Can we also add a "meh" button for when I don't feel like upvoting or downvoting?

I don't like the functionality at all. At its best it is a feature that punishes controversial discussions. At worst, it is a tool for haves to bully the have nots. I understand the motivation but I believe there are large unintended consequences if we aren't careful.

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People do get upset when they get flagged, but it is a totally valid part of Steem. We do need to be able to adjust rewards both ways, but in some cases people are scared to do so in case of retaliation. It might be neat if downvoting could be done anonymously :)

Yep. Up- and downvoting will be better known by new users from other applications, so training should be rather easy. It's also more intuitive that this is the "counter action" to adding rewards to a post through an upvote.

Sure, temporarily new users might get in the way of larger stakes who will hate-downvote them, but:
1. The downvotes from new users won't have a huge monetary impact
2. Large stakes will reduce the value of their stake by driving away new users, so in the long run they *should* refrain from retaliation *if* the rewards and the value of their stake actually work (meaning they act rationally)

Obviously, there will still be people who won't get it. But what can you do...

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I absolutely disagree with this change to 'downvote' as my understanding from the Steemit inc post was that downvotes could be used to simply disagree with a post's content as opposed to it being used to flag breaches of guidelines or 'rules'.
Its all very well them saying its to provide balance to the reward pool but the power shift in the use of removing rewards will of course again favour large stakeholders who can then use the downvote as a valid tool for censoring.
Lets imagine you're an argumentative git who is of a strong opinion.....you'd be screwed!
I think its another nail in the coffin of free speech and along with Steemit forcing their choice of post onto my feed as 'featured'posts, its another step in the totally wrong direction.

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Side-by-side upvote/downvote buttons have a simplistic elegance. It also starts to shift the idea away from 'flagging' (does somebody review it? is it going to be censored) toward an action that establishes reward consensus for the post... which is what upvotes/downvotes actually are.

Even experienced Steemians sometimes forget that upvotes/downvotes are just a protocol mechanism to establish consensus on the distribution of the reward pool. They're not a tool for censorship, oppression, etc. Being downvoted doesn't mean anything except that somebody thinks your rewards were too high.

I gave you an upvote. If somebody thinks you're getting too much, they're probably wrong, but they can downvote to express their disagreement.

I mostly agree with this but I would bring up two points. 1) There's probably no reason to tell the user that downvoting will remove rewards any more than there is a reason to tell them that upvoting will add rewards. Some people already think that flagging them amounts to stealing and this would probably just reinforce that perception. 2) Changing the flag to a downvote will probably result in more people downvoting opinions they disagree with (regardless of whether there is a pop-up telling them about rewards)...or maybe not as there seems to be a lot of that already. 

At the end of the day though, having a downvote instead of a flag in the way that you describe would be far more consistent.

Always simplify the utility of a new change.

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My view is that the more options, the better.  Interpretation will take some time to getting used to but it is part of every process.

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I like it.

People are missing the point when it comes to flag/downvotes, and I think that just reinforces your point even more. 

Do you think it is undervalued? vote it. Do you think it is overvalued? Downvote it. Simple as that. Are we a faucet? Or are we actually trying to properly evaluate things and have proper comparisons of value? (Yeah, it appears not many think this way)

My vote was "No" due to *Flag Wars* sounding so much more better than *Downvote Wars*. 😎

> Downvotes Remove Rewards from the Author

**POTENTIAL** rewards :-)

Why not both? 
Here me out.
Downvote will equal like 50% of upvote Voting Power.
While a flag uses 100%. 
Just a random thought that came into my mind. 
IDK if it good.

Well, I am for Downvote ONLY if it will NOT work in the same way a flags currently do. That is, reducing users reputation to oblivion hence resulting in their content being hidden. That's censorship, and it doesn't make us any better than the centralized main stream media we are all trying to run away from.
I Say **Replace Flags with Report,** for content that is inappropriate and deserves to be removed from the platform. Of Course that would mean having moderators on the other end to review this said reports.
**Downvotes Should Only Affect the Rewards , Not the Reputation.**

I was flagging a few posts recently and it actually took me a while to find the button so it could probably be better placed i think...

.

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Or just quit using Steemit like most people who have been flagged (or down voted) do.

And leave Steemit head orifice to replace all the ex real users with bots.

It's like watching the Titanic sinking...

![](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmU7PD1Psp3e9tR1BKA5fhxx3mzUpv3XRduYMnKgNNee3V/image.png)

I mean, yeah. It's exactly what I said, I dunno, three years ago, but no one would listen. Now everyone's saying it, and get pats on the back for being so smart.

Anyway, it won't matter. Too little, too late. The ship sailed already.

@whatsup,
While we (STEEMIT and it's INC) have a lot to do, WTH they brought up this old topic? For me this is better, flag is a flag, upvote is upvote! Better you call a DRAMA token on their post lol :D

Cheers~