This isn't a statement of fact but an elaborate question based on what I've learned about Steemit so far.
I'm new here so if you believe I'm wrong, please do let me know why.
In the fight against bots and ads on steemit, we endanger what are (arguably) most important things Steemit and Bitcoin is stands for: Free Speech and the power of the people.
As I'm sure you're aware, whales exist. They're the magical unicorns everyone wants an upvote from.
The problem is that they can also flag people. This feature is intended to eliminate spam accounts.
Any user can be flagged by a whale or a group of people, to reduce that user's reputation. By doing so, their posts and comments will be hidden and become are harder to view.
Let me give you an example. This whole post.
I have to be afraid for my account. If one whale, or a group of irrational people decides this is FUD, they can choose to effectively kill my account.
Granted, this is less of an issue for more established users.
But of course the effects can potentially go beyond that. Let's say steemit becomes as mainstream as facebook.
Any group of people, or single whale, can go on a flagging campaign against users with different political views than they do.
We already see this happen on YouTube in the form of flagging campaigns. Except, instead of being able to appeal this ban to a company, you have to hope other whales will upvote you again, despite being invisible.
If I'm right it means that censorship is still possible on Steemit.
The end result: as with any other platform, the are rich have control. The only difference is that censorship becomes easier and community-driven.
So here are my questions:
- Am I wrong? If so - please explain why.
- If this is possible, what can we do to prevent it? Clearly the flagging feature is nessecary to prevent the platform from being flooded by bots.
Thanks for your time!