As a new user who came here to invest in this platform, The last thing I want to do is get in the middle of a whale war. Yet, I feel it is import to talk about the impact on the end users.
The connection between the posting and voting on the two accounts: @lifeisawesome and @honeyscribe is very compelling and goes well beyond being mentioned after @msgivings and screenshots. Regardless of whether they are yours directly or belong to friends of yours is irrelevant. To be clear this isn’t the only case of this and nearly all the whales seem to have a circle they vote in and the bots that follow.
As others have said there are no rules, laws or policing issues that can/should stop this.
The message to the new user coming in is that a handful of accounts own, control and vote for a handful of accounts, when they got called out on that new accounts suddenly emerged and began seeing atypical results from other new content creators. When those accounts were looked at, there was at least some connection between the accounts. It is easy to see the voting patterns, if you watch the "New" article feed, you can watch certain accounts receive 40+ votes in literally minutes, and at the half hour mark the rest of the votes start piling on.
The only problem is getting new users to want to use the site, invest or stay while we watch whales exchanging whale money. If it continues to look as shady as is currently does there will be no new money to add to the whale money and we might as well play monopoly.
Because I am interested in the success of Steem and SteemIt, I am thankful the information is available in the Block Chain and can be transparent. Yes, you can build you site how you like, use it as you like and vote as you like, but don’t think for a moment that it isn’t having an impact on the future of the site. I am not calling out @Kushed anymore or less than anyone else. Also, the whale threats… I have my crosshairs on you, and downvoting topics they don’t want to see discussed is not lending credibility to the site. There is nothing but how the site and the currency are viewed at stake. Call me a troll or witch hunter, whatever you like, I make my post with the best interest of Steem on my mind.
That message is absolutely accurate. Until the stake is better distributed where a handful of people don't control 95% of the voting power, it is better to not try to mislead people about that reality, nor to deny that SP holders have a right to use (and will use) their votes in ways that you or others may not agree with.
In effect, those engaging in these 'which hunts' are trying to be underdog heroes fighting against a 95% voting majority, and since they have no real voting power, the only available weapon is sensationalism and attacking people personally. It could be viewed as admirable. Nevertheless, while they may succeed in throwing up a lot of dirt and obscuring the picture, they ultimately will not succeed in changing anything meaningful about the actual control. For better or worse, that's what we have now.
Over time, the stake and votes are being more widely distributed. Of course, part of this is happening via whales diversifying our holdings, but efforts to bring in new users will help greatly because 40% of the entire supply is allocated to be given to new users (that is multiples more than all the whales put together). The only constructive solutions to this issue require patience and effective, yet positive, persuasion, not "rage against the machine".
Thank you for taking the time to read my comment and respond. I see you constantly talking to the users, responding to the difficult posts with your direct style. I appreciate that. At first, I didn't understand your communication style, but I have learned some things - especially about the decentralized nature of SteemIt from reading your comments.
I realize we will disagree on this part, but I say it with respect. I don't see what was done as a personal attack or a witch hunt, but rather an investigation. All young organizations have things to work on. Acknowledging the issues and working through them adds to trust. What happened in a variety of posts on this topic, is a lack of trust was exposed, discussed, and it turns out some of the assumptions were only partially true. By allowing the conversation to take place an issue was at least partially resolved. What I learned is there are checks and balances on all of us. It made me feel better about the platform. I am sorry some people felt attacked. Some brought it on themselves by acting as if they are above being questioned. I am ready to move on. Anything I said, I said it with the best interest of Steem as a motive.
I appreciate and respect your reply. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. They inform my understanding of how different people view the system.
I agree. Your responses on these topics always bring out another more realistic part to the discussion. I would like to see a "state of steemit" post from you...... It has helped me level off at different points I have caught myself joining the hunt
What steemit needs more of is clearheadness and the solution to this communications problem. Thing is the current situation on Steemit mirrors the situation in real world, but with efforts from you, as well as this post by @kushed that is different from how things are done there.
And that is exactly what makes a lot of people excited about Steemit.
The problem is that there is a lot of inertia in how people think and act. That is not anyones fault, that is just how humans are built. And this new experimental model means that how people think and act need changes. And the current situation with those investigations and similar concerns would keep on happening.
Here in Steemit world right niw the whales and the witnesses are like big corporations. And just like in real world there is some resentment about that fact. That is the reason why there are PR people emplyed by corps. To monitor the pulse of the public opinion, and provide relevant information in the timely fashion.
Perhaps just as there is a call to Steemit Inc to consider improving their team with PR & community engagement specialists, whales and witnesses might consider doing something similar. This would alleviate crisises like this one, as well as offer another avenue to decentralise Voting Power (via more people earning rewards in creative ways), if some of the flow would go into SP.
One other thing that bugs me is this one:
I've been bringing people over to Steemit, but right now it is somewhat unclear how to advertise it. On the first days after joining, which was in the middle of the great summer hype, I was very excited. But now that I understand the system better, I am not sure how to go about it (still, some people are joining or trying to join on my recommendation).
I would appreciate, and I am sure that other people might do the same, if you would voice your poinion in the matter. Perhaps in a post. Maybe you did already, and it just slipped my attention, but if that is the case I would be glad if you pointed that out.
Anyhow, I am one of many people who really value your style and contribution to the discussions about all things Steemit related, like this one. Thank you. :-D