RE: How Steemit Disincentivizes Dissent and Drives People Away: A Minnow's Perspective
This pattern of abusing your downvote is just one example of a much broader trend on Steemit.
It's using a downvote, not abusing it.
Now why is that? Because STEEM's incentive structure is set up to promote agreement and discourage disagreement.
Yes, you're not wrong. Speaking up against BitConnect and other ponzis has cost me but it's still the right thing to do.
But like the story of the Stepford Wives, all this happiness and politeness is just a facade.
I think there's some of that, but people who express themselves honestly are rewarded too.
I'm really sorry if promotion of a scam got downvoted. Just kidding, scammers don't need to get incentivized any more here. https://steemit.com/scam/@pfunk/promoting-a-scam-makes-you-a-scammer
To all low-rent low-self-esteem people who think they need to grift to make money or bitcoin: You're on Steem now, change your ways. Don't take offense to a downvote if you can't.
I have no issue with someone speaking their mind. If they think something is a scam, they should certainly say so and engage in conversation if they want. But that is not what happens. Instead, the whale uses their downvote to end the conversation before it can begin. This is not about incentivizing the scammer. This is about allowing a free conversation, not just when the conversation is about something people can agree upon, but also when people disagree. You may not see it this way, but you are using the power of your downvote to secure your position as the decider of what is a scam on Steemit, and consequentially, the ideas that people are exposed to. Heck, I don't like BitConnect, and think it is most likely as you said, a pyramid scheme, but I wouldn't use my downvote to stifle discussion about it.
I appreciated the majority of your comment, but you lost me on the last paragraph. You seem to be calling new users like myself "low-rent low-self-esteem". That may not be your intent, but given the context of my post, the reference to low-rent is readily interpreted as an insult to new users. And the second sentence, which is presumably still addressed to those low-rent low-self-esteem people, implies that those who take offense to a downvote are scammers, and those who take offense to a downvote do so, because they can't downvote themselves (i.e. their downvote is so weak as to be inconsequential). If I interpreted that right, and I admit, I could have misinterpreted, that's a pretty cavalier, indifferent attitude which perfectly illustrates the whale vs minnow, upper and lower class problem that will ruin Steemit in the long-run.
Steemcleaners you mentioned are associated with pfunk, 8 days ago Steemcleaners received 200.000 STEEM from pfunk
I downvote promotion of it, and let people know why. I am calling out people that seek to make a quick buck from scamming others for having low self esteem. Here on Steem you don't need to scam people to make money, and yet people still try. I take that as evidence of not having any belief in one's own perspective, skills, gifts and talents.
I guess saying "low-rent" isn't necessary and it's not a reference to one's STEEM Power. It's a reference to the quality of person one is if they think they need to grift to make money.