Look, my only concern is avoiding downvotes.
Nobody told me I shouldn't pay for bid-bots (isn't this a free-market).
Nobody told me I shouldn't self-vote (wtf).
Nobody told me I shouldn't copy stuff I posted on other blogs.
Nobody told me the whales can't be criticized.
I'm just trying to figure out "what the rules are".
There is no way, method, or manner to avoid down votes other to never post or comment. The Steemit FAQ on down votes: "Users are allowed to downvote for any reason that they want." So it is impossible to avoid down votes.
Bid Bot's Buying/selling Votes"Selling or offering to buy votes/resteems/follows, or schemes that facilitate this." is considered abuse.
The FAQ does have a lot of information in it. People just don't like to read it because then they do not have the sympathy card of I didn't know. There are a lot of things that people are never told, it does not take long to see the results of ones actions. If an individual does not like the consequence of what happened to them because of their own action, they can either ask the individual what they did wrong, ignore the issue and continue on with their ways, or change their ways, and the issue may go away.
The rules on steem block chain are like the rules in life, the laws are always changing based on what the leaders want or what the leaders perceive society wants, or what they feel would move society in one direction or another.
During WW2 in America there were rationing laws, and internment laws, and removal of freedoms for some groups of people, those laws at the time made sense to those in charge, and to most people because they did not vote those individuals out of office.
HF20/21 the EIP was talked about discussed, and voted on by the individuals that the users of the steem block chain voted in as witnesses, the majority of the stake agreed with the assessment because the majority of the same witnesses are still in the top 20.
As for "Nobody told me the whales can't be criticized." they can and often are. If it is criticism then they may look at it, if it is name calling and ranting and raving about their lack of brains or other such nonsense then retaliation is going to happen. To many people think statements such "You're an asshole" are criticism, it's not it's an opinion. Most so called criticism is nothing more than opinion.
A short search on the word criticism: "the act of expressing disapproval and of noting the problems or faults of a person or thing : the act of criticizing someone or something. : a remark or comment that expresses disapproval of someone or something."
Name calling is not criticism, attacking a person character is not criticism. To many of the people that say they were just criticizing a whale or an individual we instead attacking the individuals character
So, basically you're saying, "there are no rules".
I'm not, the FAQ pretty much says no rules when it comes to down votes. Society and the leaders of society change the rules when the rules need changing. The witness on steem can effect what rules get put in place.
There are rules, there are a lot of rules. People just like to think there are none, to think life is total anarchy with no collective direction of travel. There is a very wide spread diversification of rules in the world, and in our daily lives, and not all of them are written down.
The HF's are the rule changers on Steem Block Chain. People can either accept them try to change them in the next HF, or ignore them and live with the consequences.
I do not like the down vote issue. It has always been broken since I have been on steem block chain. I have put my thoughts and ideas out there as to how I think it could be fixed. I really do not like the blind down vote Army that makes no post, leaves no comments, and does nothing but down vote. I have urged the removal of the delegated steem and I have made suggestions on an auto comment in the down voters name and account so that the community can decide if the down vote was justified.
if people see something they do not like make a post, or leave comments/ideas on fixing it on those post that ask for opinions on the direction of steem block chain. Go on discord or in the steem chat rooms and leave messages. (I try to no longer use the chat or discord). There are ways and means to get ideas out there to effect change, will those ideas get adopted at some point in time, will the right people see the idea at the right time, no one knows. I do know, I do know, if the idea of fixing something is not put out there then there is no chance in hell of that non-published idea being adopted.
Well, as long as rampant downvoting feeds the "reward pool" and the "reward pool" feeds the top-earners and witnesses, the powers-that-be will continue to encourage (ignore) abusive downvoting.
nOW, how do we onboard new users..?
Oh, yes, tell the newbz some evil people are posting nasty stuff on steemit and they need to open an account so they can DOWNVOTE them!!!
100 million new steemians practically overnight!