Have you noticed? Come closer, friends. This is happening under our very noses – flagging as a form of censorship.
Maybe you're not aware. Maybe you post beautiful pictures or delicious recipes. Maybe you talk about your cat.
But what if you have opinions? What if your world view is different from another's? Do you deserve to be censored for it?
More and more, certain types of people are being flagged for airing their opinions.
Flagging here is not the same as a thumbs up or thumbs down on Facebook or YouTube. Here, it impacts the content creator's wallet and, more importantly, their visibility. Get enough flags and your posts are hidden from view. Not only that, but it devastates your reputation score.
It seems as though some people are threatened by viewpoints that don't mirror their own. These childish, entitled souls go flag-happy in an attempt to silence the 'opposition'. Often, the victims are new Steemians trying to build a base on the platform. Cowardly flag-happy zealots target noobs knowing they are less likely to have a support network in place and knowing the noob has very little steem power with which to retaliate.
The onslaught of flagging works in a number of ways:
It damages the reputation, making them less desirable to other Steemians, effectively isolating or ostracising them from the community
It takes earnings away
It causes the post to be hidden
It demoralises and deters them from working on new content
It can cause them to adjust their content to avoid future damage
It creates an atmosphere of fear in the wider audience who witnesses what happens to anybody daring to express themselves
The result is that many Steemians will avoid writing honestly. It will inhibit people from expressing ideas or thoughts that are important to them. Instead, we'll end up with a mainstream, vanilla universe where everybody regurgitates 'safe' opinions, churning out fluff for fear of negative consequences.
I witnessed a conversation here where one person suggested creating a community bot (powered by its members) to flag posts that used meat or images of meat! Is that not censorship? Is this totalitarian terror tactic acceptable? Do you want to be flagged for sharing a picture of your Sunday roast dinner? Maybe you don't care about meat, but what if one of your opinions were next? What if a group targeted you for voicing those opinions, made you invisible?
For fear of drawing more negative attention to them, I won't tag the people involved unless they ask me to, but I will talk about their experiences and a bit about mine.
A few weeks ago I experienced a personal flag attack...
I wanted to get a conversation going on Veganism. To do this, I opened a legitimate contest which I promoted with my own money. There were SBD prizes up for grabs. The idea was to encourage vegans to share information on why they think veganism is the healthiest diet for humans. There was no malice behind it, just a desire to engage with that community and discuss the topic openly.
Naturally, my first tag for this post was #vegan.
Within a few days I noticed the post had been flagged. I wondered why because I hadn't broken any of the guidelines. So, I found the person who'd flagged me and asked them why. They said the reason was that I had used the wrong tag.
His opinion was that a post about veganism does not belong under the vegan tag (when written by the likes of me). He apparently read my mind and decided my intentions were less than honourable and flagged it for that purpose. He is a vegan and I'm an ex-vegan. He doesn't like when non-vegans use the #vegan tag to create conversations.
The tag #vegan does not mean 'vegan club'. It's a tag so that anybody interested in the subject can find relevant blogs on that subject. It seems this person wants to cleanse that tag of any content that does anything other than worship vegan ideology.
If I'm looking to buy a new car, I look at online reviews. What use would they be if only a swathe of glowing reviews were available and all alternative opinions hidden? The same goes for veganism. Not everybody searching that tag is going to be looking to go vegan. Some may be wondering why the vegan diet isn't making them feel wonderful or healthy. They may be searching for alternative information on veganism. And that's a legitimate reason to search for it. How can we present balanced information if some of it is to be hidden?
Regardless of your feelings on veganism (or any subject), I think this is an abuse of the flag system. The Steemit Etiquette Guide, by @thecryptofiend, offers clear guidance on the matter of flagging. Here's an excerpt:
- Don't flag content just because you disagree or don't like it … the flag issue is for posts which are harmful or abusive and should not be used as a dislike or downvote button. Don't like something? Post a comment explaining why or if you can't be bothered to do that or don't have the time move on.
I'm not the only one. Another Steemian is being flagged by a cluster of vegans for posting content that shows veganism in a less than favourable light. Every single one of his posts is flagged. Not because he's violating any of the guidelines but because he's not singing the praises of veganism.
I've witnessed others being flagged into oblivion for political reasons too.
Are their opinions not valid?
Is there something nefarious going on behind the scenes? Are there organised groups attempting to censor or discredit those who speak for an alternative narrative?
These people are flagging because they don't like what they're reading and they want you to shut up and go away. I see opinions I disagree with all the time. I'm an adult, however, and deal with this via discussion rather than smashing money from their wallets.
Freedom of speech is important. It is important to hear different points of view. If everyone's circling the same opinions how can anyone learn? Where is there room for evolution of thought?
Do you want to be told what to think? Do you want Steemit to become one big homogenous safe space where everybody parrots only 'acceptable' opinions? If so, we may as well all give up and return to Facebook and YouTube.
How dare they influence my choice of reading by casting invisibility spells on content they don't like. Surely I'm big and bad enough to decide for myself. And so are you! If they want to float around wearing earmuffs and blinkers and pretend they live in a world where nobody disagrees with them, let them use the MUTE button.
I'm tagging @enginewitty, @sircork, @patrice. As witnesses, I'm hoping you can somehow work on a way to tackle this problem.
Thanks for reading.
@AnjKara x
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