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"Flagging" or "downvoting" is a crucial part of both curation and the Steem ecosystem. The question of "why do @steemcleaners flag?" comes up again and again.

What's a Flag or Downvote?

A flag or a downvote is a vote transaction that's carried out with a negative addition of RShares (-RS). When a post or comment is voted on with a -RS (vs with +RS), the projected evaluation of that post or comment diminishes.

^{In the example image above, the @steemcleaners account voted with 5% of it's -RS.}

A "flag", "downvote" or "-RS vote" are all the same thing. They exist for the purposes of helping establish the rewards a post or comment is to receive after 7 days. By flagging we reduce the projected evaluation of a comment/post (versus increasing it by upvoting).

Flagging/downvoting is part of the reward and curation mechanism. It is neither "bad" nor "good" on its own; it is simply a part of the process.

^{This is what a -RS vote button looks like on Steemit.com. It's a little white flag at the top right of each post/comment that becomes red when you click it.}

Reputation Ties

Both upvoting and downvoting has a direct impact on an account's reputation points where the voting account has a higher reputation than the account being voted on. That's why those who use Bid Bots to upvote their posts receive a reputation boost as part of it.

The @steemcleaners account has a 70+ reputation and therefore, a vote from it will have an impact on the reputation of accounts with lesser reputation.

The main use of reputation is related to the various frontend websites that are used to display the content on the Steem blockchain. On Steemit.com, a reputation under 10 will effectively prevent the user from uploading images. A reputation that is calculated to be zero or lower, will hide posts on Steemit.com. Other websites will react differently.

Reward Pool

The term "reward pool" is well known to most Steemians but is often misunderstood.

The reward pool (also known as the reward fund) is the amalgamation of all the generated Steem. The official description is "Every day, a fixed amount of STEEM tokens are allocated to the network reward fund, commonly called the "reward pool." These get distributed to authors and curators for posting and voting on content." ^{Developers.steem.io}

You can track the reward pool balance by checking out the right-hand column of Steemd.com on a daily basis: https://steemd.com, where you will see the a list of values.

The current reward pool is 860,890 STEEM. The purpose of this reward pool is to reward good quality content creators, be they writing posts, commenting or curating. It is not unlimited and no one is "entitled" to it simply because it's there.

The reward pool regenerates approximately 65,600 STEEM a day. It's resources are not infinite and when they get siphoned off by scammers, everyone loses.

Why does @Steemcleaners Flag/Downvote?

One of the main reasons for @steemcleaners is to make sure that the reward pool is not being exploited by plagiarists and scammers. That it goes to those who deserve a fair share of it.

Part of our job is to make sure that abusers aren't getting a share of the reward pool at your expense. To do that, we vote accordingly in order to remove their projected payouts. When we do that, that amount is returned to the reward pool.

If you received a flag/downvote from @steemcleaners then it was most likely for the above reason.

When it comes to genuine new users we try to educate via comments rather than remove rewards. This is because we recognize that the new user is still learning the ropes of the Steem ecosystem and may not understand.

By now you're probably wondering why the @steemcleaners account does not upvote. This is because our prerogative is to return funds to the reward pool and halt abuse. Our account is only for the purposes of enabling our scope of work and nothing else.

Does @Steemcleaners Flag/Downvote for other reasons?

Yes we do. Here are some alternate reasons:

• The account is involved in Identity Theft.
• The account is being used for Phishing.
• The account is part of a systemic reward pool farm.

In the above cases we are trying to minimize the account's reputation to:

• Hide its content as much as possible
• Make the account unappealing for further use
• Hinder ID thieves, hackers, and scammers

In short, we want to make ID theft and phishing so cumbersome and unappealing that they stop. Where an account belongs to an innocent phishing victim, we will restore their reputation once they regain control of their account.

"Flag Scams"

There are multiple accounts and sometimes even botnets of accounts that were set up by malicious individuals for the purposes of harassing others. Some of these flag/downvote at random, with no rhyme or reason. Others pick their targets carefully, looking for vulnerable users to exploit. We at @steemcleaners try to identify these types of malicious accounts.

Their goals are:

• To harass and discourage
• To extort a user into paying them

These types of accounts usually don't have much of a stake (investment) and their votes should not be taken seriously. In cases where a small, legitimate account is affected and the morale of the user is disrupted, that user or their friends should appeal to the Steem ecosystem for help. There are many great Steemians who will go out of their way to help in such a case.

How to decide whether to Flag/Downvote or not?

As responsible Steemians, we all face curation choices on a regular basis. If you're trying to decide whether you should flag/downvote a post, consider the following:

• Did you read the full post?
• Is the post plagiarism or some other abuse? Think about it.
• Do you disagree on the rewards that the post is projected to receive? Vote accordingly.

Pressing that little flag icon or that down arrow button is your right as a Steemian. Much as with all curation, reading the post or comment prior to voting is important and part of the intended process.

^{You may use our infographics for your own posts.}

What happens when you get Flagged/Downvoted?

Your rewards and reputation are likely altered in a downward state from what they were prior to the flag/downvote.

Unless you were flagged/downvoted by one of those Flag Scam accounts, there is typically a reason. Usually, the voting account will let you know why.

You do not have to react to a flag/downvote. There is nothing wrong with you having received one, even if you feel that your content was stellar and you should have gotten only positive upvotes.

If you do feel the need to act, your options as a good Steemian are:

• Ask the account holder for the reason
• Assume the reason (ie. your post was copy/pasted and earned high rewards)
• Appeal the decision or ask for clarification if the flag/downvote came from a service like @steemcleaners, @spaminator or @mack-bot
• Ask for help determining the reason (ie. others may help you identify that you were targeted by a "Flag Scam" account or group of accounts)
• Learn from the experience

We do not suggest you start blindly flagging/downvoting the account that flagged/downvoted you. That can result in a "flag war" and will waste your Voting Power, lessening your own curation.

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