Hive is fundamentally a blockchain, not a UI. So the most important decisions and structures exist at the blockchain level and probably always will. This means that while it is possible for UIs to adjust their appearance in order to accommodate certain scenarios, it will always be the blockchain that counts more. As I said in our recent chat, since society basically runs on money at this point, whether a creator is interested in money or not, he/she is forced to be because content creation is a constant contest for attention and the more resources people have, the more they can take part in that contest. Excluding money from discussion of the 'censorship' aspect is kind of cherry picking the situation.

The fact remains that the Hive blockchain, by design, allows people to draw attention to themselves via either quality content or just through having the most stake. The aim of those who do this mostly through using stake appears to be simply to make more profit, but they may also hive hidden ideological agenda or even be being paid to act one out covertly. The more that those with stake can dominate those who are the creators, the less the creators will want to be here - which serves the 'stake posters' up to a point as they get even more returns until the token price crashes.

So, essentially, we have a situation where people can get filthy rich (or richer) as a result of limiting the growth of other people - specifically. This is actually how capitalism in general works too, but fans of capitalism rarely admit this. I know first hand that some of the wealthiest people are more interested in stopping the growth of potential competitors than they are actually adding anything of value to the world. The more this problem continues, the more of a shitshow Hive will become, regardless of what UIs do. You can't sweep under the rug that a small number of people are doing whatever they can to absorb as much rewards as possible. Even if the downvoted posts remain visible, the reward pool will still be being reduced away from the will of the community and towards those who are willing to use downvoting as a profit generator.

I am fully open to layer 2 solutions resolving this and that's great - but we aren't there yet. As I said, I am just living in the present moment, responding to what arises.