As far as I can tell what this flagging experiment has done is as follows:
A. Push away the big-league voters I had worked hard to gain (several really have gone elsewhere).
B. Make sure a new set of "in-clique" folks could make thirty bucks from posting pictures of pizza and gifs. (Now, don't get me wrong, the market likes what it likes, and the Labor Theory of Value is total bullshit, so I'm all good with 30 dollar pizzas in that sense, but in view of other great posts making shit, I flagged this particular post (see recent Trending page))
C. Make sure I get no reward when whales do upvote me at full power because "experimenters" counter-vote me. This usually after I put a lot of effort and time into a post, to ensure that it would bring value to the platform.
If my post is not that great, I have found now that it actually does better. Welcome to Communism. One learns not to work too hard rather quickly, when success and ability is punished. (I cannot stand to do sub-par shit, though, so if it gets worse, I'll just have to fall back even more, I guess, like many others are.)
D. Render the trending page largely a cesspool of self-referential spam.
I am all for the free market, so this is fine, (it's a private enterprise) but damn... It doesn't actually seem so free anymore or like the Steem I signed up for. I can understand why a lot of people are quitting. Combine that with the recent hardfork and it's a bit of a jolt.
Ah well, Steem on. Sure do miss @canadian-coconut though and half the other cool people who have been driven away by the incessant politicking.
One important thing I guess for anyone starting something like this in the future:
Never punish success!
~KafkA
Graham Smith is a Voluntaryist activist, creator, and peaceful parent residing in Niigata City, Japan. Graham runs the "Voluntary Japan" online initiative with a presence here on Steem, as well as Facebook and Twitter. (Hit me up so I can stop talking about myself in the third person!)
