I firmly believe that these misunderstandings tells us the UI is poor/inadequate. There should be better information being conveyed in a more understandable manner. That is easier said than done. The flag icon may be part of it, but I'm suggesting a deeper rethink of the UI. There is a lot going on in this system under the surface and the UI does a poor job in presenting it.
I would agree with the UI being the problem. We are exposing people to information that is just confusing them. Keep it simple for the users. The stakeholders all know where to find the information they want and anyone else that educates themselves can find it too.
Let's not display flags openly. Lets not identify voters openly. Let's obfuscate the payouts until a final figure has been arrived at (at the end of the voting period). Upvotes, downvotes ,a popularity indicator, hide the views (the real indication of engagement is comments). Get rid of all the shit that makes people ask questions that they are not going to understand the answers to.
People don't need the information when they first arrive. Once they have been here and they have learned the ropes, they can find it the same way the stakeholders can find it.
The user interface wasn't at fault in generating the chaos this 'experiment' caused.
It was abysmal planning and an ambush style execution by a couple of whales who didn't care who they stepped on until they got reamed for it. The end does NOT justify the means, skippy.
Revisionist history isn't going to work with me. You have permanently ingrained in me a mis-trust of anything you endorse from here on out. Congratulations on a thorough job.
[nesting]
No 
'us' was referring to the larger portion of the community - aka the minnows - who were not privy to those conversations. I guess minnow input isn't needed, because you as said yourself - the whales decided... Which proves my point. Thank you.
Save your ongoing explanations for why you did it. I GET THAT and have from the start. That doesn't absolve you of the trust you mangled in process.
'by a couple of whales' This is precisely part of the misunderstanding. Most of what is going on is a large number of whales (i.e. stakeholders who have every right to vote or not vote as they see fit) deciding not to vote (or vote low power) in order to leave the majority of the influence in the hands of the broader user base. The downvotes by
And you totally missed the point... you and
WHAT you did is the problem, not WHY you did it. I understand what you were trying to accomplish and for what it's worth, it looks like it's worked. BUT, the MANNER in which you handled it was HAM-FISTED, STUPID, AND TOTALLY UNNECESSARY. You threw dynamite into the middle of the pond and then act surprised when we bitch.
Like I said earlier, I will NEVER trust anything you and
The fact that you can't or won't take responsibility for the chaos you caused tells me that you haven't learned anything. Have you made the people you hurt whole? Have you even apologized to them? I sincerely doubt it. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised to see you pull this stunt again.
RE: Updated thoughts on 'the whale experiment'