Thanks for responding - I appreciate it because this is something I really want to get to the bottom of. I had taken this part of the FAQ at face value:
Users with a lower reputation score are unable to affect your reputation.
I also read this post by @archange, which pointed me this page on github. I'm not an expert, but I think I captured the relevant bit of code in this screenshot:
I would happily accept that I'm missing something here - not least because this is something that I would love to be wrong about.
Based upon this it would appear that I am wrong and that you are correct. Those settings are idiotic and further solidify my opinion that reputation on steemit is stupid. So I can just go around flagging and killing peoples rep, and theres nothing anyone but a few people with rep higher then 70.5 can do to stop me?
Hence the nature of my concerns. Thanks for being so cool about his.
I am more depressed that I have been on this platform for as long as I have, and have fundamentally misunderstood the functioning a relatively high level aspect of it.
If you can't affect my "reputation" then reputation isnt a reputation at all. Its a bullshit number.
I've had my PhD for nearly 3 years, and have been teaching for nearly 10, and I'm still wrong about things on a pretty regular basis. Adjusting your views in light of new evidence, or a better understanding of existing evidence, does not require you beating yourself up about it.
I'm not. Being disappointed is a natural emotion, but it's fleeting. I am wrong about things daily, part of being a research scientist. ;)