I love it how you just literally wrote all I've been trying to compile into a coherent post for over a week.  So I am going to follow this post closely and hopefully find insights in the comments that'll help me find my place on the steemit feeds again.

<3

Just one opinion:  Go back to doing what you were enjoying and what was working for you.  :)  

Once you accept it is the wild west and there are no rules, none of the splashing and upset seems as bad.

It has taken me some time to get used to it too.  Also, know that no matter what advice you get here, it is only that.  Only you can decide how to proceed and nobody can stop you from that.  Even if they flag again carry on they will have a new target and a new topic next week.  

Best of luck!  Happy Thanksgiving if you celebrate.

It appears moral support/majority isn't enough to count for anything, but big sticks are....

Worrying...

I wont up vote,as you aren't taking the rewards....?

You were unjustly targeted. Don't think you should change anything.

I think you were right to defend your work and rewards that you had earned. We should not face a threat of flagging by larger accounts for challenging their opinions on what they see as valuable posts here on steemit.
Now it's time to move forward with posting again knowing you stood up for yourself and other posters of fiction.

vote back If you are close, you will get close

you might want to consider that it wasn't you that was downvoted as much as your largest voter being countered. 

Go back to what you love and let the chips fall where they may.

Thanks everyone. I'm going to go through the replies and upvote when I have more to upvote with.

I think I've figured it all out now. And I don't think it was what I thought it was *second* either.

No one ever said you were breaking any rules. That's your imagination talking. And considering you write novels, you probably have quite the imagination!

You were flagged because it was felt by that particular user that your posts were over rewarded when judging by your dollars per view ratio.

There are no rules in Steemit, Steemit is an anarchist wild west that simply functions on a stake based voting basis.

A stakeholder holds a certain amount of SP, and he or she then controls a portion of the reward pool.

That stakeholder can then use his or her stake to influence post payouts. No one ever needs to explain or justify a vote.  No one ever needs to justify an upvote, and a downvote is simply the opposite of an upvote.

It was simply this one person's opinion that your posts were over rewarded, and that those rewards should go elsewhere on the platform. You're making a much more complicated issue out of something that is not complicated at all.

im allways enjoying your story and you so hard working ..and one more think i want to say you looking beautifull in profile pic ...

I don't think for one second you were flagged for the quality of your work. It was just a difference of "opinions" and I believe nobody is immune from that happening to them too. I also understand you getting riled up but please don't let external voices stoke those fires, if you catch my drift. Politics can be a very ugly game at the best of times.

Steemit is a "free market" and is as anarchistic as you can get. In fact, that right there forms a large part of what the blockchain stands for. Stakeholders and their account worth mean a hell of a lot here on Steemit. That's just how the technology of the system works. And to that effect, I feel we either have to like it or lump it. 

Just my two cents worth on the matter. I wish you all the best and of course, do hope you stick around, @michelle.gent.

1) be true to yourself: do what you do best (and lots of people like/love)
2) there are no rules. One person's opinion and use of his "power" is not representative of all of Steemit.

Great post. To be honest, I was one of the people who was rubbed the wrong way by your "counter-attack" posts. They just came across as whining to me, and, despite the fact that as an artist I fully understand and agree with your position, were a big turn-off. But like I said I do understand. Criticism hurts, regardless of how good it is, and the seemingly unjustified and not-well-explained criticism of being downvoted hurts even more.

I like the more cool response of asking what you can do to avoid this in the future. Thank you for that. I want to know also. As an artist (I make the majority of my income from photography, and a bit of it from my haiku writing/translating) I also want to avoid stepping on the toes of whales and unwittingly making enemies of any of them. 

Again, thank you for the more level-headed post about this matter. I am only a newb on here, so it may not mean much, but you have my support.

I am glad to see you still posting and trying to absorb what has happened. I too am trying to absorb what has happened. From everything I have read, and that has been a lot, it seems this person was has a problem with votes. You are on several curation trails evidently, (hence lost of votes, few views). He does think those people should be spending votes on you. His attempt at not only redistributing wealth, (a common communistic activity), he also wants to tell people who they are allowed to vote for,(by demonetizing your post), he is hoping they will remove you from their vote trails. Just the way I see it, and I hope you have a nice upcoming weekend.

I am still in Europe so have not checked up on almost anything on Steemit in a month!

Really great meeting you and now I am login to go through your past posts and see whats going on!

Wish you the best. 

Blessings~*~