, to prevent this topic from being discussed.
Lastly, the fact that proponents of the downvote pool don't address this substantively is telling. It's no secret that censorship is ongoing here through flagging, and that increasing that will happen without any doubt at all when the downvote pool is deployed, but very little discussion of that fact is undertaken by those proposing it.
This indicates to me that a lot of the rhetoric is disingenuous, and that, just as in politics, it should be disregarded and examination of actions provide our considerations instead. It's quite possible that the incessant flagging I experience, which I currently actually appreciate, as it often proves my points better than my words ever could, could so reduce my ability to engage with folks to the degree that I won't bother anymore. The threat Bernie now appends to his bot's comment has reduced engagement, and were he availed of an immense source of free VP with which to flag (the 25% is based on the SP of the flagging account, and he has immense SP) he'd probably be able to completely prevent any discussion in which I tried to take part.
I think this is the purpose of the downvote pool in reality. EIP is going to reduce by at least half rewards for content creators and allow whales to extract that too. They already centralize ~90% of rewards, and this will raise their share to ~95%. I'll run around and point that out, and unless I can be censored, the folks that grasp what has been done with EIP are going to act to change it, and probably go farther than just the 5% increase in whale income it creates.
I'm not saying this downvote pool is aimed at me personally, but I'm not alone in being willing to speak my mind and rational enough to grasp the actual affects of code on Steem society.
Personally, I'm convinced that EIP will be the final blow for Steem, and within three months the platform will be effectively looted and abandoned, so doubt that the downvote pool will be particularly useful, except to Bernie, who gets his only joy in life from crushing smaller accounts with his stake. It's possible that it is he that is the person directly intended to benefit from the downvote pool. After all, he's one of the original ninjaminers, a bully, and possesses immense stake. Meeting his needs might well be acceptable to the other substantial stakeholders that have undertaken to implement HF21.
Unless the HF can be quickly reversed if (when) the terrible consequences of the increased extraction of rewards starts crashing the userbase and plummeting the value of Steem, those consequences are likely going to be terminal IMHO, and I've seen comment that there is no intention of reversing HF21 from those that might could.
Accordingly, so long, and thanks for all the fish!
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