This is where people are mistaken about steemit and what it is. I never once read that this platform was censorship free. I did my research and understood there was a downvote system for disagreements with content or rewards.
If you talk about controversial topics you are bound to experience some kind of censorship no matter what platform or forum you use. Its a risk people take when they decide to debate on controversial subjects.
Just as easy as it is to get censored, its easy to get uncensored if enough people agree. There are more problems on stemeit than flags or the idea to remove the feature.
I can tell you that ned himself said that they are working on tools for moderation and to fight plagiarism and abuse. Don't know when these tools will be implemented but it is evident that the tools will be granted to worthy individuals so not everyone will be able to see these tools. I assume this is the first step being taken to resolve the issue you speak of but i doubt the removal of flags entirely is where they are heading with it. I think you will find it necessary to have the flag feature available as opposed to having to wait for a mod to resolve an issue.
Of course, flagging of content that is original is complete bs and I have seen it myself, but I mostly see it on posts that are generating thousands upon thousands of dollars a day.
Steemit sold me on original content. I never considered negative original content
I did consider this to be a conspiracy theorists haven because there is very little censorship.
The censorship you speak of, that we see on here, is not quite the censorship I've experienced myself on facebook or youtube, so it's still quite the utopia.
I can say that there is a certain part of the flagging option that does need fixing.
Of course I could be partly wrong. Maybe I missed the censorship-free part. I just see people doing the censoring instead of media or gov'ts which is what I consider a step in the right direction. It's us policing ourselves.
I Hope as you said, that they are in fact working on tools to make the Steemit experience more free speech oriented, so the bullshit as you say can stop.
The first time I was soft-censored the downvote came from the lead technical developer of Steemit.
I was shocked to say the least, thought to myself it's almost like they are following the same path as the failing platforms of yesteryear;
(twatter, fakebook, and
utube).The feeling that I get from your second paragraph is one of resignation, and defeat. Steemit is an American company, in America we have freedom of speech, and I think our internet companies should strive to mirror that in the digital realm too.
I think if their users demand it, they will have no choice but to hear us out.
I hope those tools come soon. My third paragraph sheds light on the sense of defeat in my second. The power of the people will demand that those things that are censored to oblivion on other platforms, will be much harder to censor here. Thanks for your responses! It's conversations like this that make me appreciate this platform so much.