Thank you, that's very kind of you.

I wasn't flagged by a bot. I was flagged by a person with a lot of voting power.

@johnwjr7 I just visited you since you are so positive.  Your post made me laugh and I commented on it. 
I too hope everything gets straightened out.  We'll have to wait and see.

I'm sure it'll blow over :)

It's a shame I've ended up on the wrong side of a few whales for standing my ground and protesting about flags on good work.

Hang on - honestly - I like what @michelle.gent is writing but that is not the topic of this discussion, if someone feels to flag it this is all allowed - I dealt with flags a lot - I do not understand what all these discussions are about. No matter if I agree what @transisto is doing - he has the right to do it - i had arguments with him too already and got flag where i was in disagreement. But that is the system and in that case I trust the system. He is an investor - different view as a content creator - it will all be balanced but I do not understand why someone posts 7 articles about the topic.

I reckon the flaggots would change their tunes quickly if their ROIs were so impacted by flags.

That's why Steemit is an oligarchy, and why it won't succeed in the long term, unless that changes.  There are other forks, UIs, and similar platforms coming online, and either Steemit gets out in front of the desires of common folks, who aren't deeply pocketed, or their investments in Steem will reflect their conceit, arrogance, and self-absorption.

We will have nominal and uncensored platforms that allow <i>all</i> to speak freely, in time.  If Steemit doesn't become such a platform, it will be neglected by users accordingly.

It is no fluke or coincidence that overall retention of users, including bots, is at ~20%, and of all the accounts opened in 2016, but ~11% are still active.  This is perhaps the worst retention rate in the industry, of extant social media platforms.

Competition is coming.  Invest accordingly.  Either grow Steemit, and enjoy the massive appreciation in the value of Steem that will engender, or watch it die, along with your investment in it.

Unlike most folks, I'm not here for rewards.  I'm here for a censorship free platform that provides rewards, because that's what the market - and I - demand.  I've never touched a satoshi of Steem, and have no plans to do so.

This relieves me of fear of flaggots, since I don't care about rewards.  

Liberating.  However, I do care about <i>other's</i> rewards, since that's why they're here, and I want them here.

Quit flagging good content, dolts!  I agree with you @fitinfun

Thank you <3

I do know they're making a movie - it's a fabulous concept and I'm excited to see it all unfold here on Steemit.com.

I'll have a think about teaching writing. It's not something I've ever done and I'm not sure how... but I'll take a look and see if I can figure it out.

Thank you :)

Because these investors are intent on garnering those rewards themselves.  Seeing content creators achieving greater rewards than their manipulations of the rewards pool causes them to flag that content, so they can maximize their ROI.

You are correct, it is financial manipulation, and it is an existential threat to Steemit - as stated in the white paper.

Excuse my ignorance but I thought downvotes by a user with a lower reputation than you had no impact. Not sure where I read or heard that but that was my impression. You clearly seem to know how the DV stuff works - can you point me in the right direction to find enlightenment on this topic?

Yes, you're completely right. I *DO* get a lot from this and I appreciate it all.

It's an absolute dream come true to be able to make money from my writing. That's why I tell everyone I know that is into writing and creating that this platform is the one they should be on.

I do understand and appreciate the fact that investors have the right to downvote whoever they want for whatever reason they want.

I *was* under the impression that if I behave nice and follow the guidelines - both written and unwritten - if I provide good, original and unique content, if I share it exclusively for Steemit.com and generally toe the line, and I *try* not to be too controversial, that I wouldn't get flagged. 

I get it. Collateral damage. The trouble is, when people see what can happen to someone that *just got in the crossfire,* it gets harder to attract other *cannon fodder* content providers to the platform.

If my posts of complaint make people aware that this is happening and something gets sorted out about it, would you say those posts served the community or not?

If this comes to an amicable conclusion and people realise the flagging wars are doing nothing to help promote this platform in any kind of positive way, would you say that would be deemed as a success?

If so then I'll be happy. 

I want this platform to succeed. I really would have liked to have more than 15 months on the platform in which to develop my writing and post more stories, write more books to share on here and generally enjoy my chosen 'career' but it looks like I've got the attention of some whales for entirely the wrong reason.

That's a shame because I really do write good stories - even if it's only me that thinks so (it's not, by the way - a lot of people have enjoyed my writing).

So, here's to getting this all sorted so this kind of thing doesn't happen again.

By the way, do you have any reason *why* I shouldn't be in the top 100 in posting rewards? Or the top earners for the past 30 days? 

How about where that standing is for the past 15 months?

Because if you spread it out over that time, I've earned $400 per week - not bad, but not really a great incentive to attract other quality authors, especially if this kind of thing *could* happen.

I agree with @ats-david on that one - even I lose some friends here on the platform but these ongoing whining and postings on a very high level because of some flags is bullshit.

That's three people on the platform then ;) Well done and I actually should have realised you'd be doing something along those lines from when we used to chat so much :)

I'm sticking around :)

Thank you :)

I feel like he'd make much more impact by just upvoting content he likes. Rules about reward vs. views are better enforced evenly and fairly in the platform.  I mean if someone doesn't like that a small number of views could result in a substantial payout then maybe he is actually questioning the whole ethos of vote impact relative to a voter's STEEM. 

Maybe whales should not be able to upvote 100% and the more power they have the less the maximum upvote? That would encourage them to do more voting and spread it around (to be honest I don't know what the voting patterns of whales are, maybe they already do this).  The same should apply to downvotes too - why should a few elite yield so much power perhaps because they just invested a big pile of $ into the platform or got lucky early on. It just doesn't seem very egalitarian to me, much more authoritarian and as such I think it is fine for someone to post as much as they want about a perceived abuse of power.

The posts made too much steem on the payouts... Go figure :/

It's really not the money that's my priority. Yeah, sure, it's nice but it's really not that. The fact that my posts got flagged when plagiarists and spammers are not only rife, but making actual money on here is sickening. 

Original work makes too much money and needs to be put in its place but copy/paste from google is left alone?

What can I do about that? I can't do anything but post and protest - and that's exactly what I've done. I've written posts that has brought this to the attention of everyone.