To Sign This Petition:

Either upvote or comment on this post.

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I understand that the developers are working on the platform and we are still in beta mode and I can respect that change takes time.

I am unaware of what front end changes may take place on 9/20/2016 with the hardfork that’s due.

I did try to reach the developers by commenting about this at @steemitblog here and responding to comments by @dantheman and @ned but I did not want to harass them. I hope this post does not come across as disrespectful to them, but felt if I wrote it as a simple request or question it would never be noticed.

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UPDATE: We have already had a response from @dantheman

Dan really is indeed THE MAN :)

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Signing this petition means that you agree that the developers need to make the blocking function a top priority, because the reputation system in place which is used to mute or censor accounts which have a reputation of below zero has made a bigger mess than leaving them uncensored.

I was under the impression that steemit was different from many other social media platforms.

When somebody posts their material on YouTube for example, they set themselves up to become a target of scrutiny. The world of anonymity can put you off putting yourself out there.

But Steemit is different!

Because unlike steemit, most social media platforms that allow a certain level of trolling will make that trolling visible to everyone so that bystanders, onlookers and viewers passing through all have to witness their trolling.

Fortunately on steemit, we can all pretend that people aren’t being harassed and verbally abused because after the abuser reaches a reputation below zero only the receiver of the abusive comments will be subjected to reading them in their reply feed.

The reputation system is a magical feature that can give you the power of invisibility so that you can be as abusive as you like and the whales and dolphins with power won’t even try to stop you.

You also have the upper hand over your victims because they are all alone without any emotional support from their steem-peers and by playing the victim they only hurt themselves because nobody likes a crybaby.

Let’s take a look at the abuse we’ve all been fortunate enough to not have to see.

First up, we all know the wonderful @stellabelle and would hate to think that anybody would be consistently verbally harassing her in an attempt to hurt her.

Luckily you never have to read these hateful comments as they are for her eyes only.

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Next up, we have the lovely @lauralemons. It wouldn’t be nice to think somebody would actually express callousness over her personal issues.

Not to worry! Only @lauralemons has to read these comments and we can all go on pretending they aren’t happening.

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Let’s have a round of applause for the beautiful and very popular @halo. We love her authenticity and fearlessness to be who she is and we love that she shares that with the steemit community. Unfortunately, not everybody appreciates what she has to offer.

But who cares about those who want to put her down as long as they keep it behind closed doors right?

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Another well known community member of ours is @craig-grant. We’re all very fond of his personalised vlogs and talks and teachings. We’d hate to see his positive nature countered by the negativity of a troll.

And why should we see it? He’s a grown man, he can take it. As long as the rest of us don’t have to know.

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Here’s a lovely lady @svetlanaart who’s been here not much more than a week. Judging from the thumbs down we can only assume the trolls comments weren’t welcomed.

But what does that matter? If she has engaged with him, perhaps she is just fueling the troll.

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And even though she might feel like she is alone as she knows she is the only person who has to read these particular messages, in truth she is not alone at all.
She is joined by @fairytalelife here, @moony there, @camilla anywhere and @florentina everywhere.

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Oh and then there’s me of course.

How else would I even know about it?

I’m fortunate to be chosen as just one of many of the “targets” in his little game.

Can’t you just ignore the troll?

Sure thing buddy! A great solution that has been implemented with the MUTE feature that renders your Reply feed useless and makes interacting with the steemit community difficult because your whole Reply feed is filled with greyed out comments from those you would prefer not to interact with.

So, we’re going to lose a few women here and there. We’ll hardly miss @anxietymaven after all the whining see did about being harassed. She should have stuck to her poetry and gardening posts and just not let this get to her.

And she should have known that the whole point of hiding the abuse she was receiving was so that we wouldn’t have to hear about it. She should have never cried for help and lost her reputation to @adm.

She was supposed to handle the emotional abuse all on her own without any witnesses who might comfort her had they seen but instead said ”what’s the big deal if it’s grey?”. It’s clear to the women here that we should all keep quiet about the abuse we receive.

Anxietymaven hasn’t been seen for weeks thankfully and for this reason @earnest (who is also @feminism and @somedude) is an asset to our community as he demolishes the positive nature of anybody who shows an emotional side that makes the poor divil uncomfortable.

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I apologize for all the sarcasm... Sometimes I feel it's necessary to get dramatic to really get my feelings across.

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So how do we stop him?

As far as I can see the solution is so simple that it's shameful it hasn't been implemented already.

The reputation system already hides comments within the posts. Why, oh why, does it not also hide them from the Reply feed? And the same question can be applied to the MUTE button.

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If you have any further ideas on how blocking or muting should work, feel free to express your ideas in the comment thread. I will be commenting how I believe it should work below.

Remember if you really want to support this petition you could also donate $teem Dollars to Promote it.

Sign the Petition

Either everybody should see the comments of low rep accounts, or nobody apart from those who check it on steemd should see them.

You can sign by either upvoting or commenting on this post or both.