Few months ago, I signed up on scorum after a friend of mine @caesar816 informed me of the platform. Though I signed up during the last days of July, I had waited till August to drop my first post. If there is anything I have come to love about the platform, it is the mindset to get rid of abuses that could see her suffer the same fate as Steemit.
All through my little stay on Steemit, I never experienced what it meant to interact with the steemit admin directly. However, the scorum admin have proved that they are ready to right the wrongs that Steemit couldn't, hence their close interaction with the users, Bravo! To the team.
Now, scorum also being a platform that plays host to all sort of beings from around the world, different orientation, philosophies of life, culture and even religion. There is no doubt a possibility or likelihood of disagreements, different perception to events and even some individuals who will try cut corners and abuse the platform in order to rip off the reward pool.
In an attempt to curb and fight against these abuses, the scorum team have taken some proactive steps by adding some features like The Plagiarism Checker, The Flagging tool etc to help checkmate these abuses. For the purpose of this post, I will be talking about the "Flagging tool."
The Philosophy Behind The Flagging Tool and The Need To Be Cautious In Using It
To the best of my knowledge and I stand to be corrected, I will say the reasoning behind the incorporation of the Flagging Tool in the platform is to prevent abusers from benefiting from their criminal acts. That is, from earning rewards from a plagiarised post or any other act that is against a reasonable man's conscience and public policy.
This tool gives every user the approval to use it and fight ill activities on the platform, thereby making everyone a police on the platform. What it means is that, if we the users of scorum do not use this tool to fight against abuse, we will all be the victim of its wreckage.
Just like in real world, it's also a tacit way of deterring those who think they are too influential to play by rules, as the whole community can come together to fight against them. It's indeed an awesome tool and it's serving its purpose already. At least I have seen some big accounts that have been prevented from abusing their high SP.
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Wrong Reasons To Use The Flagging Tool.
Flagging a user because of constructive criticism:
I have noticed that sometimes what fans the embers of Flagging war between users on a platform like this is because they were cautioned by another user. Human beings have ego and pride that is embedded in us, so sometimes when this is punctured, they is a likelyhood of knee-jerk reactions. I still remember being cautioned by @jodcarey and @mikey as regards using the wrong category for my post. I took the correction and it was settled.
Most times instead of seeing the substance behind the constructive criticism, we allow anger to overshadow our reasoning, and boom! The war starts. Not everyone can stand criticism, but there is need for all users to open their mind to criticisms, I believe this will enhance a more healthy environment for all to thrive.
Flagging because of dissenting opinions
This is another bad reason to launch the Flagging Tool against a user. If there is one fundamental mindset all scorum users must have in common, that mindset is the consciousness that not everyone will agree to your views. I have seen some users plant flags indiscriminately on another user's post because the author's view seems not to be in tandem with his.
As far as am concerned, no user is a monopoly of theory or opinion, hence not everyone will agree to your view. The fact that a user decides to write against a team as regards their form and performance, it shouldn't be a cogent reason for the post to be flagged just because someone else is thinking otherwise. That's for me, an abuse of the Flagging Tool and will only end up causing more problem between users if misused.
Clique or Cartel Flagging
This is a scenario where people flag the post of another user or other users because their friend had a misunderstanding with another user. This is a very childish reason to flag a post, as the flaggers only flag in readiness for war and not necessarily to settle the dispute between the quarreling parties. This kind of Flagging is certainly not good for the growth of the community, as it will send a bad message to new users and visitors alike.
This kind of way could be a protracted one, because the parties involved could go as far as buying scr and powering up just to bring down the rewards of an assumed enemy, instead of Flagging for the general good of the platform. Let's avoid this kind of Flagging. Always try to enquire into an issue before using the flag button, so you don't end up throwing the platform into a war zone.
Selective Flagging
This is another bad way of using the Flagging Tool. The fight against abuse should not be segregational. Maybe Flagging another user for the same thing your friend have been doing. When people see through this, it could become a reason to launch a Flagging war on the platform. It's always advisable to use the Flagging Tool on everyone equally, instead of Flagging with a biased mindset.
Flagging By Assumption
I think the platform will thrive better if we can adopt the general or maybe legal principle that everyone is presumed innocent until proven otherwise. Flagging a suspect because you feel he could be up to something fishy is no concrete reason to use the flag on their reward. Sometimes, nothing hurts more than someone lashing out on you for what you're not guilty of.
Before planting a flag or publicly declaring a user an abuser, I think it's advisable to make sure there convincing or cogent reasons behind that. This is because, a user's reputation could be punctured in the process and future apology might not be able to pacify them. And this too can lead to Flagging war on the platform.
Flagging To Intimidate and not to Correct
In a community like this, it is advisable to sanction or carry out punitive measures on defaulters with the major aim of correcting their errors, especially if they are new users or first offenders. We can instill the discipline we crave on the platform without making the whole place look like a military rule.
Not everyone here is a former Steemit user, and it's quite unfortunate that they are likely to be victim of the flag for some errors or unacceptable conducts. However, we can still caution users like this without making it look like they can't right their wrongs in the future.
Maybe a warning flag of 10% or 20% depending on the gravity of the offence will be enough to send a message to the user. And the reason for the flag should be explained to the user, I think that's how to correct a first offender.
Note: This Consideration is more appropriate when cautioning a new user or first offender. An old user is presumed to be matured enough to know how the platform works.
This is a personal view of mine and am open to any further contribution or constructive criticism on this post. Thanks for reading.
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