FLAGGING

Many people on Steemit know me, know I have been here longer than most (14 months and counting) and a lot of you know my health is crap and that I had been homeless for over a month and that the only reason I am not homeless right now is because of the little money I earn from Steemit. Now I realize I "shouldn't rely on Steemit" but I have been unable to find any work I am capable of doing or raise the funds I need to get a car so I can drive for Uber/Lyft....so all I have is my writing and photography which I post to Steemit.

About a week ago I was flagged by a user named @bayrene and it cost me some money. I found their most recent post (which had already reached Payout) and left two comments:

and

Prior to this happening 7 days ago, I had never had any interactions with @bayrene (other than a few upvotes they claim to have given me. They responded with this comment a few hours later:

To which I immediately responded with:

All the flags I had given @bayrene where on posts that had already paid out, so it cost them nothing. As soon as I saw the responses from @bayrene I removed those flags and thought the issue resolved.

That was until today when my Pending Payouts dropped by 2/3rds from $150 to $50 USD. Upon investigation I quickly discovered that @bayrene had flagged almost all of my current (pending payout) posts.

This type of behavior from fellow Steemians is not good for anyone in the community, nor is it good for Steemit in general. I have over 200 dead followers on my account and a whole bunch of them I talked to on chat before they left steemit. One of the main reasons they cited was being flagged for stupid stuff and not being able to get the flags removed or countered.

More about me!

I try my best to help as many of my fellow Steemians as I can. I upvote a ton of people, rarely ever flag unless it is blatantly plagiarism or spam/scam. I don't, intentionally, start any drama or fights in the community. I post a varying assortment of content to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. I am active in both Discord and Steemit.Chat channels where I answer questions (when I can) from newbies and even veterans. I Delegate my hard earned Steem Power to various groups to help others and to a few individuals as well.

Steemit Inc. and it's developers need to fix this issue!

There is an "abuse of power" prevalent on Steemit and this just proves it beyond any doubt. I understand that the "Flagging" system is there for a reason, to deal with:

However, there needs to be some way to set limits on Flags, or who can flag, or the impact the flags have.

There is way too much Flagging because of:

* Personal Reasons

* Didn't agree with or like the post/comment

* They are against the person for some group affiliations (like supporting minnowsupport)

* They are jealous you making money and they aren't

* They think the post is Over-Valued (gonna pay more than it should)

The whole "disagreement on rewards" being a "valid reason" to flag is flawed as well. If the "community upvotes" it and thinks it "deserves the rewards" then the "community has spoken". Why should some "whale" then be able to "OVER RIDE" what the community said it wanted?

The Flagging System should only be used for:

* Illegal Content (like plagiarism)

* Obviously Inflammatory, Racist, Bigoted Content

* Obviously Scam Content

There should be no other reason to FLAG (at least while one person's flag can cost so much money) a post. Furthermore, the entire FLAG system needs to be overhauled so that ONE FLAG can't destroy the poster, rewards, or reputation. If it takes a community to make money via Upvotes it should also take a community to loose money via Downvotes (Flags). I propose the FLAG system be overhauled as follows:

* All flags (from all SP levels) have the same weight so that from minnow to whale everyone's DOWNVOTE is EQUAL)

* No changes to Pending Payout or Reputation should occur from a SINGLE FLAG, regardless of who it is from

* After the 2nd flag on a post there should be a 10% reduction in Pending Payout

* After the 3rd, 4th or 5th flags on a post there should be an additional 5% reduction (for each flag) in Pending Payout

* If the post receives 6 or more Unique Flags the post should be hidden and each flag from 6 up should give a 5% reduction in Pending Payout

* At 10 Flags on a post there should be a 5% reduction in Reputation Score for each flag from 10 and up.

* Flags should be Offset by 100% Upvotes (after the flag is received) so that the Community truly has a voice. If they feel the post was flagged inappropriately they can counter the flags with Upvotes.

Disclaimer:

I am not trying to start anything and if you managed to read this far you will notice I was not irate, vulgar or even show any signs of being mad. I am frustrated as I desperately depend on the funds I earn on Steemit and having them taken so easily and frivolously is maddening....but I didn't go ballistic or disrespect anyone in anyway.

Update #1

Do to my current financial situation and Steemit being my only source of income; combined with being flagged on all my posts I have had no other choice but to cancel all my delegations.

I am not leaving Steemit and as soon as I am more financially stable (and the flagging stops) I will re-delegate what I can afford. In the meantime I will still help anyone I can in both Steemit.Chat and the various Discord Chat Channels.

Coming Soon! Steem Market online store for Steemians to sell their Merchandise, Photographs and Digital Goods!