Firstly, to avoid any confusion it is very important that we take a second to explain what soft-censorship on the Steemit Platform is.
Question – What is soft-censorship on Steemit?
Answer – Flagging (or soft-censorship) on Steemit allows people who have amassed large amounts of Steem to nullify the votes of dozens if not hundreds of other users, and change a posts potential rewards from:
$X ← to → $0.
It also simultaneously causes the flagged post to be hidden (or dithered out). If you've ever run across a post that says click to reveal, it means that post has either been downvoted, flagged, or soft-censored by another user who for whatever reason doesn't want people to see what you have written.
This happened to me today by a Steemit developer.
This is how my comment looks, after it has been censored:
And below is what my comment looked like before it was maliciously censored by the Steemit Developer called @sneak.
"If you think downvoting a post on the internet is a violation of the NAP, then you have a lot more reading to do, and we have nothing further to discuss. - sneak"
I called it a spiritual violation of the NAP. You performed an action that resulted in a type of soft-censorship. Not only that, had you not performed that action, those potential rewards that were amassing would not have been diverted back to the reward pool.
Think of it this way, I could legally sleep with your girlfriend, but it wouldn't be morally right. Yes, technically I did nothing illegal, but the metaphysics of those types of actions are very harmful.
Legally, the U.S. government could drain every bank account in the United States and pay it all back to the Federal Reserve Bank. The reason they can do this, is because every FRN on the planet has been loaned into existence by the Fed. All of the money belongs to them, so they can take it all back whenever they want.
However, the moral implications, and the consequences of those kinds of actions would be devastating. Basically, you’re fucking up people's experience, and although it might not be censorship in the technical sense, 95% of the people who use the platform are going to internalize and perceive your actions as both theft, and censorship.
Side note: I noticed when you click the flag button, the parameters (or guidelines) for flagging are no longer present. When did that change? Or do they only show that once?
Also, did you find one of Clarity's demonstrably false statements yet? I think it's quite possible that you are abusing the spirit of the flagging tool. End result, if too many people engage in this type of behavior, people will see Steemit as a platform that engages in censorship, and the platform will bleed out just like all the others are.
So you Devs need to figure it out, cause we're on top of it. All of the intricacies with respect to the technicality of whether or not it's theft, or whether or not it's censorship isn't going to change the perceptions that you impress on people when the platform allows for things that so closely resemble theft, and censorship.
At some point, when it reaches extremes people will simply-and-universally boycott out of disgust. I don't want to see that happen, and I'm sure that nobody else does either.
That's my two cents, take it, leave it, flag it, stick it in your pipe and smoke it. Do what you do.
I'd advise you to try not awaken the giant, but I think you already have. The Streisand effect had already taken hold, and even if you bury this comment. It's going to echo thunderously throughout the platform!
I am the butterfly today!
Questions for the Reader
Are the gains, worth the soft-censorship?
Will soft-censorship modify the way you behave?
How does Steemit soft-censorship make you feel?
Should I hold a MEME contest about Steemit Censorship?
Did you learn about Steemit's soft-censorship before or after joining?
Tell us what you think by sounding off in the comment section below!
It may take me some time before I can reply because I have used lots of bandwidth over the last couple of days. However, if this post in any way resonated with you, then kindly consider upvoting, and maybe even resteeming it.
However, be warned. Do so knowing full and well that their may be consequences for your actions, as their are snowflakes in powerful places who wield whamhammers, and they must feel so proud and good to be Steemit's version of big brother.
