Overlords do force their opinions. That's what they do. I'm agin' 'em.
"Both are actions..."
In the sense I mean speech, dance is speech. Computer code is speech. Dance is also action, and code is also a thing, but both are also expression of human communications, and this is what I mean by speech in this context.
I strongly opposed EIP prior to it's implementation, and was certain that massive flagging by notorious flaggots was going to eventuate. I actually suspected that the free flags were a concession to one particular flaggot with massive ninjamined stake that has previously flagged me hard.
But that didn't happen, and I was blindsided by the end of the bidbots that resulted directly from the free flag system. I consider that an absolute necessity and that was absolutely only made possible by the free flags.
Since the bots directly profited the delegators of their stake - whales - that result directly contradicts your theory that EIP benefits whales more than plebs like us.
Plagiarism, spam, and more such detriments to society on Steem are also only controllable by flags. I am unaware of any other mechanism besides direct censorship itself of managing those behaviours.
Can you suggest alternatives?
Its all code we don't need free flags to remove undesirable conduct, we just need consensus
I know that sound dogmatic but I remain open to being shot down in flames : )
If it's all code, we don't matter. Steem is a social media platform, meaning that society is the relevant arbiter of information on Steem, not bots or code. We need to determine what is allowable or not on Steem, and flags is how that has been possible.
Either make a specific proposal that enables us each and all to determine for ourselves what we approve or reject, or I see little point to continuing the discussion.