So, seeing the shitstorm raised by just putting a few flags in content I considered worthless and in some bot replies, combined with the facts that I have not much voting power and therefore no impact, and that a “retaliation flag” from someone powerful can sink any post I make, I’m going to stop using red flags. Way to go towards a self-moderating community, as I’m sure I’m not the only newcomer to feel this way.
I still think we should have private downvoting/flagging.
I still think we should have different mechanisms for flagging abuse and for downvoting.
I also think we have a problem with the huge disparity in voting power (and thus amount of rewards given). It seems crazy than a single vote can give me maybe 50 steem, when regular votes are worth cents, specially if that reward is proportional to the visibility one gets. In that situation, the opinion of a few is worth more than that of the rest of the community, and that seems like a potential problem.
Anyways, this first week in steemit is being a wild ride of emotions. I still think good things and good content can come out of it, but day by day I lose a bit more of hope :/